$re = '/(?![\+\-\*\/\(\)\^\s])([a-zA-Z0-9]+)\^([a-zA-Z0-9]+)/m';
$str = 'w*x^2 +5^9';
$subst = "pow($1,$2)";
$result = preg_replace($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