diff --git a/phpBB/includes/search/fulltext_mysql.php b/phpBB/includes/search/fulltext_mysql.php
index c84bfcdcb0..b59d9908c3 100644
--- a/phpBB/includes/search/fulltext_mysql.php
+++ b/phpBB/includes/search/fulltext_mysql.php
@@ -27,8 +27,6 @@ class phpbb_search_fulltext_mysql extends phpbb_search_base
 	var $split_words = array();
 	var $search_query;
 	var $common_words = array();
-	var $pcre_properties = false;
-	var $mbstring_regex = false;
 
 	public function __construct(&$error)
 	{
@@ -36,18 +34,6 @@ class phpbb_search_fulltext_mysql extends phpbb_search_base
 
 		$this->word_length = array('min' => $config['fulltext_mysql_min_word_len'], 'max' => $config['fulltext_mysql_max_word_len']);
 
-		// PHP may not be linked with the bundled PCRE lib and instead with an older version
-		if (phpbb_pcre_utf8_support())
-		{
-			$this->pcre_properties = true;
-		}
-
-		if (function_exists('mb_ereg'))
-		{
-			$this->mbstring_regex = true;
-			mb_regex_encoding('UTF-8');
-		}
-
 		$error = false;
 	}
 
@@ -133,40 +119,10 @@ class phpbb_search_fulltext_mysql extends phpbb_search_base
 		$split_keywords = preg_replace("#[\n\r\t]+#", ' ', trim(htmlspecialchars_decode($keywords)));
 
 		// Split words
-		if ($this->pcre_properties)
-		{
-			$split_keywords = preg_replace('#([^\p{L}\p{N}\'*"()])#u', '$1$1', str_replace('\'\'', '\' \'', trim($split_keywords)));
-		}
-		else if ($this->mbstring_regex)
-		{
-			$split_keywords = mb_ereg_replace('([^\w\'*"()])', '\\1\\1', str_replace('\'\'', '\' \'', trim($split_keywords)));
-		}
-		else
-		{
-			$split_keywords = preg_replace('#([^\w\'*"()])#u', '$1$1', str_replace('\'\'', '\' \'', trim($split_keywords)));
-		}
-
-		if ($this->pcre_properties)
-		{
-			$matches = array();
-			preg_match_all('#(?:[^\p{L}\p{N}*"()]|^)([+\-|]?(?:[\p{L}\p{N}*"()]+\'?)*[\p{L}\p{N}*"()])(?:[^\p{L}\p{N}*"()]|$)#u', $split_keywords, $matches);
-			$this->split_words = $matches[1];
-		}
-		else if ($this->mbstring_regex)
-		{
-			mb_ereg_search_init($split_keywords, '(?:[^\w*"()]|^)([+\-|]?(?:[\w*"()]+\'?)*[\w*"()])(?:[^\w*"()]|$)');
-
-			while (($word = mb_ereg_search_regs()))
-			{
-				$this->split_words[] = $word[1];
-			}
-		}
-		else
-		{
-			$matches = array();
-			preg_match_all('#(?:[^\w*"()]|^)([+\-|]?(?:[\w*"()]+\'?)*[\w*"()])(?:[^\w*"()]|$)#u', $split_keywords, $matches);
-			$this->split_words = $matches[1];
-		}
+		$split_keywords = preg_replace('#([^\p{L}\p{N}\'*"()])#u', '$1$1', str_replace('\'\'', '\' \'', trim($split_keywords)));
+		$matches = array();
+		preg_match_all('#(?:[^\p{L}\p{N}*"()]|^)([+\-|]?(?:[\p{L}\p{N}*"()]+\'?)*[\p{L}\p{N}*"()])(?:[^\p{L}\p{N}*"()]|$)#u', $split_keywords, $matches);
+		$this->split_words = $matches[1];
 
 		// We limit the number of allowed keywords to minimize load on the database
 		if ($config['max_num_search_keywords'] && sizeof($this->split_words) > $config['max_num_search_keywords'])
@@ -271,41 +227,10 @@ class phpbb_search_fulltext_mysql extends phpbb_search_base
 		global $config;
 
 		// Split words
-		if ($this->pcre_properties)
-		{
-			$text = preg_replace('#([^\p{L}\p{N}\'*])#u', '$1$1', str_replace('\'\'', '\' \'', trim($text)));
-		}
-		else if ($this->mbstring_regex)
-		{
-			$text = mb_ereg_replace('([^\w\'*])', '\\1\\1', str_replace('\'\'', '\' \'', trim($text)));
-		}
-		else
-		{
-			$text = preg_replace('#([^\w\'*])#u', '$1$1', str_replace('\'\'', '\' \'', trim($text)));
-		}
-
-		if ($this->pcre_properties)
-		{
-			$matches = array();
-			preg_match_all('#(?:[^\p{L}\p{N}*]|^)([+\-|]?(?:[\p{L}\p{N}*]+\'?)*[\p{L}\p{N}*])(?:[^\p{L}\p{N}*]|$)#u', $text, $matches);
-			$text = $matches[1];
-		}
-		else if ($this->mbstring_regex)
-		{
-			mb_ereg_search_init($text, '(?:[^\w*]|^)([+\-|]?(?:[\w*]+\'?)*[\w*])(?:[^\w*]|$)');
-
-			$text = array();
-			while (($word = mb_ereg_search_regs()))
-			{
-				$text[] = $word[1];
-			}
-		}
-		else
-		{
-			$matches = array();
-			preg_match_all('#(?:[^\w*]|^)([+\-|]?(?:[\w*]+\'?)*[\w*])(?:[^\w*]|$)#u', $text, $matches);
-			$text = $matches[1];
-		}
+		$text = preg_replace('#([^\p{L}\p{N}\'*])#u', '$1$1', str_replace('\'\'', '\' \'', trim($text)));
+		$matches = array();
+		preg_match_all('#(?:[^\p{L}\p{N}*]|^)([+\-|]?(?:[\p{L}\p{N}*]+\'?)*[\p{L}\p{N}*])(?:[^\p{L}\p{N}*]|$)#u', $text, $matches);
+		$text = $matches[1];
 
 		// remove too short or too long words
 		$text = array_values($text);
@@ -908,14 +833,6 @@ class phpbb_search_fulltext_mysql extends phpbb_search_base
 		global $user, $config;
 
 		$tpl = '
-		<dl>
-			<dt><label>' . $user->lang['FULLTEXT_MYSQL_PCRE'] . '</label><br /><span>' . $user->lang['FULLTEXT_MYSQL_PCRE_EXPLAIN'] . '</span></dt>
-			<dd>' . (($this->pcre_properties) ? $user->lang['YES'] : $user->lang['NO']) . ' (PHP ' . PHP_VERSION . ')</dd>
-		</dl>
-		<dl>
-			<dt><label>' . $user->lang['FULLTEXT_MYSQL_MBSTRING'] . '</label><br /><span>' . $user->lang['FULLTEXT_MYSQL_MBSTRING_EXPLAIN'] . '</span></dt>
-			<dd>' . (($this->mbstring_regex) ? $user->lang['YES'] : $user->lang['NO']). '</dd>
-		</dl>
 		<dl>
 			<dt><label>' . $user->lang['MIN_SEARCH_CHARS'] . ':</label><br /><span>' . $user->lang['FULLTEXT_MYSQL_MIN_SEARCH_CHARS_EXPLAIN'] . '</span></dt>
 			<dd>' . $config['fulltext_mysql_min_word_len'] . '</dd>
diff --git a/phpBB/language/en/acp/search.php b/phpBB/language/en/acp/search.php
index 2badb082d6..2f46856557 100644
--- a/phpBB/language/en/acp/search.php
+++ b/phpBB/language/en/acp/search.php
@@ -54,10 +54,6 @@ $lang = array_merge($lang, array(
 	'FULLTEXT_MYSQL_INCOMPATIBLE_DATABASE'	=> 'The MySQL fulltext backend can only be used with MySQL4 and above.',
 	'FULLTEXT_MYSQL_NOT_MYISAM'				=> 'MySQL fulltext indexes can only be used with MyISAM tables.',
 	'FULLTEXT_MYSQL_TOTAL_POSTS'			=> 'Total number of indexed posts',
-	'FULLTEXT_MYSQL_MBSTRING'				=> 'Support for non-latin UTF-8 characters using mbstring:',
-	'FULLTEXT_MYSQL_PCRE'					=> 'Support for non-latin UTF-8 characters using PCRE:',
-	'FULLTEXT_MYSQL_MBSTRING_EXPLAIN'		=> 'If PCRE does not have unicode character properties, the search backend will try to use mbstring’s regular expression engine.',
-	'FULLTEXT_MYSQL_PCRE_EXPLAIN'			=> 'This search backend requires PCRE unicode character properties, only available in PHP 4.4, 5.1 and above, if you want to search for non-latin characters.',
 	'FULLTEXT_MYSQL_MIN_SEARCH_CHARS_EXPLAIN'	=> 'Words with at least this many characters will be indexed for searching. You or your host can only change this setting by changing the mysql configuration.',
 	'FULLTEXT_MYSQL_MAX_SEARCH_CHARS_EXPLAIN'	=> 'Words with no more than this many characters will be indexed for searching. You or your host can only change this setting by changing the mysql configuration.',