Values into ARRAY

Happy Friday!

I am trying to insert values into an array. The values are in one variable separated by a space.

I have the variable:

$multiple_artists = "3 9 12 23";

and I want to insert these variables into the array $artists[]
(note: there are no values in $artists[])

I am trying this
ereg_replace(" ", $multiple_artists, $artists[]);

and also tried this:
ereg(" ", $multiple_artists, $artists[]);

also:
ereg(" ", $multiple_artists, $artists);

Any help?

$artists=split("[ ]{1,}", $multiple_artists) ??

Judge,

We have order in the court.

$multiple_artists = "3 9 12 23";
$num_artists = 4;

To be inserted into array $artists

$artists = split(" ", $multiple_artists, $num_artists);

This code will do the following:

$artists[0] = 3;
$artists[1] = 9;
$artists[2] = 12;
$artists[3] = 23;

I think this might also work

$multiple_artists = "3 9 12 23";
$artists = explode(" ", $multiple_artists);

not sure if that will make a string array or if it will work with ints, still new to the php language.