$re = '/([.#0-9a-zA-Z]+\.)(\S*)\s+([0-9]+)/m';
$str = 'vib.h.p.f2.synt 4
vib.h.p.g#2.synt 7
vib.h.p.a#3.synt 8';
$subst = "$1$3.$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