PHP Manual: Split a string by string

Description

array explode ( string $delimiter , string $string [, int $limit = PHP_INT_MAX ] )

Returns an array of strings, each of which is a substring of string formed by splitting it on boundaries formed by the string delimiter.

Parameters

delimiter

The boundary string.

string

The input string.

limit

If limit is set and positive, the returned array will contain a maximum of limit elements with the last element containing the rest of string.

If the limit parameter is negative, all components except the last -limit are returned.

If the limit parameter is zero, then this is treated as 1.

Note:
Although implode can, for historical reasons, accept its parameters in either order, explode cannot. You must ensure that the delimiter argument comes before the string argument.

Return Values

Returns an array of strings created by splitting the string parameter on boundaries formed by the delimiter.

If delimiter is an empty string (""), explode will return FALSE. If delimiter contains a value that is not contained in string and a negative limit is used, then an empty array will be returned, otherwise an array containing string will be returned.

Changelog

Version	Description
5.1.0	Support for negative `limit`s was added

Examples

Example #1 explode examples


<?php
// Example 1
$pizza  = "piece1 piece2 piece3 piece4 piece5 piece6";
$pieces = explode(" ", $pizza);
echo $pieces[0]; // piece1
echo $pieces[1]; // piece2

// Example 2
$data = "foo:*:1023:1000::/home/foo:/bin/sh";
list($user, $pass, $uid, $gid, $gecos, $home, $shell) = explode(":", $data);
echo $user; // foo
echo $pass; // *

?>

Example #2 explode return examples


<?php
/* 
   A string that doesn't contain the delimiter will simply
   return a one-length array of the original string.
*/
$input1 = "hello";
$input2 = "hello,there";
$input3 = ',';
var_dump( explode( ',', $input1 ) );
var_dump( explode( ',', $input2 ) );
var_dump( explode( ',', $input3 ) );

?>

The above example will output:

array(1)
(
    [0] => string(5) "hello"
)
array(2)
(
    [0] => string(5) "hello"
    [1] => string(5) "there"
)
array(2)
(
    [0] => string(0) ""
    [1] => string(0) ""
)

Example #3 limit parameter examples


<?php
$str = 'one|two|three|four';

// positive limit
print_r(explode('|', $str, 2));

// negative limit (since PHP 5.1)
print_r(explode('|', $str, -1));
?>

The above example will output:

Array
(
    [0] => one
    [1] => two|three|four
)
Array
(
    [0] => one
    [1] => two
    [2] => three
)

Notes

Note: This function is binary-safe.

explode