php break string into characters

Question

In PHP is there any function to break up string in to characters or array.

Example: OVERFLOW

I need to break up the above text OVERFLOW int to: O V E R F L O W

OR

    array( 
   0=> 'O',
    1=> 'V',
    2=> 'E',
    3=> 'R',
    4=> 'F',
    5=> 'L',
    6=> 'O',
    7=> 'W'
)

or any otherway is there..?

Might I ask why? `$str = 'overflow'; echo $str[0];` echoes 'o' as it is. You can treat any string like an array without splitting it first anyhow — Elias Van Ootegem, Sep 04 '12 at 10:09
@Wooble Even though this can be easily found on google, it would still be best if the amount of questions on SO would grow, with more interesting questions with every day. — Lucas, Sep 04 '12 at 10:11
@Elias Van Ootegem : I need a function.. because i need to separate lot of string this way.. so only.. otherwise i can find the string length and upto that string $str[n].. like that i can use by your way.. — AnNaMaLaI, Sep 04 '12 at 10:12
@think123 do you really like to answer the same questions over and over again and try to find something more interesting in a flood of the same, elementary, gazzilion-times-answered questions? this increases noise/signal ration in the bad direction. — Marcin Orlowski, Sep 04 '12 at 10:13
possible duplicate of [Convert a String into an Array of Characters](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2768314/convert-a-string-into-an-array-of-characters) — Wooble, Sep 04 '12 at 10:15
@Wooble yes, but if the question is not already on Stack Overflow, it would be good to populate the Stack Overflow database in a positive way. — Lucas, Sep 04 '12 at 10:15
@Wooble: I searched in stackoverflow but i could not found any solution so only i posted.. I not posted blindly :( — AnNaMaLaI, Sep 04 '12 at 10:20
Does this answer your question? [Convert a String into an Array of Characters](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2768314/convert-a-string-into-an-array-of-characters) — ggorlen, Nov 18 '22 at 14:34

Arnaud Le Blanc · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-07T17:27:14.587

6

There is a function for this: str_split

$broken = str_split("OVERFLOW", 1);

If your string can contain multi byte characters, use preg_split instead:

$broken = preg_split('##u', 'OVERFLOW', -1, PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY);

edited Oct 07 '12 at 17:27

answered Sep 04 '12 at 10:07

Arnaud Le Blanc

98,321
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score 5 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 04 '12 at 10:08

5

use this function --- str_split();

This will split the string into character array.

Example:

$word="overflow";
$split_word=str_split($word);

answered Sep 04 '12 at 10:08

Santhiya

351
3
12

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 04 '12 at 10:09

3

Try like this....

$var = "OVERFLOW";
echo $var[0]; // Will print "O".
echo $var[1]; // Will print "V".

answered Sep 04 '12 at 10:09

Vins

8,849
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score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 04 '12 at 10:09

Use str_split

$str = "OVERFLOW" ;
$var = str_split($str, 1);
var_dump($var);

Output

array
  0 => string 'O' (length=1)
  1 => string 'V' (length=1)
  2 => string 'E' (length=1)
  3 => string 'R' (length=1)
  4 => string 'F' (length=1)
  5 => string 'L' (length=1)
  6 => string 'O' (length=1)
  7 => string 'W' (length=1)

Example

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 04 '12 at 10:09

1

You could do:

$string = "your string";
$charArray = str_split($string);

answered Sep 04 '12 at 10:09

Prashant

152
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16

score 1 · Answer 6 · edited Sep 04 '12 at 10:23

1

Take a look at str_split

You can use it like this:

array str_split ( string $string [, int $split_length = 1 ] );

edited Sep 04 '12 at 10:23

Zoltan Toth

46,981
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answered Sep 04 '12 at 10:11

chandan

123
13

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Sep 04 '12 at 10:09

Tell you the truth, it already is broken up. So this would work:

$string = 'Hello I am the string.';
echo $string[0]; // 'H'

If you specifically want to split it, you could do this:

$string = 'Hello I am the string.';
$stringarr = str_split($string);

Depends if you really need to split it or not.

php break string into characters

7 Answers7