Question

I have this pregmatch which allows for only numeric characters but i need to allow for the potential of one alpha character at the start of the string such as

T17900

$value = preg_replace("/[^0-9\s]/", "", $value);

EXAMPLE:

IF this is my $value = 22202-HAV.jpg

I need only 22202.

If this is my $value = T22202-HAV.jpg

I need only T22202

Answer 1

  $value = preg_replace('~^([a-z][0-9]*|[0-9]+)?.*~i', "$1", $value);

basically, if the string starts with a letter + some digits or just digits, keep this part and delete the rest.