$re = '/<br><br>(?!<br)/';
$str = 'Test1 is here<br><br>Now comes Test2<br><br>Then test 3<br><br><br>Thats it.';
$subst = "<br>";
$result = preg_replace($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