$re = '/\n\s?-\s?(.*)/';
$str = 'Lorem ipsum.
- item 1
- item 2
- item 3
- item 4
Dolores amet.';
preg_match($re, $str, $matches, PREG_OFFSET_CAPTURE, 0);
// Print the entire match result
var_dump($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