Define split as an alias for explode

[nbro]

Description

One thing that I find hard to memorise is which one actually splits a string and which one actually joins an array, between implode and explode.

So, when I need to join, I always use the alias join, but I still need to look up in the documentation which one actually splits.

I've been programming mostly in Python, so that's why I highly prefer join and I'd also prefer that split was introduced as an alias for explode (again I had to check that this was the actual function).

Would there be any future function that we might want to call split and that does something different than explode? In any case, it will most likely not be as useful as explode, so we can probably sacrifice the future in this case.

[devnexen]

Hi @nbro I would suggest to discuss it in the internal mailing list.

[nbro]

I wonder why people gave the thumbs down.

We already have the join alias for implode, and, for some reason, we don't have the split alias for explode, even though the documentation for this function explicitly states

explode — Split a string by a string

Unless there's a good reason not to introduce this alias, then it should be introduced.

Now, I'm curious to know why the join was then introduced as an alias for implode. Someone must have thought that join was more intuitive that implode.

Curiously, the documentation for implode states

implode — Join array elements with a string

[MorganLOCode]

split, explode, join, and implode were all introduced in PHP 3.0; the first one split on a regular expression and the second on a fixed string. The other two functions were created as complements to the first two, but there was no meaningful way to "join" on a regular expression so the two functions ended up identical.

And as @devnexen has already suggested, further discussion would be better moved to the mailing list.

[nbro]

@MorganLOCode Where is the function called split in the documentation? I couldn't find it. Yes, there are different "split" functions and one for the regular expressions, but this issue is not about it.

[MorganLOCode]

Where is the function called split in the documentation?

https://web.archive.org/web/20180516162407/http://www.php.net/split