php - Regex: get recursive brackets with prefixes

Question

Please, what is the correct php code, using a regex pattern, to get $result from $string?

$string = 'xmlns(ns=http://testurl.com/now)xpointer(//section/datePublished/text())';
preg_match($regex, $string, $result);

Output:

$result = array(
    'xmlns' => 'ns=http://testurl.com/now',
    'xpointer' => '//section/datePublished/text()'
);

Brackets can be recursive (as text()).

Answer 1

Use /(w+)((.*?))(?=w+(|$)/ regex pattern that match any string before parentheses and string in () after it.

preg_match_all("/(w+)((.*?))(?=w+(|$)/", $string, $m);
$result = array_combine($m[1], $m[2]);

Check result in demo