- substr: documentation ( source)
- var_dump: documentation ( source)
- sort: documentation ( source)
<?php
$string = "<derp>";
$words = array();
$words[] = &$string;
$derp = array();
$derp[] = &$string;
sort($derp);
$words[0] = substr($string, 1);
$words[0] = substr($string, 0, -1);
var_dump($derp);