<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
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<refentry xml:id="function.mb-str-split" xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">
 <refnamediv>
  <refname>mb_str_split</refname>
  <refpurpose>Given a multibyte string, return an array of its characters</refpurpose>
 </refnamediv>

 <refsect1 role="description">
  &reftitle.description;
  <methodsynopsis>
   <type>array</type><methodname>mb_str_split</methodname>
   <methodparam><type>string</type><parameter>string</parameter></methodparam>
   <methodparam choice="opt"><type>int</type><parameter>length</parameter><initializer>1</initializer></methodparam>
   <methodparam choice="opt"><type class="union"><type>string</type><type>null</type></type><parameter>encoding</parameter><initializer>&null;</initializer></methodparam>
  </methodsynopsis>
  <para>
   This function will return an array of strings, it is a version of <function>str_split</function> with support for encodings of variable character size as well as fixed-size encodings of 1,2 or 4 byte characters.
   If the <parameter>length</parameter> parameter is specified, the string is broken down into chunks of the specified length in characters (not bytes).
   The <parameter>encoding</parameter> parameter can be optionally specified and it is good practice to do so.
  </para>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1 role="parameters">
  &reftitle.parameters;
  <para>
   <variablelist>
    <varlistentry>
     <term><parameter>string</parameter></term>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       The &string; to split into characters or chunks.
      </para>
     </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
    <varlistentry>
     <term><parameter>length</parameter></term>
     <listitem>
      <para>
        If specified, each element of the returned array will be composed of multiple characters instead of a single character.
      </para>
     </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
    <varlistentry>
     <term><parameter>encoding</parameter></term>
     <listitem>
      &mbstring.encoding.parameter;
      <para>
        A string specifying one of the supported encodings.
      </para>
     </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
   </variablelist>
  </para>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1 role="returnvalues">
  &reftitle.returnvalues;
  <para>
   <function>mb_str_split</function> returns an array of strings.
  </para>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1 role="changelog">
  &reftitle.changelog;
  <informaltable>
   <tgroup cols="2">
    <thead>
     <row>
      <entry>&Version;</entry>
      <entry>&Description;</entry>
     </row>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
     &mbstring.changelog.encoding-nullable;
     <row>
      <entry>8.0.0</entry>
      <entry>
       This function no longer returns &false; on failure.
      </entry>
     </row>
    </tbody>
   </tgroup>
  </informaltable>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1 role="seealso">
  &reftitle.seealso;
  <para>
   <simplelist>
    <member><function>str_split</function></member>
   </simplelist>
  </para>
 </refsect1>

</refentry>
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