$re = '/(?<!\d)\s*\.\d+\./m';
$str = 'remove 1 from .1.
XYZ is a student.2. XYZ is a boy.3. XYZ is smart.
This is a test value 1.1.
127.0.0.1';
$subst = ".";
$result = preg_replace($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