The essentials of explode() in PHP
PHP’s explode() function is a go-to solution for splitting strings into arrays using a specified delimiter.
Let’s say that you have a string of comma-separated words. You can use explode() to split the string into an array of individual values.
In this article, I will show you in-depth how to use it.
How does explode() work?
array explode(string $delimiter, string $string[, int $limit ])
- $delimiter: The string boundary for splitting.
- $string: The input string.
- $limit: This parameter is optional and represents the maximum number of elements to return. A positive value sets the size; a negative value excludes the last segments; zero entails no limit. Honestly, I never used this one. 🤷♂️
A practical example for explode()
I honestly don’t know what to write here, because using explode() is straightforward!
Given a string of devices:
$devices = explode( ", ", "apple tv, apple watch, imac, iphone, macbook pro" ); // array(5) { // [0]=> // string(8) "apple tv" // [1]=> // string(11) "apple watch" // [2]=> // string(4) "imac" // [3]=> // string(6) "iphone" // [4]=> // string(11) "macbook pro" // } var_dump($devices);
The output is an array of individual devices. Now, you can store them in a database for example.
A few notes about explode()
Be cautious when choosing your delimiter for the explode() function. If you use a delimiter that doesn’t exist in the input string, explode() will simply return an array containing the entire original string as a single element. Always double-check your input to ensure you’re getting the expected results.
For tasks that require the reverse operation (converting an array back into a string) turn to PHP’s implode() function. And if you need to break down a string into individual characters, str_split() is the function that offers that fine-grained control.
