$re = '/^NODE_([0-9]+)_.*_([0-9]+)/m';
$str = 'NODE_1_length_59711_cov_84.026979_g0_i0_1 12.8
NODE_1_length_59711_cov_84.026979_g0_i0_2 18.9
NODE_2_length_59711_cov_84.026979_g0_i0_1 14.3
NODE_2_length_59711_cov_84.026979_g0_i0_2 16.1
NODE_165433_length_59711_cov_84.026979_g0_i0_1 29';
$subst = "$1_$2";
$result = preg_replace($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