php - Explode that doesn't return empty strings?

Question

PHP's explode function returns an array of strings split on some provided substring. It will return empty strings like this:

var_dump(explode('/', '1/2//3/'));
array(5) {
  [0]=>
  string(1) "1"
  [1]=>
  string(1) "2"
  [2]=>
  string(0) ""
  [3]=>
  string(1) "3"
  [4]=>
  string(0) ""
}

Is there some different function or option or anything that would return everything except the empty strings?

var_dump(different_explode('/', '1/2//3/'));
array(3) {
  [0]=>
  string(1) "1"
  [1]=>
  string(1) "2"
  [2]=>
  string(1) "3"
}

question from:https://stackoverflow.com/questions/64570/explode-that-doesnt-return-empty-strings

Answer 1

Try preg_split.

$exploded = preg_split('@/@', '1/2//3/', NULL, PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY);