<?php

...

$arr = explode(delimiter, string [,limit]);

...

?>

Now you may be thinking: that’s all well in good but what in the world is a delimiter?  I thought the same way before I truly understood the function.  The delimiter is just the common separator between each element.  For instance, if we wanted to explode a sentence into an array with each element as a separate word from the string, the delimiter would be an empty space (” “).  The optional “limit” is a limit of the number of elements to allow to be created.  If it is left empty or set to “-1,” no limit will be set.  Otherwise, once the limit is reached, the last element will be the rest of the unexploded string.

Now this is all good and well unless you have an awesome application of the function, and believe me, there are many, but my favorite is the dynamic navigation idea.  I always get sick of having to add in all the extra template elements when altering a website’s navigation, and with this simple idea that can cease.

Here’s a basic run-down of what will happen:  first, we’ll define a string holding all the link names and source locations.  Then, we’ll explode that string to an array of all link name-source pairs which we will in turn explode individually to produce a great link.  Here’s an example:

<?php

...

$links = "Home:index.php,About Us:about.php,Contact Us:contact.php,Portfolio:portfolio.php";

$links = explode(",",$links);

echo "<ul>";

foreach ($links as $link) {

$link = explode(":",$link);

echo "<li><a href='".$link[1]."'>".$link[0]."</a></li>";

}

echo "</ul>";

?>

Be aware of the order in which we are exploding the elements.  If you explode incorrectly, you could end up with inaccurate pairs.  With this application, to update the navigation, instead of sifting through what could become complex HTML, you simply need to edit the “links” variable and let the PHP take care of business for you.  Nothing complex, but certainly useful.