$re = '/\b(\d{3}_[a-zA-Z]+)(\d{3}\.jpg)/';
$str = '205_CarlCarlson_003.jpg [size_info] [date_info] [geo_location_info] ... [other info]
205_CarlCarlson007.jpg [size_info] [date_info] [geo_location_info] ... [other info].
321_AliceAllison001.jpg [size_info] [date_info] [geo_location_info] ... [other info]
321_AliceAllison002.jpg [size_info] [date_info] [geo_location_info] ... [other info]
321_AliceAllison003.jpg [size_info] [date_info] [geo_location_info] ... [other info]
...
321_AliceAllison125.jpg [size_info] [date_info] [geo_location_info] ... [other info]
205_CarlCarlson001.jpg [size_info] [date_info] [geo_location_info] ... [other info]
205_CarlCarlson002.jpg [size_info] [date_info] [geo_location_info] ... [other info]
205_CarlCarlson_003.jpg [size_info] [date_info] [geo_location_info] ... [other info]
205_CarlCarlson007.jpg [size_info] [date_info] [geo_location_info] ... [other info]';
$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