In PHP, you can convert a string into an array using the explode() function. The explode() function splits a string into an array based on a specified delimiter. This allows you to break down a string with multiple values into individual elements of an array.

Here’s how to convert a string into an array in PHP using the explode() function:

<?php
// Sample string containing names separated by commas
$nameString = "John, Sarah, Michael, Emily, David";

// Using explode() to split the string into an array using the comma as the delimiter
$nameArray = explode(", ", $nameString);

// Output the result
print_r($nameArray);
?>

Output:

Array
(
    [0] => John
    [1] => Sarah
    [2] => Michael
    [3] => Emily
    [4] => David
)

In the above example, we have a string named $nameString that contains a list of names separated by commas. We use the explode() function to split the string into an array called $nameArray, using the comma and space ", " as the delimiter.

The result is an array with each name as an individual element.

You can use different delimiters with the explode() function, depending on your specific use case. For example, if the names were separated by hyphens, you would use explode("-").

Here’s another example using a URL query string:

<?php
// Sample string containing a URL query string
$queryString = "page=home&user=john&lang=en";

// Using explode() to split the query string into an array using the ampersand as the delimiter
$queryArray = explode("&", $queryString);

// Output the result
print_r($queryArray);
?>

Output:

Array
(
    [0] => page=home
    [1] => user=john
    [2] => lang=en
)

In this example, we use the explode() function to split the URL query string into an array called $queryArray, using the ampersand & as the delimiter.

By converting a string into an array using the explode() function, you can easily extract and work with individual values or data elements from a single string.