php explode: split string into words by using space a delimiter

Question

$str = \"This is a    string\";
$words = explode(\" \", $str);

Works fine, but spaces still go into array:

$words === array (\'This         


        

Answer 1

$financialYear = 2015-2016;

$test = explode('-',$financialYear);
echo $test[0]; // 2015
echo $test[1]; // 2016