$re = '/^(.*)_([12]?\d{1,2}\.){3}[12]?\d{1,2}_\d+\.([a-z]{3,4})$/i';
$str = 'pdf_of_filename_53613785621.183761237_127.10.10.0_8726347.xls';
$subst = "\1.\3";
$result = preg_replace($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