re = /(<\/a>)([^<]+)?(<\/p>)/m
str = '<p class="calibre1"><a id="p1"></a>Chapter 370: Slamming straight on</p>
<p class="softbreak"> </p>
<p class="calibre1">Hearing Yan Zhaoge’s suggestion, the Jade Sea City martial practitioners here were all stunned.</p>
<p class="calibre1"><a id="p7"></a>Chapter 372: Yan Zhaoge’s plan</p>
<p class="softbreak"> </p>
<p class="calibre1">Yan Zhaoge and Ah Hu sat on Pan-Pan’s back, black water swirling about Pan-Pan’s entire body, keeping away the seawater as he shot forward at lightning speed.</p>'
subst = '\\1<h2>\\2</h2>\\3'
result = str.gsub(re, subst)
# Print the result of the substitution
puts 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 Ruby, please visit: http://ruby-doc.org/core-2.2.0/Regexp.html