Convert list into an array using php. How?

I have a function called listelements(), which outputs text like <li>text1</li><li>text2</li>.

I have more than 500 elements. Now I want to convert it into an array.

Can anyone help me? Thanks.

Note: I’m using php

Update:

The thing i want to achieve is alphabetical navigation. As of now my function displays links in list order. Instead of that i want to hold that in an array. Then i would like to filter them using characters.

$valid_characters = range( 'a' , 'z' );
$valid_numbers = array(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0);

When the user click “A” i would like to display only links start with A. Hope this explanation helps you guys for better understanding my question

Answer

<?php
$output = listelements();
$array = explode("<li>", $output);

//First element will be empty, so remove it
unset($array[0]);

// Now remove "</li>" at end of input
array_walk($array, create_function('&$val', '$val = str_replace("</li>", "", $val)'));

// $array should now contain your elements