$re = '/\s*(?:\(\{[^/]*/\s*/\s*}\)|NULL)\s*/';
$str = 'NULL ({ / / }) Regina ({ 4 p1 p2 / / }) Shueller ({ 5 p1 p2 / / }) works ({ / / }) for ({ / / }) Italy ({ 14 / / }) \'s ({ 15 / / }) La ({ 16 / / }) Repubblica ({ 17 / / }) newspaper ({ 18 / / }) . ({ 38 / / })';
$subst = " ";
$result = preg_replace($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