"part1" [1] => "\n" [2] => "part2" [3] => "\n" [4] => "part3" [5] => "\n" ) $word = "part1\npart2\npart3\n"; $array = explode("\n", $word); $array2 = array(); // remove empty last element if last characters are the seperator if (empty($array[sizeof($array)-1])) unset($array[sizeof($array)-1]); // create a new array with the seperator added back for ($i=0; $i<=sizeof($array)-1; $i++) { if ($i > 0) { $array2[] = "\n"; } $array2[] = $array[$i]; } // TESTING for ($i = 0; $i <= sizeof($array)-1; $i++) { echo $array[$i]." ".$i."
"; } echo "--------
"; for ($i = 0; $i <= sizeof($array2)-1; $i++) { echo $array2[$i]."
"; } ?>