Split, explode. In PHP the explode() function is used for splitting strings on a delimiter. It takes the parts of a string and separates them into an array.
With a delimiter, we specify where the separations occur. Usually we separate based on a character like a comma or newline. We can loop over the resulting array with foreach.
Example. To begin we specify an input string that contains 3 words, and 2 commas separating the words. This is the string we want to split apart.
Argument 1 We invoke explode() with two arguments—the first is the delimiter character. In this example, the comma is our delimiter.
Argument 2 We pass the string we want to split apart as the second argument to explode().
$value = "one,two,three";
// Separate string based on comma.
$result = explode(",", $value);
// Loop over result and print elements.
foreach ($result as $r) {
print($r . "\n");
}one
two
three
Maximum array size. It is possible to specify the maximum array size we want to receive from explode. We specify a limit argument as the third parameter to explode.
Here By specifying a limit of 2, we receive at most 2 elements in our array. The last element has all remaining elements.
$value = "a,b,c,d";
// Split into two elements.
$result = explode(",", $value, 2);
var_dump($result);array(2) {
[0]=>
string(1) "a"
[1]=>
string(5) "b,c,d"
}
Explode, implode. In PHP the "split" and "join" functions are called explode and implode, and with them we can round-trip our data. We can get the original string back after splitting it apart.
$value = "blue,red,green";
var_dump($value);
// Explode the string, and then implode it to get the original back.
$result = explode(",", $value);
$value = implode(",", $result);
var_dump($value);string(14) "blue,red,green"
string(14) "blue,red,green"
Str_split. There is a string split function in PHP, but it works to separate a string into fixed-sized chunks of a certain length. It does not act upon delimiters.
Argument 1 We pass the string we want to separate into chunks as the first argument to str_split.
Argument 2 The desired size of each chunk (a separate string element) is the second argument.
$value = "aaaaaaa";
// Use split to get "chunks" from the string.// Split in PHP does not use delimiters.
$result = str_split($value, 3);
var_dump($result);array(3) {
[0]=>
string(3) "aaa"
[1]=>
string(3) "aaa"
[2]=>
string(1) "a"
}
By exploding and imploding strings, we convert strings to arrays and back to strings in PHP. These functions are named in an unusual way, but they perform standard split and join operations.
Dot Net Perls is a collection of tested code examples. Pages are continually updated to stay current, with code correctness a top priority.
Sam Allen is passionate about computer languages. In the past, his work has been recommended by Apple and Microsoft and he has studied computers at a selective university in the United States.
This page was last updated on May 25, 2023 (image).
