php string tokenizing - php

Question

Wondering if I could get some advice on tokenizing a string in php since Im relatively new to the language.
I have this:
$full_name = "John Smith"
I want to use a string function that will extract the first name and last name into indices of an array.
$arr[0] = "John"
$arr[1] = "Smith"
However, the function should also be able to handle the situation:
$full_name = "John Roberts-Smith II"
$arr[0] = "John"
$arr[1] = "Roberts-Smith II"
or
$full_name = "John"
$arr[0] = ""
$arr[1] = "John"
any suggestions on where to begin?

Answer 1

Use explode() with the optional limit param:
$full_name = "John Roberts-Smith II"
// Explode at most 2 elements
$arr = explode(' ', $full_name, 2);
// Your values:
$arr[0] = "John"
$arr[1] = "Roberts-Smith II"
Your last case is special though, placing the first name into the second array element. That requires special handling:
// If the name contains no whitespace,
// put the whole thing in the second array element.
if (!strpos($full_name, ' ')) {
$arr[0] = '';
$arr[1] = $full_name;
}
So a complete function:
function split_name($name) {
if (!strpos($name, ' ')) {
$arr = array();
$arr[0] = '';
$arr[1] = $name;
}
else $arr = explode(' ', $name, 2);
return $arr;
}

Answer 2

You should explode() function for this purpose.
$name_splitted = explode(" ", "John Smith", 2);
echo $name_splitted[0]; // John
echo $name_splitted[1]; // Smith
From the documentation -
array explode ( string $delimiter , string $string [, int $limit ] )
Returns an array of strings, each of which is a substring of "string" formed by splitting it on boundaries formed by the string "delimiter". If "limit" is set and positive, the returned array will contain a maximum of "limit" elements with the last element containing the rest of string. If the "limit" parameter is negative, all components except the last -"limit" are returned. If the "limit" parameter is zero, then this is treated as 1.