$re = '/\s*?\'(.*?)\'\s*?=>\s*?(.*?),/m';
$str = ' \'id\' => $place->{\'places.id\'},
\'status\' => 0,
\'brondta\' => $jdate->toSql(),
\'surname\' => $place->{\'places.surname\'},
\'first_name\' => $place->{\'places.first_name\'},
\'middle_name\' => $place->{\'places.middle_name\'},
\'sex\' => $place->{\'places.sex\'},
\'birth\' => $place->{\'places.birth\'},
\'document_type\' => $place->{\'places.document_type\'},
\'document_number\' => $place->{\'places.document_number\'},
\'document_country\' => $place->{\'places.document_country\'},
\'modified_by\' => $juser->id,
\'modified_time\' => $jdate->toSql(),
';
$subst = "$placesInOrder[$placesCount]->$1 = $2;\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