$re = '/^(?:[^_]*_){3}([^_]+_[^_]+)_(?:[^_]+_){3}([^_]+_[^_]+).*/m';
$str = 'a_b_c_d_e_f_g_1_2_3_4_5
_b_c_dd_ee_f_g_1_222_333_4_5
b_c_dd_ee_f_g_1_222_333_4_5
_c_dd_ee_ff_g_1_222_333_444_5
c_dd_ee_ff_g_1_222_333_444_55_66
_dd_ee_ff_gg_1_222_333_444_55_66';
$subst = "$1_$2";
$result = preg_replace($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