diff --git a/ext/standard/string.c b/ext/standard/string.c
index c2f29baec7732..a57e62d331969 100644
--- a/ext/standard/string.c
+++ b/ext/standard/string.c
@@ -1129,7 +1129,7 @@ PHPAPI void php_explode_negative_limit(const zend_string *delim, zend_string *st
 }
 /* }}} */
 
-/* {{{ proto array|false explode(string separator, string str [, int limit])
+/* {{{ proto array explode(string separator, string str [, int limit])
    Splits a string on string separator and return array of components. If limit is positive only limit number of components is returned. If limit is negative all components except the last abs(limit) are returned. */
 PHP_FUNCTION(explode)
 {
@@ -1145,14 +1145,14 @@ PHP_FUNCTION(explode)
 	ZEND_PARSE_PARAMETERS_END();
 
 	if (ZSTR_LEN(delim) == 0) {
-		php_error_docref(NULL, E_WARNING, "Empty delimiter");
-		RETURN_FALSE;
+		zend_throw_error(NULL, "Empty delimiter");
+		return;
 	}
 
 	array_init(return_value);
 
 	if (ZSTR_LEN(str) == 0) {
-	  	if (limit >= 0) {
+		if (limit >= 0) {
 			ZVAL_EMPTY_STRING(&tmp);
 			zend_hash_index_add_new(Z_ARRVAL_P(return_value), 0, &tmp);
 		}
diff --git a/ext/standard/tests/strings/explode.phpt b/ext/standard/tests/strings/explode.phpt
index 84cdcb985fef6..8fa3b62079264 100644
--- a/ext/standard/tests/strings/explode.phpt
+++ b/ext/standard/tests/strings/explode.phpt
@@ -8,21 +8,40 @@ error_reporting=2047
 <?php
 /* From http://bugs.php.net/19865 */
 echo var_export(explode("\1", "a". chr(1). "b". chr(0). "d" . chr(1) . "f" . chr(1). "1" . chr(1) . "d"), TRUE);
+echo "\n";
 echo md5(var_export(explode("\1", "a". chr(1). "b". chr(0). "d" . chr(1) . "f" . chr(1). "1" . chr(1) . "d"), TRUE));
 echo "\n";
-var_dump(@explode("", ""));
-var_dump(@explode("", NULL));
-var_dump(@explode(NULL, ""));
-var_dump(@explode("a", ""));
-var_dump(@explode("a", "a"));
-var_dump(@explode("a", NULL));
-var_dump(@explode(NULL, "a"));
-var_dump(@explode("abc", "acb"));
-var_dump(@explode("somestring", "otherstring"));
-var_dump(@explode("somestring", "otherstring", -1));
-var_dump(@explode("a", "aaaaaa"));
-var_dump(@explode("==", str_repeat("-=".ord(0)."=-", 10)));
-var_dump(@explode("=", str_repeat("-=".ord(0)."=-", 10)));
+
+try {
+    var_dump(explode("", ""));
+} catch (\Error $e) {
+    echo $e->getMessage() . "\n";
+}
+try {
+    var_dump(explode("", NULL));
+} catch (\Error $e) {
+    echo $e->getMessage() . "\n";
+}
+try {
+    var_dump(explode(NULL, ""));
+} catch (\Error $e) {
+    echo $e->getMessage() . "\n";
+}
+
+var_dump(explode("a", ""));
+var_dump(explode("a", "a"));
+var_dump(explode("a", NULL));
+try {
+    var_dump(explode(NULL, "a"));
+} catch (\Error $e) {
+    echo $e->getMessage() . "\n";
+}
+var_dump(explode("abc", "acb"));
+var_dump(explode("somestring", "otherstring"));
+var_dump(explode("somestring", "otherstring", -1));
+var_dump(explode("a", "aaaaaa"));
+var_dump(explode("==", str_repeat("-=".ord(0)."=-", 10)));
+var_dump(explode("=", str_repeat("-=".ord(0)."=-", 10)));
 //////////////////////////////////////
 var_dump(explode(":","a lazy dog:jumps:over:",-1));
 var_dump(explode(":","a lazy dog:jumps:over", -1));
@@ -39,10 +58,11 @@ array (
   2 => 'f',
   3 => '1',
   4 => 'd',
-)d6bee42a771449205344c0938ad4f035
-bool(false)
-bool(false)
-bool(false)
+)
+d6bee42a771449205344c0938ad4f035
+Empty delimiter
+Empty delimiter
+Empty delimiter
 array(1) {
   [0]=>
   string(0) ""
@@ -57,7 +77,7 @@ array(1) {
   [0]=>
   string(0) ""
 }
-bool(false)
+Empty delimiter
 array(1) {
   [0]=>
   string(3) "acb"
diff --git a/ext/standard/tests/strings/explode1.phpt b/ext/standard/tests/strings/explode1.phpt
index de3049a47b3a8..4d692e49e8041 100644
--- a/ext/standard/tests/strings/explode1.phpt
+++ b/ext/standard/tests/strings/explode1.phpt
@@ -32,12 +32,29 @@ $string = "1234NULL23abcd00000TRUEFALSE-11.234444true-11.24%PHP%ZEND";
  */
 $counter = 1;
 foreach($delimiters as $delimiter) {
-  echo "-- Iteration $counter --\n";
-  var_dump( explode($delimiter, $string, -1) );
-  var_dump( explode($delimiter, $string, 0) );
-  var_dump( explode($delimiter, $string, 1) );
-  var_dump( explode($delimiter, $string, 2) );
-  $counter++;
+    echo "-- Iteration $counter --\n";
+
+    try {
+        var_dump( explode($delimiter, $string, -1) );
+    } catch (\Error $e) {
+        echo $e->getMessage() . "\n";
+    }
+    try {
+	    var_dump( explode($delimiter, $string, 0) );
+    } catch (\Error $e) {
+        echo $e->getMessage() . "\n";
+    }
+    try {
+	    var_dump( explode($delimiter, $string, 1) );
+    } catch (\Error $e) {
+        echo $e->getMessage() . "\n";
+    }
+    try {
+	    var_dump( explode($delimiter, $string, 2) );
+    } catch (\Error $e) {
+        echo $e->getMessage() . "\n";
+    }
+    $counter++;
 }
 
 echo "\n*** Testing explode() with miscelleneous input arguments ***\n";
@@ -82,31 +99,15 @@ echo "Done\n";
 --EXPECTF--
 *** Testing explode() for basic operations ***
 -- Iteration 1 --
-
-Warning: explode(): Empty delimiter in %s on line %d
-bool(false)
-
-Warning: explode(): Empty delimiter in %s on line %d
-bool(false)
-
-Warning: explode(): Empty delimiter in %s on line %d
-bool(false)
-
-Warning: explode(): Empty delimiter in %s on line %d
-bool(false)
+Empty delimiter
+Empty delimiter
+Empty delimiter
+Empty delimiter
 -- Iteration 2 --
-
-Warning: explode(): Empty delimiter in %s on line %d
-bool(false)
-
-Warning: explode(): Empty delimiter in %s on line %d
-bool(false)
-
-Warning: explode(): Empty delimiter in %s on line %d
-bool(false)
-
-Warning: explode(): Empty delimiter in %s on line %d
-bool(false)
+Empty delimiter
+Empty delimiter
+Empty delimiter
+Empty delimiter
 -- Iteration 3 --
 array(1) {
   [0]=>
@@ -208,18 +209,10 @@ array(2) {
   string(56) "234NULL23abcd00000TRUEFALSE-11.234444true-11.24%PHP%ZEND"
 }
 -- Iteration 7 --
-
-Warning: explode(): Empty delimiter in %s on line %d
-bool(false)
-
-Warning: explode(): Empty delimiter in %s on line %d
-bool(false)
-
-Warning: explode(): Empty delimiter in %s on line %d
-bool(false)
-
-Warning: explode(): Empty delimiter in %s on line %d
-bool(false)
+Empty delimiter
+Empty delimiter
+Empty delimiter
+Empty delimiter
 -- Iteration 8 --
 array(2) {
   [0]=>