$re = '/(\d*)( *)(x|\*)/m';
$str = '500 g (4 x 125 g)
1,8 kg (20 * 90 g)
380 g (2 x 190 g)
1,6 kg (16 x 100 g)
1,6 kg (226x100 g)
8 x 100 g
2 l';
$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