Question

Is it possible to create an array with a settings file?

In the index.php file there it reads .ini file:

// Parse config file
$settings = parse_ini_file("settings");

E.g. Settings file looks like this:

[States]
east = "Michigan, New York, Minnesota"

Looking to create an array like so:

array('Michigan', 'New York', 'Minnesota')

Answer 1

It returns an associative array. Then, to parse the east states into an array, you could do:
$eastStates = explode(', ', $ini['States']['east']); if your data is indeed in the format you described. Note that you can create true arrays in ini format, see the documentation.