$re = '/([a-zA-Z]?)([+-]?[0-9][0-9]*(\.[0-9]*)?)/m';
$str = 'twentyseven27 (if you get something in first group, invalid)
27, 56, -151.43, +15350.16f, (the boundary avoids to accept the fractional part)
e37, e+25.42, (in this case it should not be valid as it is stuck to a letter)
e25.42 (now there\'s a string in the first group)
';
$subst = "<$1, $2>";
$result = preg_replace($re, $subst, $str);
echo "The result of the substitution is ".$result;
Please keep in mind that these code samples are automatically generated and are not guaranteed to work. If you find any syntax errors, feel free to submit a bug report. For a full regex reference for PHP, please visit: http://php.net/manual/en/ref.pcre.php