act directly on an array value returned by a function?

[Ghodmode]

Is there a way to act directly on an array value returned from a function without assigning it to another variable first?

For example, if I just want the third value in a CSV record, I might like to do it like this:

$value = preg_split('/,/', "one,two,three,four")[2];

But that doesn't work. I've also tried with parentheses and/or curly braces in different positions around the preg_split().

Thank you.

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Ghodmode

[somedude3488]

I use list and explode.

list( ,,$value ) = explode( ',','one,two,three,four' );
echo $value; //returns three