$re = '/(?:^(?:[([]?(?:_xTagsx_)(?!\.\w)(?:and|[ ,.&+/-])*)+[:. \)\]-]*|\b(?:(?:[:. \(\[-]|in|with|using|by|for)*(?:(?:_xTagsx_)(?:and|[ ,&+/)\]-])*)*)+([?.! ]*)$)/im';
$str = 'Note use of _xTagsx_ placeholder; this is replaced in code.
Be careful: any escaped characters will require double-escape in string to form regexp.
** Flags should be gi in production; \'m\' for test here only.
Remove leading tags from:
_xTagsx_ & _xTagsx_: Rest of title
_xTagsx_ - _xTagsx_ - _xTagsx_ - Rest of title
_xTagsx_ Rest of title
_xTagsx_, _xTagsx_ & _xTagsx_ Rest of title
_xTagsx_. Checking if string contains text from an array of substrings.
_xTagsx_ and _xTagsx_:
_xTagsx_ - Rest of title
_xTagsx_/_xTagsx_ - Rest of title
(_xTagsx_) Rest of title
[_xTagsx_][_xTagsx_] Rest of title
Remove Trailing tags (but leave final punctuation, if any) from:
How to use <= in _xTagsx_ _xTagsx_?
Rest of title (_xTagsx_)
Rest of title [_xTagsx_][_xTagsx_]
Rest of title (_xTagsx_/_xTagsx_ - _xTagsx_)
Rest of title - in _xTagsx_.
Rest of title by _xTagsx_?
Rest of title for _xTagsx_!
Rest of title with _xTagsx_?
Leave alone:
Use of _xTagsx_ in general.
Rest of title Kremlin _xTagsx_.
_xTagsx_.io.InvalidClassException
';
$subst = "$1";
$result = preg_replace($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