$re = '/(\/ice\/flag\/(?:[^?#\n]*\/)?)[^\/#?\n]+/m';
$str = 'https://test.com/plants/ice/flag/237468372912873
https://test.com/plants/extra/ice/flag/237468372912873
https://test.com/plants/ice/flag/extra/237468372912873
https://test.com/plants/ice/flag/extra/extra/237468372912873
https://test.com/plants/ice/flag/extra/237468372912873?paramOne=1¶mTwo=2/12#someHash
https://test.com/plants/not_ice/flag/237468372912873';
$subst = "$1redacted";
$result = preg_replace($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