php - Regex to check if a character occurs more than X times in a string -

what regex check if character occurs more 2 times in string? example: "aab" allowed, not "aaa" or "aaba".

is there way make match on valid inputs (when there less 3 repeating characters) preg_match() function returns 1 valid input (with less 3 repeating characters) , else 0?

thanks!

this regex find character repeats 3 times (or more because have hit 3 more).

(.)\1{2} 

regex demo: https://regex101.com/r/wmupww/1

php usage:

foreach(array('aaa', 'aab') $string) {     if(preg_match('/(.)\1{2}/', $string)) {          echo $string . ' doesnt match :(' . "\n";     } else {          echo $string . ' matches'. "\n";     } } 

php demo: https://eval.in/672382