<?php
$s = "__('This is a (TEST) all of this i want') i dont want any of this; __(extract this)";
if (preg_match_all('~__(\(((?:[^()]++|(?1))*)\))~', $s, $matches)) {
print_r($matches[2]);
}
Array
(
[0] => 'This is a (TEST) all of this i want'
[1] => extract this
)
Output for 8.3.5
Warning: PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library 'sodium.so' (tried: /usr/lib/php/8.3.5/modules/sodium.so (libsodium.so.23: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory), /usr/lib/php/8.3.5/modules/sodium.so.so (/usr/lib/php/8.3.5/modules/sodium.so.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory)) in Unknown on line 0
Array
(
[0] => 'This is a (TEST) all of this i want'
[1] => extract this
)