$re = '/(?s)(?<!\*)\*{2}(?!\*(?!\*(?!\*)))(.*?)(?<!\*(?<!(?<!\*)\*\*))\*{2}(?!\*)/m';
$str = '
**Az akkád shadu, asszír-babiloni sadu = hegy szavai sátáni összefüggéséről
**
****
[[Nem tudom maygorul]] hungarian is difficult :)
[[Nem tudom maygorul]]';
$subst = "#### $1";
$result = preg_replace($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