value1 value2 value3 value4 '; preg_match('~(.*?)~s', $string, $matches); // CHECK TO SEE IF WE FOUND A MATCH if (isset($matches[1])) { // GO AHEAD AND DO THE MATCH preg_match_all('~(.*?)~s', $string, $span_matches); $count = count($span_matches[1]); // IF WE FOUND MULTIPLE MATCHES, LIST THEM OUT if ($count > 1) { print 'COUNT IS: '.$count."\n"; print_r($span_matches[1]); } // WE DID NOT MATCH ANY SPAN TAGS elseif ($count == 0) { print 'COUNT IS ZERO - CRAP'; } // IF WE ONLY FOUND ONE MATCH, WE DON'T NEED TO DO ANYTHING else { print 'COUNT IS EXACTLY 1 - DO NOTHING'; } } // WE DID NOT FIND AN INITAL MATCH TO BEGIN WITH else { print 'WE DID NOT FIND A MATCH'; }