$re = '/([a-zA-Z]?)([0-9]+(\.[0-9]*)?)|([+-][0-9]+(\.[0-9]*)?)/m';
$str = 'twentyseven27 (this is rejected, as there\'s something in group 1)
27, 56, -151.43, +15350.16f, (all accepted, first two in group 2, last two in group 4)
e37, e+25.42, (first rejected, last accepted --- group 4)
e25.42 (rejected)
';
$subst = "<$1, $2, $4>";
$result = preg_replace($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