Usually we extract username using a combination of functions. Let me show you the example.
1. Using substr_replace() and strpos:
<?php
$email = 'vijithbk@gmail.com';
echo substr_replace($email, "", strpos($email, "@"));
?>
// Output
vijithbk
2. Using strstr => this is available php 5.3.1+
<?php
$email = 'vijithbk@gmail.com';
echo strstr($email,"@",true);
?>
// Output
vijithbk
Is that simple??
if you have got some other simple methods dnt forget to post it as comments