$re = '/\bhighp(?:\s+\w+)*\s+(?:float|[ib]?vec[2-4]|mat[2-4](?:x[2-4])?)(*SKIP)(?!)|\b(?:const\s+)?float\b/m';
$str = 'const float x;
float foo1;
highp const float foo1;
const highp float foo1;
precision highp float foo2;';
$subst = "lowp $0";
$result = preg_replace($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