$re = '/\
[ \t]*\
{1,}/m';
$str = 'testing
- test 1
- test 3
⁃ test 4
• testing
◦ test 2
⁃ tester
- retest
⁃ test
';
$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