$re = '/(M[1|2])?\s+(\D+)(\d{4})_(\d{4})/u';
$str = 'M1 hello world 1234_5678 ip som lorem 9321_1231 iste natus error sit voluptatem 4313_4351 ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt 4312_1234
M2 magnam aliquam 4351_3143 sed quia non numquam 3123_1432';
$subst = "\1\t\2\t\3\n";
$result = preg_replace($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