<?php
$str = '___RN___RN___R___N___RN___RN';
$del = array('RN', 'R', 'N');
# This won't work if delimiters 2-n include characters from delimiter 1
var_dump(explode( $del[0], str_replace($del, $del[0], $str)));
# This, however, will work
function array_explode($delimiters, $string){
if(!is_array(($delimiters)) && !is_array($string)){
//if neither the delimiter nor the string are arrays
return explode($delimiters,$string);
} else if(!is_array($delimiters) && is_array($string)) {
//if the delimiter is not an array but the string is
foreach($string as $item){
foreach(explode($delimiters, $item) as $sub_item){
$items[] = $sub_item;
}
}
return $items;
} else if(is_array($delimiters) && !is_array($string)) {
//if the delimiter is an array but the string is not
$string_array[] = $string;
foreach($delimiters as $delimiter){
$string_array = array_explode($delimiter, $string_array);
}
return $string_array;
}
}
var_dump(array_explode($del,$str));