Split utf8 string into array of chars

Question

I\'m trying to split a utf8 encoded string into an array of chars. The function that I now use used to work, but for some reason it doesn\'t work anymore. W

Answer 1

If you not sure about availability of mb_string function library, then use:

Version 1:

function utf8_str_split($str='',$len=1){
    preg_match_all("/./u", $str, $arr);
    $arr = array_chunk($arr[0], $len);
    $arr = array_map('implode', $arr);
    return $arr;
}

Version 2:

function utf8_str_split($str='',$len=1){
    return preg_split('/(?<=\G.{'.$len.'})/u', $str,-1,PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY);
}

Both functions tested in PHP5