php break string into characters

Question

In PHP is there any function to break up string in to characters or array.

Example: OVERFLOW

I need to break up the above text OVERFLOW int to: O V E R F L O W

OR

    array( 
   0=> 'O',
    1=> 'V',
    2=> 'E',
    3=> 'R',
    4=> 'F',
    5=> 'L',
    6=> 'O',
    7=> 'W'
)

or any otherway is there..?

Answer 1

There is a function for this: str_split

$broken = str_split("OVERFLOW", 1);

If your string can contain multi byte characters, use preg_split instead:

$broken = preg_split('##u', 'OVERFLOW', -1, PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY);