$re = '/((?:(.+\n.+){3})(\n))/m';
$str = 'test1;
test2;
test3;
test4;
read5;
read6;
read7;
read8;
read9;
read10;';
$subst = "$1\n";
$result = preg_replace($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