298

I need to split my string input into an array at the commas.

Is there a way to explode a comma-separated string into a flat, indexed array?

Input:

9,admin@example.com,8

Output:

['9', 'admin@example', '8']
mickmackusa
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Kevin
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6 Answers6

622

Try explode:

$myString = "9,admin@example.com,8";
$myArray = explode(',', $myString);
print_r($myArray);

Output :

Array
(
    [0] => 9
    [1] => admin@example.com
    [2] => 8
)
Kaspar Lee
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Matthew Groves
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    How you can get count ? .lengh? –  Nov 11 '15 at 09:24
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    One way is to use count() (aka sizeof) - http://php.net/manual/en/function.count.php – Matthew Groves Nov 11 '15 at 13:19
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    @McLosysCreative You might also like `var_dump` which gives more detailed information. Even more usefull is `var_export($myArray, true)` because it returns the output of `var_dump` as a string so you can store it in some log without breaking generated site... – Tomasz Kapłoński Apr 20 '16 at 11:13
38
$string = '9,admin@google.com,8';
$array = explode(',', $string);

For more complicated situations, you may need to use preg_split.

ceejayoz
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31

If that string comes from a csv file, I would use fgetcsv() (or str_getcsv() if you have PHP V5.3). That will allow you to parse quoted values correctly. If it is not a csv, explode() should be the best choice.

soulmerge
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4

What if you want your parts to contain commas? Well, quote them. And then what about the quotes? Well, double them up. In other words:

part1,"part2,with a comma and a quote "" in it",part3

PHP provides the https://php.net/str_getcsv function to parse a string as if it were a line in a CSV file which can be used with the above line instead of explode:

print_r(str_getcsv('part1,"part2,with a comma and a quote "" in it",part3'));
Array
(
    [0] => part1
    [1] => part2,with a comma and a quote " in it
    [2] => part3
)
chx
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1

explode has some very big problems in real life usage:

count(explode(',', null)); // 1 !! 
explode(',', null); // [""] not an empty array, but an array with one empty string!
explode(',', ""); // [""]
explode(',', "1,"); // ["1",""] ending commas are also unsupported, kinda like IE8

this is why i prefer preg_split

preg_split('@,@', $string, NULL, PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY)

the entire boilerplate:

/** @brief wrapper for explode
 * @param string|int|array $val string will explode. '' return []. int return string in array (1 returns ['1']). array return itself. for other types - see $as_is
 * @param bool $as_is false (default): bool/null return []. true: bool/null return itself.
 * @param string $delimiter default ','
 * @return array|mixed
 */
public static function explode($val, $as_is = false, $delimiter = ',')
{
    // using preg_split (instead of explode) because it is the best way to handle ending comma and avoid empty string converted to ['']
    return (is_string($val) || is_int($val)) ?
        preg_split('@' . preg_quote($delimiter, '@') . '@', $val, NULL, PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY)
        :
        ($as_is ? $val : (is_array($val) ? $val : []));
}
oriadam
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  • much prefered this answer, since preg_split is much more foolproof, when it contains user inputs. – Stender Oct 21 '20 at 14:03
  • This answer is going to be far less efficient than using `explode()`. I would not put this in any professional script. If it is possible for your incoming string to be empty, then write a simple falsey check before exploding instead of using a `preg_` call containing a literal character. If a string might have a trailing delimiter and you don't want that, then just `rtrim()` the delimiter off -- again, no reason to lean on regex (and I love regex). – mickmackusa Mar 10 '21 at 12:12
  • Posted many years earlier: https://stackoverflow.com/a/64608/2943403 – mickmackusa Mar 10 '21 at 12:27
-1

Use explode() or preg_split() function to split the string in php with given delimiter

// Use preg_split() function 
$string = "123,456,78,000";  
$str_arr = preg_split ("/\,/", $string);  
print_r($str_arr); 
  
// use of explode 
$string = "123,46,78,000"; 
$str_arr = explode (",", $string);  
print_r($str_arr);
fajr abd el ali
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    A comma does not have special meaning in regex, so there is no need to escape it -- this is only going to teach unnecessary coding practices. `preg_split()` with a literal character is an inappropriate usage of regex and will only mean needless processing overhead. I would not recommend the first technique to any researcher. As for the `explode()` this insight was already offered years earlier. This answer can be safely deleted. – mickmackusa Mar 10 '21 at 12:16