Get first value of comma separated string

Question

I'm looking for the quickest/shortest way to get the first value from comma separated string, in-line.

The best I can do is

$string = 'a,b,c,d';
echo "The first thing is " . end(array_reverse(explode(',', $string))) . ".";

but I feel that's excessive and redundant. Is there a better way?

Answer 1

list($first) = explode(',', 'a,b,c,d');
var_dump($first);  // a

probably works :)

---

In PHP 6.0 you will be able to simply:

$first = explode(',', 'a,b,c,d')[0];

But this is a syntax error in 5.x and lower

Answer 2

How about

echo reset(explode(',', 'a,b,c,d'))