$re = '~(?i)<ftype>.*?</ftype>[\r\n]*~';
$str = '<xml>
<EType>
<E></E>
<F></F>
<FType><E1></E1><E2></E2></FType>
<FType><E1></E1><E2></E2></FType>
<FType><E1></E1><E2></E2></FType>
<G></G>
</EType>
</xml>';
$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