It seems like preg_* doesn't use the locale setting.
<?php
  setlocale("LC_ALL", "no_NO");
  $str = "???";
  if(preg_match("/\w{3}/", $str, $foo)) {
    echo "matched \\w{3}\n";
  }
  if(preg_match("/???/", $str, $foo)) {
    echo "matched ???\n";
  }
?>

_Should_ match both tests, but only matches the last one.

#!/usr/bin/perl
use locale; 
$_ = "???"; 
if(/\w{3}/) { 
  print "matched \\w{3}\n"; 
} 
if(/???/) { 
  print "matched ???\n"; 
}

matches both tests.

Rune N. Skillingstad