// TEST 1 - normal mode $url = "screenshot: http://crazy-tronners.com/aarec/screenshot_68.png"; $regexp_url = "@([http:\/\/|HTTP:\/\/|https:\/\/|HTTPS:\/\/][a-zA-Z.0-9-]*[\/a-zA-Z.-_]*\/[\/a-zA-Z0-9%._-]*)@"; //1 echo preg_match($regexp_url, $url, $results); // TEST 2 - multiline mode $url = " screenshot: http://crazy-tronners.com/aarec/screenshot_68.png "; $regexp_url = "@^recording: ([http:\/\/|HTTP:\/\/|https:\/\/|HTTPS:\/\/][a-zA-Z.0-9-]*[\/a-zA-Z.-_]*\/[\/a-zA-Z0-9%._-]*)@m"; // 0 -- fails :/ echo preg_match($regexp_url, $url, $results);