Regex to detect numbers at start of string.

Question

I have a string, consisting of: some numbers, a single letter, some numbers and letters.

For example: 987342j34kj3

I want to output something like:

$numbers = 987342
$letter = j
$restofit = 34kj3

Any idea how to do this with PHP? Can I use preg_match?

So, to clarify, your pattern is "some numbers, a letter, something which is letters and numbers"? — lonesomeday
– lonesomeday, Commented Dec 30, 2010 at 18:54
where is the letter k coming from? Is this consistent or is is that an arbitrary match? (How do you want it divided?) — Brad Christie
– Brad Christie, Commented Dec 30, 2010 at 18:55
Was confused how you skipped over the first j for k, then back to it. @BoltClock has the answer for you. — Brad Christie
– Brad Christie, Commented Dec 30, 2010 at 18:59

BoltClock · Accepted Answer · 2010-12-30 18:54:46Z

4

No problem:

preg_match('/(\d+)([a-z])([a-z0-9]+)/', $string, $matches);

// First element of $matches is the entire matched string, ignore it
list(, $numbers, $letter, $restofit) = $matches;

answered Dec 30, 2010 at 18:54

BoltClock

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4 Comments

Brad Christie Over a year ago

Except @David19801 skips over the first j and numbers 3&4. This will catch "987342", "k", then the rest of "34kj3".

David19801 Over a year ago

I just caught the end delimiter not there. Thanks :) The k was a typo, corrected to j as you noticed correctly!

BoltClock Over a year ago

Remember if you need to match both uppercase and lowercase characters, slap an i modifier onto your regex.

David19801 Over a year ago

Tried just now, works perfect, confirmed. Thanks a million. Needed the i too, but that was my fault not mentioning in the question. will tick once times up.

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