$re = '/(?<=var)(((\s+[\$\w]+[^\n{]*);)(\s+)var)(\s*)(?=(?2))/';
$str = '{
var $jqueryFoo = \'foo\';
var bar = \'bar\';
}
{
var foo = require(\'/foo\');
var bar = require(\'/bar\');
var foobar = require(\'/foobar\');
}
{
var foo = \'foo\';
var bar = \'bar\';
var baz;
}
{
var foo = \'foo\';
var bar = \'bar\';
BAZ = \'baz\';
}
{
var foo = \'foo\';
var bar = \'bar\';
var obj = {
foo: \'foo\',
bar: \'bar\'
};
}';
$subst = "\3,\4 ";
$result = preg_replace($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