Question

I’m trying to explode a string character by character but I’ve a trouble with special characters.
I’m currently using the following function:

<?php
$input = "Comment ça va?";
$array_input = str_split($input, 1);
print_r($array_input);
?>

Here’s the output:

Array (
[0] => C [1] => o [2] => m [3] => m [4] => e
[5] => n [6] => t [7] => [8] => � [9] => �
[10] => a [11] => [12] => v [13] => a [14] => ? )

I’ve the same issue with the line break:

Input:
“Hé!
Oui?”

Output:

Array ( [0] => H [1] => � [2] => � [3] => ! [4] => 
[5] => [6] => O [7] => u [8] => i [9] => ? )

Does anybody have a solution for this issue?
Many thanks.

Answer 1

str_split has problems with Unicode strings.

You can use the u modifier in preg_split instead

For instance:

$input = "Comment ça va?";
$letters1 = str_split($input);
$letters2 = preg_split('//u', $input, -1, PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY);

print_r($letters1);
print_r($letters2);

Will output

Array ( [0] => C [1] => o [2] => m [3] => m [4] => e 
        [5] => n [6] => t [7] => [8] => � [9] => � 
        [10] => a [11] => [12] => v [13] => a [14] => ? ) 

Array ( [0] => C [1] => o [2] => m [3] => m [4] => e 
        [5] => n [6] => t [7] => [8] => ç [9] => a 
        [10] => [11] => v [12] => a [13] => ? )