how to quickly make hex pattern like "~\xe2\x80\xb9~" from any symbol ? i try brute force, but very long: $s = 'Â'; $pat_all = '~[\x00-\xFF\x00-\xFF\x00-\xFF]~'; //die('stop'); if(!preg_match($pat_all,$s)) die("pat not found: ".$pat_all); $i=0; for($a=0;$a<256;$a++){ $az = ''; if($a<16) $az = '0'; for($b=0;$b<256;$b++){ $bz = ''; if($b<16) $bz = '0'; for($c=0;$c<256;$c++){ $cz = ''; if($c<16) $cz = '0'; $pat = '~\x'.$az.dechex($a).'\x'.$bz.dechex($b).'\x'.$cz.dechex($c).'~'; if(preg_match($pat,$s))die('found pat: '.$pat); //echo "\n<br>".$pat; if($i++==1000000) die('limit: '.$i); } //die; } } die('end: '.$i.' pat: '.$pat); Code (markup):