Question

How can I separate the leading letter from the trailing number in each of the sample strings AND remove the unneeded zero-padding from the number?

$ab = "A00000001"
echo $a; // gives result "A"
echo $b; // gives result "1"

$ab = "B01250"
echo $a; // gives result "B"
echo $b; // gives result "1250"

Answer 1

$ab = "A0000000001";
$a = substr( $ab, 0, 1 );
$b = (int)substr( $ab, 1 );

More information about substr can be found here: http://us.php.net/substr