$re = '/^(?!#\|\h*label:).+(*SKIP)(*F)|_/m';
$str = '#| label: my_chunk_label
my_function_name <- function(x)';
$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