$re = '/^[+-](?:(a)|(bc))+(?:(a)|(bc))*+([+-x\/](?:(a)|(bc))+(?:(a)|(bc))*)*$/m';
$str = '+a-bc-a
-bc+a-a
-b+a+ab';
$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