$string = "php8java21c17";
preg_match_all('/[a-zA-Z]/', $string, $matchLetters);
preg_match_all('/\d/', $string, $matchDigits);
$letters = array();
$digits = array();
$letters = str_split(implode('', $matchLetters[0]));
$digits = str_split(implode('', $matchDigits[0]));
print_r($letters);
print_r($digits);
/*
run:
Array
(
[0] => p
[1] => h
[2] => p
[3] => j
[4] => a
[5] => v
[6] => a
[7] => c
)
Array
(
[0] => 8
[1] => 2
[2] => 1
[3] => 1
[4] => 7
)
*/