explode string function in PHP to break a string with delimiter to get an array

Split a string with a delimiter

explode() splits a string wherever the separator occurs and returns an array. The separator must not be an empty string.

$csv = 'red,green,blue';
$colors = explode(',', $csv);
print_r($colors);

$str="Welcome to plus2net php tutorial section";
$ar=explode(" ",$str);
print_r($ar);

We have used one space as delimiter. The output is here

Array ( [0] => Welcome [1] => to [2] => plus2net [3] => php [4] => tutorial [5] => section )

Here is its syntax

array explode(string $separator, string $string, int $limit = PHP_INT_MAX);

limit :

positive number then the returned array will content limit number of elements with last element containing rest of the string.

negative number , all components except the last -limit is returned.

zero , then it is same as 1

We can specify the delimiter and 2nd parameter is the string we want to break and third parameter is optional by which we can fix the number of elements of the array.

Let us try some examples. We have used print_r function to display the elements of the array we get out of our explode function. We don't want more than three elements to in the array then change the code like this.

$str = "Welcome to plus2net php tutorial section";
$ar = explode(" ", $str, 3);
print_r($ar);

Output is here

Array ( [0] => Welcome [1] => to [2] => plus2net php tutorial section )

Breaking an email address using explode

We can use explode function to separate Userid part and domain part from an email address . Let us try this example.

$str="my_userid@domain-name.com";
$ar=explode("@",$str);
print_r($ar);

We have used @ as delimiter in above code. Here is the output

Array ( [0] => my_userid [1] => domain-name.com )

Learn more on breaking email address here

Breaking the URL of a page

The URL of a page consist of domain name, directory name and file name. These are joined by / to create path to the page we execute. The Path of the url pointing to this page is here.

https://www.plus2net.com/php_tutorial/string-explode.php

Now using explode function we will break the above url to separate domain part, directory and the file name.

Here is the code.

$str="https://www.plus2net.com/php_tutorial/string-explode.php";
$my_array=explode("/",$str);
foreach ($my_array as $key => $val) { 
echo "$key -> $val <br>"; 
}

The output is here

0 -> https: 
1 -> 
2 -> www.plus2net.com 
3 -> php_tutorial 
4 -> string-explode.php

To get a single output we can use like this

echo $my_array[2];

Output is

www.plus2net.com

Using limit

$str="https://www.plus2net.com/php_tutorial/string-explode.php";
$my_array=explode("/",$str,3);
foreach ($my_array as $key => $val) { 
echo "$key -> $val <br>"; 
}

Output is here

0 -> https: 
1 -> 
2 -> www.plus2net.com/php_tutorial/string-explode.php

With - negative value of limit

$str="https://www.plus2net.com/php_tutorial/string-explode.php";
$my_array=explode("/",$str,-2);
foreach ($my_array as $key => $val) { 
echo "$key -> $val <br>"; 
}

Output is here

0 -> https: 
1 -> 
2 -> www.plus2net.com

For production URL parsing, use parse_url() rather than relying on fixed positions from explode().

substr(): part of string
String Functions implode() Sub string count

Subhendu Mohapatra

Author & Instructor at plus2net

I write and maintain practical tutorials on Python, PHP, SQL, JavaScript, HTML, jQuery, and web development at plus2net. The tutorials focus on clear explanations, working examples, and code that readers can test and adapt while learning.

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Manju	18-03-2015
this page is very helpful to me...I am really satisfied with these explanations.. and use of explode function ..I am very thankful.

explode(): Break the string by using delimiter.

Split a string with a delimiter

Breaking an email address using explode

Breaking the URL of a page

Using limit

Subhendu Mohapatra