$re = '/(?<=CHEM|HIST)\s*|(?<=MATHS)\s*/m';
$str = 'CLASS 8B CHEM | MON | 10AM to 10:40AM
--Rescheduled-- CLASS 8B MATHS | MON | 11AM to 11:40AM
CLASS 8B HIST | MON | 5PM to 5:40PM\'
CLASS 8B CHEM | MON | 10AM to 10:40AM
';
$subst = "<A-WHITE-SPACE>";
$result = preg_replace($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