$re = '/((\d*,*\d*\d)\\\\)|(\d*,\d*)|((\d*)\/)/m';
$str = '1,258\\xa0sq\\xa0mi (3,260\\xa0km2)
45\\xa0sq\\xa0mi (120\\xa0km2) \\xa03.6%
234,878
45\\xa0sq\\xa0mi (120\\xa0km2) \\xa03.6%
194/sq\\xa0mi (75/km2
';
$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