$re = '/\b(?:0+:){2,}/';
$str = '2001:db8:0:0:0:0:2:1
fe80:00:00:00:8e3:a11a:2a49:1148';
$subst = ":";
$result = preg_replace($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