Is this the proper way of shift_array and imploding and exploding strings?

Question

Thanks for viewing, just need some advice if this is the proper way of taking a string full of image links separated as commas and turning them into images but separating the list to show on different parts of the website.

My code

<?php
//the array, will be grabbing from database soon
$string = "main.jpg,extra_img_1.jpg,extra_img_2.jpg,extra_img_3.jpg,extra_img_4.jpg,extra_img_5.jpg";

//explode the whole array
$array = explode(',',$string);

//remaking the list turning it back into an array
$oldstring = '<li>'.implode('</li><li>',$array).'</li>';

// removing the first string in the commad array
array_shift($array);

//turning it back into an array without the first listed item
$newstring = '<li>'.implode('</li><li>',$array).'</li>';

//showing the old string in a listed format
echo $oldstring;

echo '<hr>';
// showing the first item in the old string
echo '<li>'.explode(',', $string)[0].'</li>';
echo '<hr>';

//once its shifted, i want to reshow the list
echo $newstring;
?>

Thanks for the upcoming advice.

Answer 1

I think your solution is pretty straightforward without much that is unnecessary. Note however, that array_shift() returns the shifted element. There is no need to explode()[0] it a second time:

// Linebreaks added to make the output readable

$string = "main.jpg,extra_img_1.jpg,extra_img_2.jpg,extra_img_3.jpg,extra_img_4.jpg,extra_img_5.jpg";

$array = explode(',',$string);
$oldstring = '<li>'.implode("</li>\n<li>",$array)."</li>\n";

$s0 = array_shift($array);
$newstring = '<li>'.implode("</li>\n<li>",$array)."</li>\n";

echo $oldstring;
echo "<hr>\n";
echo "<li>$s0</li>\n";
echo "<hr>\n";
echo $newstring;

Personally, I would probably just loop over the elements:

$string = "main.jpg,extra_img_1.jpg,extra_img_2.jpg,extra_img_3.jpg,extra_img_4.jpg,extra_img_5.jpg";

$array = explode(',',$string);
foreach ($array as $s)
  echo "<li>$s</li>\n";
echo "<hr>\n";

$s0 = array_shift ($array);
echo "<li>$s0</li>\n";
echo "<hr>\n";
foreach ($array as $s)
  echo "<li>$s</li>\n";