title: how to use preg_split() instead of split ()
body: <p>newbee here...</p>
  
  <p>I'm trying to replace the split() functions in a website so I found preg_split() to use. First had to find out how the split() function works so I looked at this example at the php.net site:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;?php
  // Delimiters may be slash, dot, or hyphen
  $date = "04-30/1973";
  list($month, $day, $year) = split('[/.-]', $date);
  echo "Month: $month; Day: $day; Year: $year&lt;br /&gt;\n";
  ?&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The output was as expected:
  Month: 04; Day: 30; Year: 1973</p>
  
  <p>So I thought it would be easy and just change it to:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;?php
  // Delimiters may be slash, dot, or hyphen
  $date = "04-30/1973";
  list($month, $day, $year) = preg_split('[/.-]', $date);
  echo "Month: $month; Day: $day; Year: $year&lt;br /&gt;\n";
  ?&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Output:
  Month: 04-30/1973; Day: ; Year: </p>
  
  <p>What is wrong in my thinking?</p>