preg_split() with strings containing '<' - php

Question

I parsing a license key list in php.
Unfortantly the results are not like expected.
It seems that the problem occurs by the special character '<'.
Would be nice if somebody have an idea of possible solutions.
$file_content = '
HM$WN*G&Z58CY8FPUA
F*QZHZGK#&*#*492&T
JJKXP<GZRPKGS7J!EW
P8ZHZ<GCNNR6X=Z7PW
C6HXQFGJ*Y2+#SDZT9
BYYYMEGMQ73G5K#U7F
P>+F=GG7F*U#<RT!6H
B+ZZYTGX&LF6#6XUXU
X&PHNAGN+X><NZYN#9';
$file_array = preg_split("/\n/", $file_content);
echo '<pre>';
print_r($file_array);
OUTPUT
[0] =>
[1] => HM$WN*G&Z58CY8FPUA
[2] => F*QZHZGK#&*#*492&T
[3] => JJKXP P8ZHZ C6HXQFGJ*Y2+#SDZT9
[6] => BYYYMEGMQ73G5K#U7F
[7] => P>+F=GG7F*U# B+ZZYTGX&LF6#6XUXU
[9] => X&PHNAGN+X>

Answer 1

Your split works as it should be, only thing is that browser converts those symbols to tags and causing that. You can check that by running this (I used htmlentities):
<?php
$file_content = '
HM$WN*G&Z58CY8FPUA
F*QZHZGK#&*#*492&T
JJKXP<GZRPKGS7J!EW
P8ZHZ<GCNNR6X=Z7PW
C6HXQFGJ*Y2+#SDZT9
BYYYMEGMQ73G5K#U7F
P>+F=GG7F*U#<RT!6H
B+ZZYTGX&LF6#6XUXU
X&PHNAGN+X><NZYN#9';
$file_array = preg_split("/\n/", $file_content);
array_map("HTMLescape", $file_array);
function HTMLescape($a) {
echo "<pre>".htmlentities($a)."</pre>";
}
Output:
HM$WN*G&Z58CY8FPUA
F*QZHZGK#&*#*492&T
JJKXP<GZRPKGS7J!EW
P8ZHZ<GCNNR6X=Z7PW
C6HXQFGJ*Y2+#SDZT9
BYYYMEGMQ73G5K#U7F
P>+F=GG7F*U#<RT!6H
B+ZZYTGX&LF6#6XUXU
X&PHNAGN+X><NZYN#9
Moreover, for just splitting this line, as #Marcin Orlowski pointed, you can opt for explode which is faster.

Answer 2

There's no benefit from using preg_split() in your case. Use
$file_array = explode("\n", $file_content);
instead, or if the content is being read from file, just do
$file_array = file($filename, FILE_IGNORE_NEW_LINES);
for the same result.
EDIT
but the result should be look like this
If you mean the output is the same as from your question - yes it is, because it is the correct output. The problem is that you are viewing this in web browser which then may consider <... as part of HTML markup. Add echo '<pre>'; before your print_r() to prevent this or run your script in console.

Answer 3

Your code is working fine with some minor modifications:
<?php
$file_content = <<<'EOT'
HM$WN*G&Z58CY8FPUA
F*QZHZGK#&*#*492&T
JJKXP<GZRPKGS7J!EW
P8ZHZ<GCNNR6X=Z7PW
C6HXQFGJ*Y2+#SDZT9
BYYYMEGMQ73G5K#U7F
P>+F=GG7F*U#<RT!6H
B+ZZYTGX&LF6#6XUXU
X&PHNAGN+X><NZYN#9
EOT;
$file_array = preg_split("/\n/", $file_content);
print_r($file_array);
The obvious output on php cli is:
Array
(
[0] => HM$WN*G&Z58CY8FPUA
[1] => F*QZHZGK#&*#*492&T
[2] => JJKXP<GZRPKGS7J!EW
[3] => P8ZHZ<GCNNR6X=Z7PW
[4] => C6HXQFGJ*Y2+#SDZT9
[5] => BYYYMEGMQ73G5K#U7F
[6] => P>+F=GG7F*U#<RT!6H
[7] => B+ZZYTGX&LF6#6XUXU
[8] => X&PHNAGN+X><NZYN#9
)
Note that to visualize that result in a html displaying browser you have to escape the html specific characters (like < and >). but that has nothing to do with splitting the input string, what your question is about.