$re = '/(\d+(\.\d+)?)/';
$str = '\'Discount 7.5%\' should get 7.5
\'Discount 15%\' should get 15
\'Discount 10%\' should get 10
\'Discount 5%\' should get 5';
$subst = "$1";
$result = preg_replace($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