$re = '`([,;:"\'\\\\\s])es1\b|\bes1([,;:"\',\\\\\s])`m';
$str = ':es1
es2
aaes1aa
:es3,
es1:
ees1,
ees1
{
"es1 :';
$subst = "${1}es4$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