$re = '`(?|(e)(pisodes?)|(c)(hapters?)|(c)(hs?)|(e)(ps?)|(c)(s?)|(e)(s?)|()())\s*((\d+(?:\.\d+)?(?:[A-Z]\b)?)(?:\s*(?:[,&+-]|and)\s*(?:(?:e(?:pisodes?)|c(?:hapters?)|c(?:hs?)|e(?:ps?)|c(?:s?)|e(?:s?)|)\s*)?(?4))*)`ui';
$str = 'chapter 2A Hello
chapter 2AHello
text chapter 25.6 text
// c~25.6
text chapters 23, 24, 25 text
// c~23-25
text chapter 23, 25 text
// c~23 & 25
text chapter 23 & 24 & 25 text
// c~23-25
text c25.5-30 text
// c~25.5-30
text c99-c102 text
// c~99-102
text chapter 1 - 3 text
// c~1-3
33 text chapter 1, 2 text 3
// c~1-2
chapter 25.6 & chapter 29
// c~25.6 & 29
chapter 25+c26
// c~25-26
chapter 25 + 26 + 27
// c~25-27
chapter 10.4C
= c~10.4 part 3
chapter 2B
= c~2 part 2';
$subst = "";
$result = preg_replace($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