Online PHP editor | refs for uLOKf

<?php $masks = ['1224*', '543*', '321*', '12245*', '5*', '122488*']; sort($masks); $needle = rtrim(array_shift($masks), '*'); $keep[] = $needle; foreach ($masks as $mask) { if (strpos($mask, $needle) !== 0) { $needle = rtrim($mask, '*'); $keep[] = $needle; } } // now $keep only contains: ['1224', '321', '5'] $numbers = ['122456789', '123456788', '321876543234567', '55555555555555555', '987654321']; var_export( preg_grep('~^(?:' . implode('|', $keep) . ')~', $numbers) );