$re = '/(?=(?=(?\'a\'[\s\S]*))(?<!\'b\'<p\b[^>][\s\S]color[\s\S]:[\s\S]black[^>][\s\S]>[\s\S]<span\b[^>][\s\S]>[\s\S])(?<!<span\b[^>][\s\S]color[\s\S]:[\s\S]black[^>][\s\S]>[\s\S])_(?=\k\'a\'\z)|(?<=(?=x^|(?<!&b))[\s\S]))<code\s*style="background-color:\s*transparent;">/m';
$str = '<html>
<p style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 18px; color: black; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; background-color: cyan;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><code style="background-color: transparent;"><b>some text here</b></code></span></p>
<span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; background-color: cyan;"><code style="background-color: transparent;"><b>some text here</b></code></span>
<code style="background-color: transparent;">
<p style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 18px; color: cyan; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; background-color: cyan;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><code style="background-color: transparent;"><b>some text here</b></code></span></p>
<span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; background-color: cyan;"><code style="background-color: transparent;"><b>some text here</b></code></span>
<p style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 18px; color: cyan; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; background-color: navy;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><code style="background-color: transparent;"><b>some text here</b></code></span></p>
</html>';
preg_match_all($re, $str, $matches, PREG_SET_ORDER, 0);
// Print the entire match result
var_dump($matches);
Please keep in mind that these code samples are automatically generated and are not guaranteed to work. If you find any syntax errors, feel free to submit a bug report. For a full regex reference for PHP, please visit: http://php.net/manual/en/ref.pcre.php