utf 8 - using PHP explode() of a unicode string to get the rows in an array -

i trying read tab delimited spreadsheet unicode characters this:

$content =      file_get_contents($filename); 

when print in browser texts shown correctly. there header:

header('content-type: text/html; charset=utf-8'); 

now want split content rows using:

$rows=  explode("\n",$content); 

the content unicode characters gibberish when instance print 1 row:

echo $rows[1]; 

my question is: causing behaviour , can correct texts $row array? in end want insert row values database, inserts gibberish.

help appreciated

example

a row before explode() looks (note: tabs not displayed below):

r002 Студия 2В 66 Богдан дорога Санкт-Петербург 3174 45 Андрей Смирнов маркетинг 234-56790 653-23685 dummy@dummy.com 34354547

after explode row looks like:

r002 ! b c 4 8 o 2 66 > 3 4 0 = 4 > @ > 3 0 ! 0 = : b -¬ 5 b 5 @ 1 c @ 3 3174 45 = 4 @ 5 9 ! < 8 @ = > 2 < 0 @ : 5 b 8 = 3 234-56790 653-23685 dummy@dummy.com 34354547 59

edit: substring not working

i noted strange behavious. when

echo mb_substr($content,0,50,'utf-8'); 

the output 25 characters, characters displayed correctly

r002 Студия 2В 66 Богдан

however when change offset form 0 instance 5 it's mess again.

echo mb_substr($content,5,50,'utf-8'); 

the output

02 ! b c 4 8 o 2 66 > 3 4 0 = 4 >

not sure what's going on here ... can because file contains utf-8 bom ("\xef\xbb\xbf")?

i found solution, had to it's encoding. exported excel offered initial difficulties. anyways here code resolve encoding bit:

$data = file_get_contents($filename);  if (strpos($data, "\xef\xbb\xbf") !== false)  {     //do nothing, it's utf-8 } elseif(strpos($data, "\xff\xfe") !== false)  {     $data = iconv('ucs-2', 'utf-8', $data); //le utf-16 } elseif(strpos($data, "\xfe\xff") !== false)  {     $data = iconv('ucs-2', 'utf-8', $data); //be utf-16 }