Daft string question

[benny_g]

I have a really simple string question that I should be able to answer myself but have lost my php book.

I would like to take a UK Post Code and return the first letters of the code.

For example:

NR2 2EY = NR
L2 7DG = L
BR7 3SH = BR

Very straight forward I know but I can't find the relevant php function.

Thanks in advance,

Ben.

[laserlight]

You're probably looking for something like regex.

e.g.

if (preg_match('/^[A-Za-z]+/', "NR2 2EY", $matches))
	echo $matches[0];

Here my idea is to match alphabetic characters from the start until some non-alphabetic character is found, or the string terminates.