$re = '/\{([A-Z0-9\-_]+)\}/';
$str = '<link href="{VAR_TEMPLATE_PATH}css/common.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">
';
$subst = "<?php \" . $this->compile_var(\1) . \" ?>";
$result = preg_replace($re, $subst, $str, 1);
echo "The result of the substitution is ".$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