$re = '/\/(.*(?<!friends)(?<!friends\/))\?.*$/m';
$str = '/friends?guest=1&event=chill_out&submit=2
/friends/?more_params
/friend/?more_params
/friend?more_params';
$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