$re = '/(?:\bstart:|\G(?!^))\.?\K\d+/m';
$str = 'scores:start:4.2.1.3.4.3:final:55.34.13.63.44.34';
$subst = "0";
$result = preg_replace($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