$re = '/(?m)(^|(?<=,))\s+|\s+($|(?=,))/m';
$str = 'SpacesOnLeft,SpacesOnRight,SpacesLeftAndRight,Normal
1,1 , 1 ,1
2,2 , 2 ,2
red clover,red clover , red clover ,red clover';
$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