$re = '/(\d+\.?(?:\d{1,2})?) (\bmillions?\b|\bbillions?\b|\btrillions?\b|\bmeters?\b|\bmiles?\b|\%)/m';
$str = '3 billion
3 million
3 %
2 meters';
$subst = "<span class='highlighted'>\" $1_$2 \"</span>";
$result = preg_replace($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