Replacing split()

split() (from ext/ereg) divided a string using a POSIX regular expression. It is unrelated to JavaScript’s String.split mental model and is easy to confuse with explode().

Lifecycle (php.net)

• Deprecated: ext/ereg deprecated earlier; avoid in new code as of PHP 5.3+ guidance era
• Removed: PHP 7.0.0 (with ext/ereg)

Modern replacement

Use preg_split() for regex splits or explode()/str_getcsv() for literal delimiters.

Migration example

# LEGACY — split()
$parts = split('[:,]', $line);

# MODERN
$parts = preg_split('/[:,]/', $line);
# literal delimiter:
$parts = explode(',', $line);

Scan before cutover

Search the tree for split() and paste samples into the PHP Version Compatibility Checker and PHP Deprecated Checker.

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• Removed PHP functions hub
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