$re = '/\b(?:e\.g\.|i\.e\.)(*SKIP)(*F)|(?:\b|\h+)?\pP+(?:\b|\h+)?/';
$str = 'Blabla, i.e. e.g. blabla...';
$subst = " \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