$re = '/(?:^|,\s*)BIG BOAT\s*(?=,|$)/m';
$str = 'BIG BOAT , GREEN CAR,BIG BOAT, YELLOW TRUCK, BIG BOAT, AMAZON ECHO, BIG BOAT , BLUE CAR , BIG BOAT BLUE, TABLE, GLASSES, BIG BOAT';
$subst = "TEST";
$result = preg_replace($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