Here is description of explode() :
explode
(PHP 4, PHP 5)
explode — Split a string by string
Description
array explode ( string $delimiter , string $string [, int $limit ] )
Returns an array of strings, each of which is a substring of string formed by splitting it on boundaries formed by the string delimiter .
Parameters
delimiter
The boundary string.
string
The input string.
limit
If limit is set, the returned array will contain a maximum of limit elements with the last element containing the rest of string .
If the limit parameter is negative, all components except the last -limit are returned.
Although implode() can, for historical reasons, accept its parameters in either order, explode() cannot. You must ensure that the delimiter argument comes before the string argument.
Return Values
If delimiter is an empty string (""), explode() will return FALSE. If delimiter contains a value that is not contained in string , then explode() will return an array containing string .
ChangeLog
Version Description
5.1.0 Support for negative limit s was added
4.0.1 The limit parameter was added
Examples
Example #1 explode() examples
<?php
// Example 1
$pizza = "piece1 piece2 piece3 piece4 piece5 piece6";
$pieces = explode(" ", $pizza);
echo $pieces[0]; // piece1
echo $pieces[1]; // piece2
// Example 2
$data = "foo:*:1023:1000::/home/foo:/bin/sh";
list($user, $pass, $uid, $gid, $gecos, $home, $shell) = explode(":", $data);
echo $user; // foo
echo $pass; // *
?>
Example #2 limit parameter examples
<?php
$str = 'one|two|three|four';
// positive limit
print_r(explode('|', $str, 2));
// negative limit (since PHP 5.1)
print_r(explode('|', $str, -1));
?>
The above example will output:
Array
(
[0] => one
[1] => two|three|four
)
Array
(
[0] => one
[1] => two
[2] => three
)
Notes
Note: This function is binary-safe.
See Also
* preg_split()
* str_split()
* str_word_count()
* strtok()
* implode()
fprintf> <echo Last updated: Fri, 12 Dec 2008
add a note add a note User Contributed Notes
explode
Elad Elrom
05-Dec-2008 10:32
<?php
// Remove words if more than max allowed character are insert or add a string in case less than min are displayed
// Example: LimitText("The red dog ran out of thefence",15,20,"<br>");
function LimitText($Text,$Min,$Max,$MinAddChar) {
if (strlen($Text) < $Min) {
$Limit = $Min-strlen($Text);
$Text .= $MinAddChar;
}
elseif (strlen($Text) >= $Max) {
$words = explode(" ", $Text);
$check=1;
while (strlen($Text) >= $Max) {
$c=count($words)-$check;
$Text=substr($Text,0,(strlen($words[$c])+1)*(-1));
$check++;
}
}
return $Text;
}
?>
Nobody
17-Nov-2008 07:08
A really better and shorter way to get extension is via:
<?php $extension = end(explode('.', $filename)); ?>
this will print the last part after the last dot
shaun
30-Aug-2008 12:54
For anyone trying to get an array of key => value pairs from a query string, use parse_str. (Better alternative than the explode_assoc function listed way down the page unless you need different separators.)
pinkgothic at gmail dot com
15-Oct-2007 02:56
coroa at cosmo-genics dot com mentioned using preg_split() instead of explode() when you have multiple delimiters in your text and don't want your result array cluttered with empty elements. While that certainly works, it means you need to know your way around regular expressions... and, as it turns out, it is slower than its alternative. Specifically, you can cut execution time roughly in half if you use array_filter(explode(...)) instead.
Benchmarks (using 'too many spaces'):
Looped 100000 times:
preg_split: 1.61789011955 seconds
filter-explode: 0.916578054428 seconds
Looped 10000 times:
preg_split: 0.162719011307 seconds
filter-explode: 0.0918920040131 seconds
(The relation is, evidently, pretty linear.)
Note: Adding array_values() to the filter-explode combination, to avoid having those oft-feared 'holes' in your array, doesn't remove the benefit, either. (For scale - the '9' becomes a '11' in the benchmarks above.)
Also note: I haven't tested anything other than the example with spaces - since djogo_curl at yahoo's note seems to imply that explode() might get slow with longer delimiters, I expect this would be the case here, too.
I hope this helps someone.
seventoes at gmail dot com
10-Dec-2006 09:19
Note that explode, split, and functions like it, can accept more than a single character for the delimiter.
<?php
$string = "Something--next--something else--next--one more";
print_r(explode('--next--',$string));
?>
djogo_curl at yahoo
01-Dec-2004 06:20
Being a beginner in php but not so in Perl, I was used to split() instead of explode(). But as split() works with regexps it turned out to be much slower than explode(), when working with single characters.
coroa at cosmo-genics dot com
16-Nov-2003 09:31
To split a string containing multiple seperators between elements rather use preg_split than explode:
preg_split ("/\s+/", "Here are to many spaces in between");
which gives you
array ("Here", "are", "to", "many", "spaces", "in", "between");
For more examples you can visit the link below:
http://www.w3schools.com/PHP/func_string_explode.asp 
. I have this in a neater form when I go to Print Preview in the program that has the data. I also have it in a neater form in which it is split into columns and has information going down and across. Thank you. 
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Thank you! 
