$re = '/(x(\d)(,)?)(x(\d)(,)?)?/';
$str = 'X1,O1,X2,O2,Z3,X4,O4,Z5,X6,O6 <- repeated groups broken apart
x1,x2,Z3,x4,Z5,x6
X1,X2,O1,O2,Z3,X4,O4,Z5,X6,O6 <- repeated groups kept together';
$subst = "X$2,X$5$3O$2,O$5$3";
$result = preg_replace($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