$re = '/(?<!\d(?=.\d))\./';
$str = '.a.b.1.2.
.a.b.1..2.
.a.b.1..2...1.1
.1.a..1..1.....1.1......1
-a-b-1.2-';
$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