--TEST-- Study regex --FILE-- ..)((?:(?>.)|.|.|.|u))/S', 'aeiou', $dump)); var_dump($dump[1]); // try to trigger usual "match known text" optimization var_dump(preg_match('/^aeiou$/S', 'aeiou', $dump)); var_dump($dump[0]); var_dump(preg_match('/aeiou/S', 'aeiou', $dump)); var_dump($dump[0]); ?> --EXPECT-- int(1) string(1) "a" int(1) string(1) "a" int(1) string(1) "i" int(1) string(5) "aeiou" int(1) string(5) "aeiou"