title: PHP explode function blank array element
body: <p>I'm having a few issues with the php explode function.</p>
  
  <p>The string i want to explode is:</p>
  
  <pre><code>,.stl,.ppl
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Currently, i'm using the explode function as such:</p>
  
  <pre><code>explode(',',',.stl,.ppl');
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Unfortunately this is problematic, it returns three strings:</p>
  
  <pre><code>array(3) { [0]=&gt; string(0) "" [1]=&gt; string(4) ".stl" [2]=&gt; string(4) ".ppl" }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Why is the first string blank?</p>
  
  <p>The obvious solution is to skip the first element of the array, however, why do i need to do this? </p>
  
  <p>Shouldn't the <code>explode()</code> function automatically remove this blank array, or not even generate it at all?</p>