So what I was trying to do is replace lines such as

"<td class=\"green\">8w</td>
<td class=\"green\">32.48</td>
<td class=\"green\">27.41</td>
</tr>"

with "</tr>".

I attempted to use $instr = preg_replace('@<td class="(.*?)">8w</td>(.*?)</tr>@', '</tr>', $instr), but the (.*?) consistantly failed to match the \n's, when they should have.

I eventually had to expand the \n's literally, meaning I had to trap the entire line, instead of just being able to use (.*?), so my preg_replace looked like so: $instr = preg_replace('@<td class="(.*?)">8w</td>\n<td class="(.*?)">(.*?)</td>\n<td class="(.*?)">(.*?)</td>\n</tr>@', '</tr>', $instr)

This short script demonstrates the problem and the solution:

<?
    //view the html without needing to view->source :)
    header("Content-Type: text/plain");
    $instr = "<td class=\"green\">8w</td>\n<td class=\"green\">32.48</td>\n<td class=\"green\">27.41</td>\n</tr>";

    //problem - doesn't work when it should
    $instr = preg_replace('@<td class="(.*?)">8w</td>(.*?)</tr>@', '</tr>', $instr);
    print($instr);

    print("\n\n"); //spacer

    //semi-solution - works, but shouldn't be necessary
    $instr = preg_replace('@<td class="(.*?)">8w</td>\n<td class="(.*?)">(.*?)</td>\n<td class="(.*?)">(.*?)</td>\n</tr>@', '</tr>', $instr);
    print($instr);
?>