$re = '/^(?:(25[0-5]|2[0-4]\d|1\d\d|[1-9]\d|\d)\.){3}(?1)$/m';
$str = '1.255.23.140';
$subst = "";
$result = preg_replace($re, $subst, $str, 1);
echo "The result of the substitution is ".$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