Help with Storing arrays

[Sayian]

Im trying to figure out a good way to store an array in mysql, and be able to retrieve the entire array, back into an array.

Im building a form that allows authors to submit "Tags" for their books, so people can search on these "Tags" and it will search the Authors table in mysql for matching tags, so that readers can simply enter a tag, and find books that match the tags.

For example:

Thru a form, an author might type

php,mysql,development - Those would then by submitted by a form, So what function could i use to put those into an array?

Then how would i store the array in mysql and be able to retrieve it back into an array, for example

/author.php?author=mike

If mike's tags were php,mysql,development id like to list that on the php page next to his book.

So what im trying to do is, 1. Get comma seperated values and put them into an array. 2. Store the array in mysql, and be able to retrieve it back into an array(i know database functions, just not sure what datatype i should use for the column to store these in).

Thanks for any advice.

[vaaaska]

explode()

This would make an array...
To store it use implode() and simply store it as text...

[Weedpacket]

Create a table so that each array element can go in its own row, along with an ID number to relate it back to whatever it's supposed to relate back to (author? title?).

[thephpguy]

I would simply store the values as they are in a string column and then when you're searching the MySQL DB for a match use:

"SELECT author FROM books WHERE bookcontent LIKE %whatever,%"

You can split the bookcontent by using

explode(",", $bookcontent);

which will return an array