$re = '/(?=(?:\d|(?<=\d)[_\W]\d){4,5})\d|(?<=(?<!^)\G)\d|(?<=\d)[_\W]\d/m';
$str = 'any text 000 00 more texts" will become "any text ***** more texts"..notice that the space is removed
"any text 000 00 more texts 00" will become "any text ***** more texts 00"
"any text 000 00 more texts 00 00" will become "any text ***** more texts ****"
"any text 00-00 more texts 00_00" will become "any text **** more texts ****"';
$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