PHP explode() Function: Syntax, Parameters, Return Values, and Examples

PHP's explode() function splits a string into an array using a specified delimiter.

Signature:

array explode(string $delimiter, string $string [, int $limit])

. The $delimiter defines the boundary characters, $string is the input, and $limit controls the maximum number of elements: a positive limit caps the array size, a negative limit excludes the last -limit elements, and zero is treated as one.

If the delimiter is an empty string, the function returns FALSE. If the delimiter is not found and a negative limit is used, an empty array is returned; otherwise the original string is returned as a single‑element array.

Examples:

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

Using list() with explode() to assign variables:

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

Demonstrating the $limit parameter:

<?php
$str = "one|two|three|four";
print_r(explode("|", $str, 2));   // limit 2
print_r(explode("|", $str, -1));  // negative limit
?>

These examples illustrate how explode() behaves with different delimiters and limit values, producing arrays of substrings as shown in the output sections.