$re = '/(?:([\/≈↓£°!↑]).*?\1|\([^()]*\)|<[^<>]*>)(*SKIP)(*F)|\s+/m';
$str = '↑hey girls↑ can I <join yo:u>
((v: grunts))
!damn shit! got it
I mean /yeah we saw each other at a party:/↓ the other day
↑!THAT\'S! A WOMAN !THAT\'S! A WOMAN↑';
$subst = "\n";
$result = preg_replace($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