- var_dump: documentation ( source)
- preg_match: documentation ( source)
- preg_match_all: documentation ( source)
<?php
$subject = <<<EOL
1. first
2. second
3. third
EOL;
preg_match('/^.{1,20}?$/i', $subject, $matches);
var_dump($matches);
preg_match_all('/^(.{1,20}?)$/i', $subject, $matches, PREG_PATTERN_ORDER);
var_dump($matches);