Remove first and last char from string

I have this:

$dataList = "*one*two*three*";
$list = explode("*", $dataList);
echo"<pre>";print_r($list);echo"</pre>";

which outputs:

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

How do I strip the fist and last * in the string before exploding?