I have an array that's created as follows: $string = "73G 146C 311- 309.1C"; $arr = preg_split("/[\s]+/", $string); Now I need to take each element in that array, and break them up even further so that I get: 73G => "73" and "G" 146C => "146" and "C" 311- => "311" and "-" 309.1C => "309", "1", and "C" (notice 3 elements here) I'm having a hard time trying to figure out what the proper regex would be for this, or whether that's the right thing to do. So far I've gotten this: preg_match("/^(?P<location>\d+)(?P<letter>[A-Z-])/", $item, $matches); print_r($matches); Which gives me: Array ( [0] => 73G [location] => 73 [1] => 73 [letter] => G [2] => G ) Array ( [0] => 146C [location] => 146 [1] => 146 [letter] => C [2] => C ) Array ( [0] => 311- [location] => 311 [1] => 311 [letter] => - [2] => - ) Array ( ) However that's as far as it goes. For the other number it returns an empty array and I know why, the decimal point. Now I can evaluate each $item every time, see if they contain a decimal point, and pass it to a different regex string, but that seems rather inefficient to me. So how can I do this all in one fell swoop? Anyone want to take a stab at it?