$re = '`^([^,\n]+(?:,|$)){2}([^,\n]+(?:,|$))*|^.*$`m';
$str = '2.99
1.55763239875389,2.80373831775701,1.24610591900312
1.55763239875389,2.80373831775701,1.24610591900312,4.04984423676012,26.4797507788162,2.49221183800623,299';
$subst = "$1";
$result = preg_replace($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