$re = '/rgba(?=(.*)<\/tspan>)/';
$str = '<text>
<tspan stroke=\'\' opacity=\'\' fill=\'rgba(0,0,0,0)\'>abc</tspan>
<tspan fill=\'rgba(0,0,0,0)\'><h1>anything</h1></tspan>
</text>
<rect fill=\'rgba(0,0,0,0)\'></rect>';
$subst = "rgb";
$result = preg_replace($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