explode($sep, $str)implode($sep, $sa)
<?php
$names = 'Mike|Anne|Joel|Ray';
$names = explode('|', $names);
$name1 = $names[0]; // $name1 is 'Mike'
$name2 = $names[1]; // $name2 is 'Anne'
?>
<?php
$names = implode("\t", $names);
?>