http://php.net/manual/en/function.ord.php#109812

ordutf8.php

<?php

function ordutf8($string, &$offset) {
    $code = ord(substr($string, $offset,1)); 
    if ($code >= 128) {        //otherwise 0xxxxxxx
        if ($code < 224) $bytesnumber = 2;                //110xxxxx
        else if ($code < 240) $bytesnumber = 3;        //1110xxxx
        else if ($code < 248) $bytesnumber = 4;    //11110xxx
        $codetemp = $code - 192 - ($bytesnumber > 2 ? 32 : 0) - ($bytesnumber > 3 ? 16 : 0);
        for ($i = 2; $i <= $bytesnumber; $i++) {
            $offset ++;
            $code2 = ord(substr($string, $offset, 1)) - 128;        //10xxxxxx
            $codetemp = $codetemp*64 + $code2;
        }
        $code = $codetemp;
    }
    $offset += 1;
    if ($offset >= strlen($string)) $offset = -1;
    return $code;
}

// $offset is a reference, as it is not easy to split a utf-8 char-by-char. Useful to iterate on a string:

$text = "abcàê߀abc";

$offset = 0;

while ($offset >= 0) {
    echo $offset.": ".ordutf8($text, $offset)."\n";
}

/* returns:
0: 97
1: 98
2: 99
3: 224
5: 234
7: 223
9: 8364
12: 97
13: 98
14: 99
*/