I came up with a simpler way to do this, using preg_split, and it captures all the lines regardless of whether you use a comma, enter, etc. you can even mix/match. This is based on php.net example 1689
I'm taking multiple names to make separate record entries in my db....
// connect to db
require("auth/DBConnect.php");
mysql_connect ("$db_host", "$db_user", "$db_pwd") or die ('I cannot connect to the database.');
mysql_select_db("$db_db") or die("Wrong DB<br>");
// define each variable
$person = $_POST['persons'];
// set counter to zero
$i = 0;
// split the phrase by any number of commas or space characters,
// which include " ", \r, \t, \n and \f
$keys = preg_split("/[\s,]+/", "$person");
$num = count($keys);
while($i < $num) {
echo $keys[$i].'<br>';
$name = $keys[$i];
$queryPERS = "INSERT INTO add_persons (PerIndex, person_id) VALUES ('', '$name')";
mysql_query($queryPERS) or die ("Error in queryPERS: $queryPERS. " . mysql_error());
$i++;
}