$re = '/(\/\*[\s\S]*?\*\/|\/\/.*?$)|(?:\b(?=[A-Za-z][A-Za-z\d]*(?:_[A-Za-z\d]++)+\b)|\G(?<!\b))([A-Za-z\d])([A-Za-z\d]*)(?:_|\b)/m';
$str = '_here _is an_EX4mple, thisisnot_, BUT_th1s_1s, also_not_, y_3_s_sir
/* Ok, we are inside a comment so_this_does_not_count, nor_this
and_def_not_this
or_this */ outside_is_fair_game
some other_stuff here /* another_multiline_comment */
no_double__underscore but_yes_this not__this
this_comes_before // a single_line comment
and stuff_aFTER_tHE_CoMmEnT, except 1cannot_start_with_a_number, and finally_
not_4cr0ss_mult1p13_l1nes';
$subst = "$1\U$2\L$3\E";
$result = preg_replace($re, $subst, $str);
echo "The result of the substitution is ".$result;
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