$re = '/^(\w+)\W+(\w+)\W+(\w+)\h+(##(.+))$/m';
$str = 'quirky, stable, fun ##Paul and Jill
mean, rude, sad ##Dave
rich, foolish, gorgeous ##Amanda';
$subst = "$5|$1$4|$2$4|$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