$re = '/^"((?:[a-zA-z]+ ?)+|[0-9]+)(?:-?\d)+(?=")/m';
$str = '"Article number" "Name" "Third Column"
"Shorts Artic" "Swa..." "2018-07-28"
"Shorts Artic-1" "Swa..." ""
"Shorts Artic-2-1" "Swa..." "https://test-domain.com/..."
"Shorts Artic-2-2-1" "Sw..." ""
"Shorts Artic-2-2-2-2-1" "Ba..." "-asd"
"Shorts Artic-2-2-2-2-2-1" "Nus..."
"Shorts Artic-2-2-2-2-2-1-1" "Lek.."
"0858-1" "Jacket Blue.."
"0858-2-1" "Jacket Re.."
"0858-2-2-1" "Int..."
"0858-2-2-2-1" "In..."
"0858-2-2-2-2-1" "Int..."
"0858-2-2-2-2-2-1" "Int..."
"0858-2-2-2-2-2-2-1" "Int..."
"0858-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-1" "In..."
"0858-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2" "In..."
"0858-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-1" "In..." "6 107-124 cm"
"stl 31-35-1-1-1-1-2-2-2-1-1" "In..."';
$subst = "\"\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