$re = '/(Cass\.\s+com\.(?:,\s+(?:avis|QPC))?,\s+(\d{1,2})e?r?(?:\s| )+(\w+\.?)\s+(\d{4}),\s+n(?:°|°|o)s?(?:\s| )+(\d{2}-\d{2})\.?(\d{3}))/m';
$str = 'Cass. com., 5 janvier 2012, n° 12-45.644';
$subst = "<renvoi type=\"CASS\" refid=\"$5$6\" jour=\"$2\" mois=\"$3\" annee=\"$4\">$1</renvoi>";
$result = preg_replace($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