$re = '/\bconfig(\.[\w]+)*\.json\b/i';
$str = 'This is config.json file
The stage config.staging.json file
The anything config.anything.json file
The mulit config.any.thing.json file
This is config.jsonot file
config..json';
$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