Are there best practices for splitting a string into variables in PHP, specifically for ID numbers?

When splitting a string into variables in PHP, especially for ID numbers, it is important to use a consistent delimiter or pattern to ensure accurate extraction of the desired values. One common approach is to use the explode() function to split the string based on a specific character, such as a hyphen or underscore. This allows you to easily assign the extracted values to individual variables for further processing.

$string = "123-456-789";
$parts = explode("-", $string);

$id1 = $parts[0];
$id2 = $parts[1];
$id3 = $parts[2];

echo $id1; // Output: 123
echo $id2; // Output: 456
echo $id3; // Output: 789