$re = '/(49)\(?([0-9]{3})[\)\s\/]?([0-9]{8})/m';
$str = '+4917112345678
004917112345678
+49171/12345678
0049171 12345678
004312345678';
$subst = "\1\2\3";
$result = preg_replace($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