preg_guru

I'm trying to group matches.. the string is (all one line) :2002020720020208: default@http://www.azlyrics.com __ continued... /s/springsteen.html?dsd=sadsa&etc=tec here the first bit I'm trying to match :2002020720020208: preg_match("(:[0-9]{16}:)", $contents, $match); and then the default@ with preg_match("([a-z]{1,20}@)", $contents, $match); and then a combination of the two preg_match("(:[0-9]{16}:)([a-z]{1,20}@)", $contents, $match); get the error Warning: Unknown modifier '(' in /home/incase/public_html/History.IE5/imp.php on line 36 I've trien all sort of stuff to no avail.. tia Pete