By employing an exponential-type approximation scheme to replace the centrifugal term, we have approximately solved the Dirac equation for a spin-1/2 particle subjected to complex parity–time-symmetric scalar and vector Pöschl–Teller (PT) potentials with arbitrary spin–orbit -wave states in view of spin and pseudospin (p-spin) symmetries. The real bound-state energy eigenvalue equation and the corresponding two-spinor components wave function expressible in terms of hypergeometric functions are obtained by means of wave function analysis. The spin- Dirac equation and the spin-0 Klein–Gordon equation with complex PT potentials share the same energy spectrum under the choice of (i.e. exact spin and p-spin symmetries).