diff --git a/functions/pcre.xml b/functions/pcre.xml
index b6404f5921..8d0351e3be 100644
--- a/functions/pcre.xml
+++ b/functions/pcre.xml
@@ -474,13 +474,10 @@ $text = preg_replace ($search, $replace, $document);
      <example>
       <title>Getting parts of search string</title>
       <programlisting role="php">
+// split the phrase by any number of commas or space characters,
+// which include " ", \r, \t, \n and \f
 $keywords = preg_split ("/[\s,]+/", "hypertext language, programming");
       </programlisting>
-      <para>
-       This example splits the text by any number of spaces or
-       commas. So the resulting $keywords array would be ("hypertext",
-       "language", "programming")
-      </para>
      </example>
      See also <function>preg_match</function>,
      <function>preg_match_all</function>, and
@@ -533,19 +530,17 @@ echo $keywords; // returns \$40 for a g3\/400
      <example>
       <title>Italicizing a word within some text</title>
       <programlisting role="php">
+
+// In this example, preg_quote($word) is used to keep the
+// asterisks from having special meaning to the regular
+// expression.
+
 $textbody = "This book is *very* difficult to find.";
 $word = "*very*";
-$textbody = preg_replace ("|\b".preg_quote($word)."\b|",
+$textbody = preg_replace ("/".preg_quote($word)."/",
                           "&lt;i&gt;".$word."&lt;/i&gt;",
                           $textbody);
       </programlisting>
-      <para>
-       In this example, preg_quote($word) is used to keep the
-       asterisks from having special meaning to the regular
-       expression. The \b is recognized by pcre to find a word
-       boundary, so only whole words match. This way something like
-       "is*very*difficult" would not be considered a match.
-      </para>
      </example>
     </para>
    </refsect1>
@@ -577,8 +572,9 @@ $textbody = preg_replace ("|\b".preg_quote($word)."\b|",
      <example>
       <title><function>preg_grep</function> example</title>
       <programlisting role="php">
-preg_grep ("/^(\d+)?\.\d+$/", $array); // find all array elements
-                                       // containing floating point numbers
+// return all array elements
+// containing floating point numbers
+$fl_array = preg_grep ("/^(\d+)?\.\d+$/", $array);
       </programlisting>
      </example>
     </para>