title: PHP how to preg_match greater/less than symbols in middle of text?
body: <p>I've searched a million similar questions and don't find the answer to this specific scenario.</p>
  
  <p>Problem:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;?php
  $text  = "some words    |  other words";
  $text2 = "some words    &gt;  other words";
  $text3 = "some words    &lt;  other words";
  
  print preg_match("/\s+\|\t/", $text);  //this works, will print 'true'
  print preg_match("/\s+(&lt;|&gt;|\|)\t/", $text2); //never true for $text2 or $text3
  print preg_match("/\s+[&lt;\|&gt;]\t/", $text3);  //never true for $text2 or $text3
  ?&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I need something that will be true for all 3 scenarios.</p>
  
  <p>I've tried look-behind and look ahead and I cant figure out anything there that works. Those are still somewhat foreign to me.</p>