Explode string into array with no empty elements?

Ryono_5726 0
Viewed 42278

PHP's explode function returns an array of strings split on some provided substring. It will return empty strings when there are leading, trailing, or consecutive delimiters, like this:

var_dump(explode('/', '1/2//3/'));
array(5) {
  [0]=>
  string(1) "1"
  [1]=>
  string(1) "2"
  [2]=>
  string(0) ""
  [3]=>
  string(1) "3"
  [4]=>
  string(0) ""
}

Is there some different function or option or anything that would return everything except the empty strings?

var_dump(different_explode('/', '1/2//3/'));
array(3) {
  [0]=>
  string(1) "1"
  [1]=>
  string(1) "2"
  [2]=>
  string(1) "3"
}
explode filtering arrays php string
12 Answers

Try preg_split.

$exploded = preg_split('@/@', '1/2//3/', -1, PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY);

ceejayoz_19020100

array_filter will remove the blank fields, here is an example without the filter:

print_r(explode('/', '1/2//3/'))

prints:

Array
(
    [0] => 1
    [1] => 2
    [2] =>
    [3] => 3
    [4] =>
)

With the filter:

php> print_r(array_filter(explode('/', '1/2//3/')))

Prints:

Array
(
    [0] => 1
    [1] => 2
    [3] => 3
)

You'll get all values that resolve to "false" filtered out.

see http://uk.php.net/manual/en/function.array-filter.php

Dave_Gregory_56770

Just for variety:

array_diff(explode('/', '1/2//3/'), array(''))

This also works, but does mess up the array indexes unlike preg_split. Some people might like it better than having to declare a callback function to use array_filter.

Ryono_57260 
function not_empty_string($s) {
  return $s !== "";
}

array_filter(explode('/', '1/2//3/'), 'not_empty_string');
James_Aylett_63020

Write a wrapper function to strip them

function MyExplode($sep, $str)
{
    $arr = explode($sep, $str);
    foreach($arr as $item)
        if(item != "")
            $out[] = $item;
    return $out;
}
Fire_Lancer_62660

Use this function to filter the output of the explode function

  function filter_empty(&$arrayvar) {
        $newarray = array();
        foreach ($arrayvar as $k => $value)
            if ($value !== "")
                $newarray[$k] = $value;

        $arrayvar = $newarray;
    }
user_87150

Regular expression solutions tend to be much slower than basic text replacement, so i'd replace double seperators with single seperators, trim the string of any whitespace and then use explode:

// assuming $source = '1/2//3/';
$source = str_replace('//', '/', $source);
$source = trim($source);
$parts = explode('/', $source);
adam_122800

I usually wrap it in a call to array_filter, e.g.

var_dump(array_filter(explode('/', '1/2//3/'))
=>
array(3) {
  [0]=>
  string(1) "1"
  [1]=>
  string(1) "2"
  [3]=>
  string(1) "3"
}

Be aware, of course, that array keys are maintained; if you don't want this behaviour, remember to add an outer wrapper call to array_values().

Bobby_Jack_50580

PHP's split function is similar to the explode function, except that it allows you to enter a regex pattern as the delimiter. Something to the effect of:

$exploded_arr = split('/\/+/', '1/2//3/');
user_278700
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