String Functions

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Trim¶

trim(string $value, string $type, [string $charmask]) : string

Strips whitespaces or other characters from a string.

If $type is "both", strips strips characters from both start and end of a string. If $type is "start", strips characters from the start of a string. If $type is "end", strips characters from the end of a string.

$charmask allows you to specify the characters you want to strip from a string. If not provided, Trim will strip the following characters by default:

" " (ASCII 32 (0x20)), an ordinary space.
"\t" (ASCII 9 (0x09)), a tab.
"\n" (ASCII 10 (0x0A)), a new line (line feed).
"\r" (ASCII 13 (0x0D)), a carriage return.
"\0" (ASCII 0 (0x00)), the NUL-byte.
"\v" (ASCII 11 (0x0B)), a vertical tab.

  trim("Hello World", "both", "Hdle") => "o Wor"
  trim("\t\tThese are few words :) ...  ", "both") => "These are a few words :) ..."
  trim("\t\tThese are few words :) ...  ", "both", " \t.") => "These are a few words :)"
  trim("00000123", "start", "0") => "123"
  trim("00000123", "end", "3") => "0000012"

To Lower¶

toLower(string $value) : string

Makes a string lowercase. Returns string with all alphabetic characters converted to lowercase.

  toLower("Hello World") => "hello world"
  toLower("Mary Had A Little Lamb") => "mary had a little lamb"

To Upper¶

toUpper(string $value) : string

Makes a string uppercase. Returns string with all alphabetic characters converted to uppercase.

  toUpper("Hello World") => "HELLO WORLD"
  toUpper("Mary Had A Little Lamb") => "MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB"

Substring¶

substring(string $value, int $start, [int $length]) : string

Returns part of a string specified by the $start and optional $length parameters.

If $start is non-negative, the returned string will start at the $start'th position in string, counting from zero. For instance, in the string 'abcdef', the character at position 0 is 'a', the character at position 2 is 'c', and so forth.

If $length is given and is 0, an empty string will be returned. If $length is omitted, a string starting from $start until the end of the string will be returned.

If $start is negative, the returned string will start at the $start'th character from the end of string.

If $value is less than $start characters long, false will be returned.

  substr("abcdef", -1) => "f"
  substr("abcdef", -2) => "ef"
  substr("abcdef", -3, 1) => "d"
  substr("abcdef", 0, -1) => "abcde"
  substr("abcdef", 2, -1) => "cde"
  substr("abcdef", 4, -4) => false
  substr("abcdef", -3, -1) => "de"

String Replace¶

str_replace(string $search, string $replace, string $value) : string

Replaces all occurrences of the search string with the replacement string.

$search is the value being searched for in given string, otherwise known as the needle.

$replace is the replacement value that replaces found $search value.

  str_replace("0", "", "000123000") => "123"
  str_replace("%body%", "black", "<body text='%body%'>") => "<body text='black'>"

Explode¶

explode(string $value, string $delimiter, [int $limit, int $returnIndex]) : string

Splits a string into chunks by given $delimiter. Returns an array of strings, each of which is a substring of string formed by splitting it on boundaries formed by the string $delimiter.

If $delimiter is an empty string (""), explode will return false. If $delimiter contains a value that is not contained in string and a negative limit is used, then an empty array will be returned, otherwise an array containing $value will be returned.

If $limit is set and positive, the returned array will contain a maximum of $limit elements with the last element containing the rest of string. If the $limit parameter is negative, all components except the last -$limit are returned.

If $returnIndex is set, explode will return the index value of the array.

  explode("piece1 piece2 piece3", " ") => ["piece1", "piece2", "piece3"]
  explode("piece1 piece2 piece3", " ", 2) => ["piece1", "piece2 piece3"]
  explode("piece1 piece2 piece3", " ", -1) => ["piece1", "piece2"]
  explode("piece1 piece2 piece3", " ", 2, 0) => "piece1"
  explode("piece1 piece2 piece3", " ", 2, 1) => "piece2 piece3"

Substring Count¶

substr_count(string $value, string $search) : int

Counts the number of substring occurrences in given string. Returns a number (integer) - the count of $search occurences.

This function doesn't count overlapped substrings.

  substr_count("This is a test", "test") => 1
  substr_count("This is a test", "is") => 2
  substr_count("gcdgcdgcd", "gcdgcd") => 1 (does not count overlapped substrings)

Format String¶

str_format(string $value, string $format) : string

Returns a string produced according to the formatting string $format, or false on failure.

The $format string is composed of zero or more directives: ordinary characters (excluding %) that are copied directly to the result and conversion specifications, each of which results in fetching its own parameter.

A conversion specification follows this prototype: %[argnum$][flags][width][.precision]specifier.

argnum is an integer followed by a dollar sign $, to specify which number argument to treat in the conversion.

Flag	Description
-	Left-justify within the given field width; Right justification is the default
+	Prefix positive numbers with a plus sign +; Default only negative are prefixed with a negative sign.
(space)	Pads the result with spaces. This is the default.
0	Only left-pads numbers with zeros. With s specifiers this can also right-pad with zeros.
'(char)	Pads the result with the character (char).

width is an integer that says how many characters (minimum) this conversion should result in.

precision - a period . followed by an integer who's meaning depends on the specifier:

For e, E, f and F specifiers: this is the number of digits to be printed after the decimal point (by default, this is 6).
For g and G specifiers: this is the maximum number of significant digits to be printed.
For s specifier: it acts as a cutoff point, setting a maximum character limit to the string.

Specifier	Description
%	A literal percent character. No argument is required.
b	The argument is treated as an integer and presented as a binary number.
c	The argument is treated as an integer and presented as the character with that ASCII.
d	The argument is treated as an integer and presented as a (signed) decimal number.
e	The argument is treated as scientific notation (e.g. 1.2e+2). The precision specifier stands for the number of digits after the decimal point
E	Like the e specifier but uses uppercase letter (e.g. 1.2E+2).
f	The argument is treated as a float and presented as a floating-point number (locale aware).
F	The argument is treated as a float and presented as a floating-point number (non-locale aware).
g	General format. Let P equal the precision if nonzero, 6 if the precision is omitted, or 1 if the precision is zero. Then, if a conversion with style E would have an exponent of X: If P > X ≥ −4, the conversion is with style f and precision P − (X + 1). Otherwise, the conversion is with style e and precision P − 1.
G	Like the g specifier but uses E and f.
o	The argument is treated as an integer and presented as an octal number.
s	The argument is treated and presented as a string.
u	The argument is treated as an integer and presented as an unsigned decimal number.
x	The argument is treated as an integer and presented as a hexadecimal number (with lowercase letters).
X	The argument is treated as an integer and presented as a hexadecimal number (with uppercase letters).

Type	Specifier
string	s
integer	d, u, c, o, x, X, b
double	g, G, e, E, f, F

  str_format("5", "There are %s monkeys in the tree.") => "There are 5 monkeys in the tree."
  str_format("123", "%'.9d") => "......123"
  str_format("123", "%'.09d') => "000000123"
  str_format("123.1", "%01.2f") => "123.10"
  str_format("362525200", "%.3e") => "3.625e+8"

Split¶

split(string $value, [int $length)] : array

Splits a string $value into chunks and returns all chunks as an array (converts string to an array).

$length is the maximum length of each chunk after split. If $length is omitted, each chunk will be a single character long.

  split("string") => ["s", "t", "r", "i", "n", "g"]
  split("string", 2) => ["st", "ri", "ng"]

Regex Match¶

regex_match(string $value, string $pattern, int $matchIndex) : string

Performs a regular expression search of $value by $pattern specified. Returns found match by the $matchIndex.

$pattern is the pattern to search for in given string.

Pattern	Description
[abc]	A single character: a, b, or c
[^abc]	Any single character but a, b, or c
[a-z]	Any single character in the range a-z
[a-zA-Z]	Any single character in the range a-z or A-Z
^	Start of line
$	End of line
\A	Start of string
\z	End of string
.	Any single character
\s	Any whitespace character
\S	Any non-whitespace character
\d	Any digit
\D	Any non-digit
\w	Any word character (letter, number, underscore)
\W	Any non-word character
\b	Any word boundary character
(...)	Capture everything enclosed
(a\|b)	a or b
a?	Zero or one of a
a*	Zero or more of a
a+	One or more of a
a{3}	Exactly 3 of a
a{3,}	3 or more of a
a{3,6}	Between 3 and 6 of a

  regex_match("foobar: 2008", "/(\w+): (\d+)/", 0) => "foobar: 2008"
  regex_match("foobar: 2008", "/(\w+): (\d+)/", 1) => "foobar"
  regex_match("foobar: 2008", "/(\w+): (\d+)/", 2) => "2008"

  regex_match("http://www.spojit.com/index.html", "@^(?:http://)?([^/]+)@i", 1) => "www.spojit.com"
  regex_match("www.spojit.com", "/[^.]+\.[^.]+$/", 0) => "spojit.com"

Regex Replace¶

regex_replace(string $value, string $pattern, string $replacement, [integer $limit]) : string

Searches $value for matches to $pattern and replaces them with $replacement.

$pattern must include a delimiter - forward slash '/' is recommended. Example: /searchme/ would search for any occurence of 'searchme' in given text and replace them with the $replacement.

$pattern is the pattern to search for specified as a string enclosed in a delimiter (use forward slash /).

$limit specifies the maximum possible replacements of matched $pattern in given $value. Defaults to -1 (unlimited) - all found occurences will be replaced.

Special character	Description
\	Quote the next metacharacter
^	Match the beginning of the line
.	Match any character (except newline)
$	Match the end of the line (or before newline at the end)
\|	Alternation (or)
( )	Group
[ ]	Character class
*	Match 0 or more times
+	Match 1 or more times
?	Match 1 or 0 times
{n}	Match exactly n times
{n,}	Match at least n times
{n,m}	Match at least n but no more than m times

  regex_replace("The quick brown fox.", "/quick/", "slow") => "The slow brown fox."

  //strip excess whitespaces
  regex_replace("foo   o", "/\s\s+/", " ") => "foo o"

  //remove all characters except for numbers and letters
  regex_replace("D'usseldorfer H'auptstrasse", "/[^A-Za-z0-9_]/") => "Dusseldorfer Hauptstrasse"
  regex_replace("April 15, 2003", "/(\w+) (\d+),(\d+)/i", "${1}1,$3") => "April1,2003"