PHP Manual: Split a string by a string

Description

array explode(string $separator, 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 separator.

Parameters

separator

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:
Prior to PHP 8.0, implode accepted its parameters in either order. explode has never supported this: you must ensure that the separator argument comes before the string argument.

Return Values

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

If separator is an empty string (""), explode throws a ValueError. If separator 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. If separator values appear at the start or end of string, said values will be added as an empty array value either in the first or last position of the returned array respectively.

Changelog

Version	Description
8.0.0	explode will now throw ValueError when `separator` parameter is given an empty string (`""`). Previously, explode returned `false` instead.

Examples

Example #1 explode examples

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

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

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
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