PHP explode terms in to array, retain quoted text as single array item

Question

I have the following string from a form...

Opera \"adds cross-platform hardware\" \"kicks butt\" -hippies

In general I\'ve simpl

Answer 1

You could use a preg_match_all(...):

$text = 'Opera "adds cross-platform hardware" "kicks butt" -hippies';
preg_match_all('/"(?:\\\\.|[^\\\\"])*"|\S+/', $text, $matches);
print_r($matches);