Using PHP split() to Split Strings with Regular Expressions

The split() function in PHP uses a regular expression to divide a string into an array of substrings.

Signature:

array split(string $pattern, string $string[, int $limit])

The function returns an array of substrings; if $limit is set, the returned array contains at most $limit elements, with the last element holding the remainder of the original string. On failure, split() returns FALSE .

Example 1 – Splitting a colon‑separated string:

<?php
$passwd_line = "zhang:1234:1000:mo999:check";
list($user, $pass, $uid, $gid, $extra) = split(":", $passwd_line, 5);

echo $user;   // zhang

echo $pass;   // 1234

echo $uid;    // 1000

echo $gid;    // mo999

echo $extra;  // check
?>

Output:

zhang12341000mo999check

Example 2 – Splitting a date string with multiple possible delimiters:

<?php
// delimiter can be slash, dot, or hyphen
$date = "06/7/2020";
list($month, $day, $year) = split('[/.-]', $date);

echo "Month: $month; Day: $day; Year: $year<br />\n";
?>

Output:

Month: 06; Day: 7; Year: 2020<br />

Note: pattern is a regular expression, so special regex characters must be escaped if they are intended to be used as literal delimiters.