SYNOPSIS
        string * explode(string str, string del)
        bytes *  explode(bytes str, bytes del)

DESCRIPTION
        Return an array of strings, created when the string str is split
        into substrings as divided by del. When given a byte sequence
        returns an array of byte sequences in a similar fashion.

        implode(explode(str, del), del) == str is always true.

EXAMPLES
        function                    returns
        -------------------------------------------------------------------
        explode(" ab cd ef ", " ")  ({ "", "ab", "cd", "ef", "" })
        explode("abc", "abc")       ({ "", "" })
        explode("", "")             ({ "" })
        explode("", <whatever>)     ({ "" })
        explode("abc", "xyz")       ({ "abc" })
        explode("abc", "")          ({ "a", "b", "c" })

HISTORY
        Date of change is unknown.
        explode(" ab cd ef ", " ") formerly returned ({ "ab", "cd", "ef" })
        instead of ({ "", "ab", "cd", "ef", "" }), i. e. the empty strings
        were ignored. The new behaviour is more consistent, because now
        implode(explode(str, del), del) == str is always true.
        Since 3.5.0 explode("","") returns ({""}), so it is guaranteed to
        return a non-empty array.

SEE ALSO
        sscanf(E), extract(E), implode(E), regexplode(E)