How much work do I need to do to become good at regex in php?

In general, how much work do I need to do to become good at regex in php if I am familiar with it in Java?

kind of a strange question.
i would guess as long as it takes for you to remember the syntax.
and of course the more you use it, and faster you will learn it.

If you're already familiar with regex, specifically perl-compatible regex, then it shouldn't be very hard to learn the small nuances in php. Just read the manual pages, they're pretty straight forward.

These kind of questions are interesting, and always remind me of someone's signature here.

Teach me how to be an engineer, I don't care if it takes all day!

Learning is different for everyone.

lol, the trouble is I'm pressed for time and spent much of my past life playing computer games when I should have been learning to program them.

It's called growing older. You realize that maybe you shouldn't have spent all your time playing games. But if you had fun, then that is all that matters. ;)

Yeah good point, I had many a good hour spent on the mega drive, playstation, x-box, pc etc

If you have good memories of those times, it was worth it.

Yeah, but now what do I do with them? They are partly used motivation for me to do everything in my power to be just as happy as I was then and even happier! Which am btw.

You cherish them and move onward.