regex - php - count particular permutations -

i have strings :

431234412 

what trying find instances of '1234' in each string numbers can used again long in order.

so instance, in above string there 2 instances of '1234' since '12344' can interpreted '1234-' or '123-4'.

i thinking of writing recursive functions maybe there simple way regex?

the regex quite simple:

$subject= '431234412'; preg_match_all('/(1+2+3+4)+/', $subject, $matches); 

you find occurrences in array $matches.

the + behind each digit means, digit may repeated.