remove nested element using regular expression

var fraction;
var street_address = "1234 1/2 Old Town Alexandria".replace(/^\d*\s+(1[/]\d)\s+/i, function (match, capture) {
    fraction = capture.trim();
    return match.replace(capture,'')
});

fraction; // 1/2
street_address; // 1234 Old Town Alexndria

$test ='<number>1<number>2</number>3</number>';

$i=0;
$find[$i]="%<number>([^<>]*)</number>%is";
$replace[$i]="5";

$i++;
$find[$i]="%<number>([^<>]*)</number>%is";
$replace[$i]="$1";

(?sUi)\s+in\s*\(((?:[^)']+|'[^']*')*)\)

(?sUi)\s+in\s*\(((?:[^)']+|'(?:[^']|'')*')*)\)

 <?(title)="[^"]*"

$array = array(
0 => 'DHL - 4857998880',
1 => 'DHL - 4858005666',
2 => 'COA - 485344322'
);
$array = array_filter($array, function ($v) { return !preg_match('/^DHL/', $v); });
print_r($array);

Array (
  [2] => COA - 485344322 
)