$re = '~=(.*?)}~';
$str = 'It was a {{color, default=black}} and scary {{phase}}. As the {{animals, default=dogs}} {{make_sound, default=barked}} and the trees swayed {{setting, default=to the breeze}}, a {{size, default=}} {{monster, default=troll}} that emerged from the shadows.';
preg_match_all($re, $str, $matches, PREG_SET_ORDER, 0);
// Print the entire match result
var_dump($matches);
Please keep in mind that these code samples are automatically generated and are not guaranteed to work. If you find any syntax errors, feel free to submit a bug report. For a full regex reference for PHP, please visit: http://php.net/manual/en/ref.pcre.php