Explode and Implode Functions

Split a string based on a delimiter

Sometimes, arrays are not used to store information; instead, a string is used. The single values are all within the string but are separated by a special character. See the following example, splitting text based on new-line characters:

<?php
/* Explode Syntax 
array explode (string $delimiter, string $string[,int $limit])
*/
 $string = "House No.\nStreet Name\nCity\nCountry";
 $array  = explode("\n", $string);

explode function splits a string by a delimiter and returns an array of strings. This function accepts three parameters:

1. delimiter a boundary string
2. string an input string
3. limit maximum of limit elements with the last element containing the rest of the string

Convert CSV text into an array

<?php
  $csvdata = 'value 1,value 2,value 3,value 4,value 5';
  $a = explode(',', $csvdata);
  
  $info = print_r($a, true);
  echo "<pre>$info</pre>";

  foreach ($a as $value) {
   echo $value . '<br>';
  }

The PHP function explode() creates an array out of these values; you just have to provide the character(s) at which the string needs to be split. The browser then shows this output:

//print_r result
Array
(
    [0] => value 1
    [1] => value 2
    [2] => value 3
    [3] => value 4
    [4] => value 5
)

//foreach result
value 1
value 2
value 3
value 4
value 5

The implode function

/*
Syntax
string implode ( string $glue , array $pieces )
*/
$string = implode(",", $array);

In the above example, PHP joins the elements of the array, using the comma , character. This function accepts two parameters:

1. glue
   Any string value to join with i.e dot ., comma ;, html tag <br> or any character.
2. array
   The input (array) of strings to implode.

Returns a string containing a string representation of all the array elements in the same order, with the glue string between each element.

Turning an Array into a String

<?php
  $data = array('PHP','MySQL','JS','CSS');
  $string = implode(' - ', $data);
  echo $string;

  /*prints:
  PHP - MySQL - JS - CSS
  */

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Working with arrays: