split <b>'s in php

Question

For this code i need to take a string like

<b>hey</b> more text<b>hey2</b> other text

and i expect the returned array to look like

<b>hey</b> more text
<b>hey2</b> other text

However it doesnt. How do i make it look like the above? my test code is

$myArr = split("<b>", "<b>hey</b> more text<b>hey2</b> other text");
foreach($myArr as $e)
{
 echo "e = $e\n-------------\n";
}

output is

e =
-------------
e = hey</b> more text
-------------
e = hey2</b> other text

I need the b>'s to remain. How should i remove the first empty array?

Answer 1

echo "e = <b>$e\n-------------\n";

You need to prepend the <b> because split removes it from the string.

As for the empty elements of the array try:

$array = array_filter($array);

Answer 2

you could use it as you have it and add a $e = "".$e; before the echo

Answer 3

You can add the <b> after splitting, and just pop() the first variable in the array.

Answer 4

the "split" function has been deprecated, it is better not to use it.

Instead, use "explode" on <b> and then prepend back onto each element, and pop the first element off the array.