Get Group match letter
<?php
$s= 'aaabbbcceeffaaeeeaaabbzmmm';
function groupby( $s ){
static $a = [];
static $i = 0;
$o = strspn( $s, $s[$i], $i);
$a[ $i ] = [ $s[$i] => $o ];
$i += $o;
if( $i < strlen($s) ) {
groupby($s);
}
return $a;
}
print_r(groupby($s));
?>