What are some potential pitfalls when using regex to extract values from PHP code strings?

One potential pitfall when using regex to extract values from PHP code strings is that the regex pattern may not be specific enough, leading to unintended matches or missing values. To avoid this, it is important to carefully craft the regex pattern to accurately target the desired values. Additionally, using functions like preg_match_all() can help extract multiple values from a string efficiently.

// Example code snippet demonstrating the use of preg_match_all() to extract values from PHP code strings

$code = '<?php $var1 = "value1"; $var2 = "value2"; ?>';

$pattern = '/\$([a-zA-Z_\x7f-\xff][a-zA-Z0-9_\x7f-\xff]*)/';

preg_match_all($pattern, $code, $matches);

print_r($matches[1]);