explode()

The explode() function takes a string and splits it on a given delimiter string. It returns an array of the substrings produced.

Syntax

explode($delimiter, $string, $limit)

The explode() function takes three parameters:

• $delimiter: a required string that specifies the characters on which $string will be split. The $delimiter has the following behaviors:

  • If $delimiter is an empty string, explode() will throw a ValueError exception.
  • If $delimiter is not found in $string and a negative $length is used, an empty array is returned.
  • If $delimiter is not found in $string and $length is positive or omitted, an array containing $string is returned.
  • If $delimiter is found at the start or end of $string, empty values for each $delimiter will be added to the beginning or end of the returned array respectively.

• $string: a required string that will be split by the explode() function.

• $limit: an optional int that specifies how many strings will be returned in the resulting array as follows:

  • A positive value will return up to $limit strings if more than $limit strings can be produced, splitting on $delimiter; the last element will contain the remainder of $string.
  • A $limit of 0 is treated as 1.
  • A negative $limit will omit the last n elements from the result.
  • If $limit is omitted, explode() will return as many substrings as possible.

Example

The following example uses the explode() function to convert a string of fruits separated by ", " to an array of fruits. Then the print_r() function prints the information about the returned array to the console:

<?php
  print_r (explode(", ", "apple, strawberry, orange"));
?>

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The example will result in the following output:

Array
(
  [0] => apple
  [1] => strawberry
  [2] => orange
)

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Codebyte Example

The following shows three examples of the explode() function operating on one comma-delimited string.

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