Split PHP Variable in to array

Question

A php variable contains

$string = "256 Engineering Maths-I 21 -1 21 F";

printing

$string

gives output

256 Engineering Maths-I 21 -1 21 F

this variable should split in to

$n[0] = "256";
$n[1] = "Engineering Maths-I";
$n[2] = "21";
$n[3] = "-1";
$n[4] = "21";
$n[5] = "F";

I have tried with

$n = explode(" ", $string);

but it is splitting in to 2 parts

Please help me

How is the script supposed to know that Engineering Maths-I should be kept together? What's the rule? — Barmar, Jul 19 '13 at 21:39
@Barmar Think it's probably tab separated and browser is collapsing the space. — Orangepill, Jul 19 '13 at 21:40

Orangepill · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-19 21:45:54Z

up vote 3 down vote accepted

What you are probably looking at is a tab separated string

Do this

$n = explode("\t", $string);

UPDATE The answer was that the text was delimited by a newline. so

$n = explode("\n", $string);

The browser's behavior of collapsing whitespace to a single space was masking what was really happening.

answered Jul 19 '13 at 21:39

Orangepill
17k21134

THankyou so much for ur hint sir, actually it is \n nd I will accept ur answer in 9 mins, please edit ur answer – Raj Jul 19 '13 at 21:43

jh314 · Answer 2 · 2013-07-19 21:40:59Z

up vote 1 down vote

You can also try to split on whitespace:

$n = preg_split('/\s+/', $string);

answered Jul 19 '13 at 21:40

jh314
10.6k31537

1

That will split the Engineering and Maths-I... which is not what OP wants – Orangepill Jul 19 '13 at 21:41

2 Answers