$re = '/(st=([^& ]*)|)(.*c=([^& ]*)|)(.*t=([^& ]*)|)(.*k=([^& ]*)|) HTTP/m';
$str = 'st=expand&c=22&t=button&k=fun HTTP
c=22&t=button&k=fun HTTP
st=expand&c=22&t=party&k=fun HTTP
st=expand&c=22&k=fun HTTP
st=expand HTTP
HTTP';
$subst = "\2,\4,\6,\8";
$result = preg_replace($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