[TxMt] a newbie asks for help with regular expressions

This is a very basic question, but I am just getting started so I could use some help.

I want to create an element that recognizes the text between asterisks as element.comment.first.

For example if I type: * Textmate * This would be identified as element.comment.first.

So I wrote the following in my "language" section: { name = 'element.comment.first'; match = '[*]\s?([^* ]|.| [*] | )*[*]'; },

The problem is it can't identify the element when it comes in the middle or end of a line, i.e. I want to learn how to use * Textmate * tomorrow.

What's between the asterisks is not considered an element.comment.first.

Any suggestions or help would be much appreciated. Thanks.