$re = '/(\'[^\']*\'|[^\',]*),\s*/';
$str = '21, 2, \'23.5R25 ETADT\', \'description, with a comma\'
22, 1, \'26.5R25 ETADT\', \'Description without a comma\'
23, 5, \'20.5R20.5\', \'Another description with ; semicolumn\'';
$subst = "\1\t";
$result = preg_replace($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