Can I extract the string aaa without using subpatterns (but still using regexp)?

$str = 'abc#aaa#abc';
preg_match('/#(.*)#/', $str, $matches);
print_r($matches);

Can I extract the string aaa without using subpatterns (but still using regexp)?

$str = 'abc#aaa#abc';
preg_match('/#(.*)#/', $str, $matches);
print_r($matches);

Update

• lookahead and lookbehind is a second solution, any other ?

I'm just trying to figure out some regexp alternatives !

Can I extract the string aaa without using subpatterns ( but still using regexp  ):

$str = 'abc#aaa#abc';
preg_match('/#(.*)#/', $str, $matches);
print_r($matches);

?

Can I extract the string aaa without using subpatterns (but still using regexp)?

$str = 'abc#aaa#abc';
preg_match('/#(.*)#/', $str, $matches);
print_r($matches);