$re = '/(--([A-z\-]*?):(?<!--rgb:)).*?;/m';
$str = ' --color-primary: #0017a8;
--color-primary--rgb: #{hexToRGB(color-primary)};
--variablename: blabla blablabla;
--color-secondary: #0631ff;
--color-secondary--rgb: #{hexToRGB(color-secondary)};
--color-tertiary: #00ffe0;
--color-tertiary--rgb: #{hexToRGB(color-tertiary)};
--color-green-dark: #257426;
--color-green-dark--rgb: #{hexToRGB(color-green-dark)};
--font-family: TTCommons, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
--transition: 0.3s ease;
--box-shadow: 0 0 12px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.3);';
$subst = "$1 #{$$$2};";
$result = preg_replace($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