In what scenarios would it be more appropriate to use functions like explode, preg_replace, or str_split instead of manually iterating through a string in PHP?

When dealing with string manipulation tasks such as splitting a string into an array, replacing patterns in a string, or breaking a string into individual characters, it is more appropriate to use built-in PHP functions like explode, preg_replace, or str_split instead of manually iterating through the string. These functions are optimized for these specific tasks and can often provide a more efficient and concise solution.

// Example of using explode to split a string into an array
$string = "Hello,World,PHP";
$array = explode(",", $string);
print_r($array);

// Example of using preg_replace to replace a pattern in a string
$string = "Hello World PHP";
$new_string = preg_replace("/\s/", "-", $string);
echo $new_string;

// Example of using str_split to split a string into individual characters
$string = "Hello";
$chars = str_split($string);
print_r($chars);