$re = '/(?<=-)([^_]+)_([^\.]+)/m';
$str = '-cloth_ball.properties
-cloth_puppet.properties
-plastic_ball.properties
-plastic_puppet.properties
-wooden_ball.properties
-wooden_puppet.properties';
$subst = "$2_$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