- substr: documentation ( source)
- preg_replace: documentation ( source)
<?php
// Positive numbers:
$a=substr("tag1,tag10,tag11,tag13,tag15,tag17,tag19,tag20,tag4,tag9,tag8,tag7,tag6,tag5,tag3,tag2,tag18,tag16,tag14,tag12",0,4);
echo $a;
echo preg_replace("/tag/","",substr("tag1,tag10,tag11,tag13,tag15,tag17,tag19,tag20,tag4,tag9,tag8,tag7,tag6,tag5,tag3,tag2,tag18",5));
?>