parse_url(): This function parses a URL and returns an associative array containing any of the various components of the URL that are present.

$url = parse_url('http://example.com/project/controller/action/param1/param2');

Array
(
    [scheme] => http
    [host] => example.com
    [path] => /project/controller/action/param1/param2
)

If you need the path separated you can use explode

$url = parse_url('http://example.com/project/controller/action/param1/param2');
$url['sections'] = explode('/', $url['path']);

Array
(
    [scheme] => http
    [host] => example.com
    [path] => /project/controller/action/param1/param2
    [sections] => Array
        (
            [0] => 
            [1] => project
            [2] => controller
            [3] => action
            [4] => param1
            [5] => param2
        )

)

If you need the last part of the section you can use end() like this:

$last = end($url['sections']);

If the URL contains GET vars you can retrieve those as well

$url = parse_url('http://example.com?var1=value1&var2=value2');

Array
(
    [scheme] => http
    [host] => example.com
    [query] => var1=value1&var2=value2
)

If you wish to break down the query vars you can use parse_str() like this:

$url = parse_url('http://example.com?var1=value1&var2=value2');
parse_str($url['query'], $parts);

Array
(
    [var1] => value1
    [var2] => value2
)

explode(): Returns an array of strings, each of which is a substring of string formed by splitting it on boundaries formed by the string delimiter.

This function is pretty much straight forward.

$url = "http://example.com/project/controller/action/param1/param2";
$parts = explode('/', $url);

Array
(
    [0] => http:
    [1] => 
    [2] => example.com
    [3] => project
    [4] => controller
    [5] => action
    [6] => param1
    [7] => param2
)

You can retrieve the last part of the URL by doing this:

$last = end($parts);
// Output: param2

You can also navigate inside the array by using sizeof() in combination with a math operator like this:

echo $parts[sizeof($parts)-2];
// Output: param1

basename(): Given a string containing the path to a file or directory, this function will return the trailing name component.

This function will return only the last part of an URL

$url = "http://example.com/project/controller/action/param1/param2";
$parts = basename($url);
// Output: param2

If your URL has more stuff to it and what you need is the dir name containing the file you can use it with dirname() like this:

$url = "http://example.com/project/controller/action/param1/param2/index.php";
$parts = basename(dirname($url));
// Output: param2