$re = '/^(?:(?:(?:(\d+)d\s*)?(\d+)h\s*)?(\d+)m\s*)?(\d+)s$/m';
$str = '1d 2h 3m 4s
1h 2m 3s
1m 2s
1s
1d2h3m4s
1h2m3s
1m2s
1s';
$subst = "$1 days $2 hours $3 minutes $4 days";
$result = preg_replace($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