Any help with this preg_replace?

[Spring]

I'm trying to alow users to reference links, but I'm stumped.

 

$com = preg_replace("/(^|<<)(<<[^<]*[0-9])/", "\\1<a href = #".$com.">#$com</a>\\2</div>", $com);

 

If I typed <<#123 I would get:

#<<123<<123

 

and it would link to <<123

 

The output I'm looking for is

 

<<#123

 

and have it link to

#123