PHP preg_match bible scripture format

Question

I am struggling with building a regular expression for parsing this kind of strings (bible scriptures):

  \'John 14:16–17, 25–26\'
  \'John 14:16–17\'
  \'Jo         


        

Answer 1

   (\b[a-zA-Z]\w+\s\d+)(:\d+)+([-–]\d+)?([,;](\s)?(\d+:)?\d+([-–]\d+)?)?

This is a hybrid of all code presented here. The only formats it will not highlight are "book name only" or "book & chapter only" (just add ":1-all" after chapter #) I found the other codes provided to qualify too many variations, not in line with bible verse syntax.

These are the examples I tested in RegExr: (can't post images yet)

John humbolt 14:16–17, 25–26
John 14:16–17
John 14:16
John 77:3; 2:9-11
John 5:1-all brad 555-783-6867
John 6
hi there how are you
Ezra 32:5 John 14:16-17, 25-36
12 23:34
John 14:16-17,25-36
John 14:16-17; 32:25