$re = '/^(?(DEFINE)(?\'longitude\'[-+]?(?|180(?>\.0+)?|(?>1[0-7]\d|[1-9]?\d)(?>\.\d+)?))(?\'latitude\'[-+]?(?|90(?>\.0+)?|[1-8]?\d(?>\.\d+)?)))LINESTRING\s*\((?>(?:(?(?<=\()(?>\s*)|(?>\s*,\s*))(?P>longitude)(?>\s*)(?P>latitude)\s*){2,})\)$/';
$str = 'LINESTRING(-5.764642842113973 41.915708669165184 ,-5.7630935311317435 41.91684083791108,-5.765079036355018 41.918309783201565,-5.765336528420449 41.918293068151534,-5.765593685209751 41.91818504391658,-5.7656215131282815 41.91791859998719,-5.764469504356383 41.916424697127816,-5.764911398291588 41.91594194048126 , -5.764642842113973 41.915708669165184 )';
$subst = "";
$result = preg_replace($re, $subst, $str, 1);
echo "The result of the substitution is ".$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