- preg_match_all: documentation ( source)
- preg_replace: documentation ( source)
<?php
$str = 'value that I {want}, vs value "I do {NOT} want" ';
$str = preg_replace("/\".*\"/U","",$str);
echo preg_match_all("/\{(.*)\}/U",$str,$matches);
//print_r($matches);