PHP explode() Function
Topic: PHP String ReferencePrev|Next
Description
The explode() function splits a string into an array by a separator string like space, comma, etc.
The following table summarizes the technical details of this function.
| Return Value: | Returns an array of strings. |
|---|---|
| Version: | PHP 4+ |
Syntax
The basic syntax of the explode() function is given with:
The following example shows the explode() function in action.
Example
Run this code »<?php
// Sample string
$str = "The birds are flying in the sky.";
// Split string by space and print
print_r(explode(" ", $str));
?>Parameters
The explode() function accepts the following parameters.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| separator | Required. Specifies where to split the string. |
| string | Required. Specifies the string to be splitted. |
| limit |
Optional. Specifies the number of array elements to return. Possible values are:
|
More Examples
Here're some more examples showing how explode() function actually works:
The following example shows how the limit parameter basically works.
Example
Run this code »<?php
// Sample string
$str = "One, Two, Three, Four, Five";
// Positive limit
print_r(explode(", ", $str, 3));
// Negative limit
print_r(explode(", ", $str, -1));
// Zero limit
print_r(explode(", ", $str, 0));
?>If a string does not contain the specified separator then this function will simply return a one-length array of the original string, as demonstrated in the following example:
Example
Run this code »<?php
// Sample string
$str = "Hello World!";
// Split string using non-existent separator
print_r(explode("|", $str));
?>
