Array Introduction
The array functions allow you to access and manipulate arrays.
Simple and multi-dimensional arrays are supported.

Installation
The array functions are part of the PHP core. There is no installation needed to use these functions.

Array Functions


  
Function
Description
  
array()
Creates an array
  
array_change_key_case()
Changes all keys in an array to lowercase or uppercase
  
array_chunk()
Splits an array into chunks of arrays
  
array_column()
Returns the values from a single column in the input array
  
array_combine()
Creates an array by using the elements from one "keys" array and one "values" array
  
array_count_values()
Counts all the values of an array
  
array_diff()
Compare arrays, and returns the differences (compare values only)
  
array_diff_assoc()
Compare arrays, and returns the differences (compare keys and values)
  
array_diff_key()
Compare arrays, and returns the differences (compare keys only)
  
array_diff_uassoc()
Compare arrays, and returns the differences (compare keys and values, using a user-defined key comparison function)
  
array_diff_ukey()
Compare arrays, and returns the differences (compare keys only, using a user-defined key comparison function)
  
array_fill()
Fills an array with values
  
array_fill_keys()
Fills an array with values, specifying keys
  
array_filter()
Filters the values of an array using a callback function
  
array_flip()
Flips/Exchanges all keys with their associated values in an array
  
array_intersect()
Compare arrays, and returns the matches (compare values only)
  
array_intersect_assoc()
Compare arrays and returns the matches (compare keys and values)
  
array_intersect_key()
Compare arrays, and returns the matches (compare keys only)
  
array_intersect_uassoc()
Compare arrays, and returns the matches (compare keys and values, using a user-defined key comparison function)
  
array_intersect_ukey()
Compare arrays, and returns the matches (compare keys only, using a user-defined key comparison function)
  
array_key_exists()
Checks if the specified key exists in the array
  
array_keys()
Returns all the keys of an array
  
array_map()
Sends each value of an array to a user-made function, which returns new values
  
array_merge()
Merges one or more arrays into one array
  
array_merge_recursive()
Merges one or more arrays into one array recursively
  
array_multisort()
Sorts multiple or multi-dimensional arrays
  
array_pad()
Inserts a specified number of items, with a specified value, to an array
  
array_pop()
Deletes the last element of an array
  
array_product()
Calculates the product of the values in an array
  
array_push()
Inserts one or more elements to the end of an array
  
array_rand()
Returns one or more random keys from an array
  
array_reduce()
Returns an array as a string, using a user-defined function
  
array_replace()
Replaces the values of the first array with the values from following arrays
  
array_replace_recursive()
Replaces the values of the first array with the values from following arrays recursively
  
array_reverse()
Returns an array in the reverse order
  
array_search()
Searches an array for a given value and returns the key
  
array_shift()
Removes the first element from an array, and returns the value of the removed element
  
array_slice()
Returns selected parts of an array
  
array_splice()
Removes and replaces specified elements of an array
  
array_sum()
Returns the sum of the values in an array
  
array_udiff()
Compare arrays, and returns the differences (compare values only, using a user-defined key comparison function)
  
array_udiff_assoc()
Compare arrays, and returns the differences (compare keys and values, using a built-in function to compare the keys and a user-defined function to compare the values)
  
array_udiff_uassoc()
Compare arrays, and returns the differences (compare keys and values, using two user-defined key comparison functions)
  
array_uintersect()
Compare arrays, and returns the matches (compare values only, using a user-defined key comparison function)
  
array_uintersect_assoc()
Compare arrays, and returns the matches (compare keys and values, using a built-in function to compare the keys and a user-defined function to compare the values)
  
array_uintersect_uassoc()
Compare arrays, and returns the matches (compare keys and values, using two user-defined key comparison functions)
  
array_unique()
Removes duplicate values from an array
  
array_unshift()
Adds one or more elements to the beginning of an array
  
array_values()
Returns all the values of an array
  
array_walk()
Applies a user function to every member of an array
  
array_walk_recursive()
Applies a user function recursively to every member of an array
  
arsort()
Sorts an associative array in descending order, according to the value
  
asort()
Sorts an associative array in ascending order, according to the value
  
compact()
Create array containing variables and their values
  
count()
Returns the number of elements in an array
  
current()
Returns the current element in an array
  
each()
Deprecated from PHP 7.2. Returns the current key and value pair from an array
  
end()
Sets the internal pointer of an array to its last element
  
extract()
Imports variables into the current symbol table from an array
  
in_array()
Checks if a specified value exists in an array
  
key()
Fetches a key from an array
  
krsort()
Sorts an associative array in descending order, according to the key
  
ksort()
Sorts an associative array in ascending order, according to the key
  
list()
Assigns variables as if they were an array
  
natcasesort()
Sorts an array using a case insensitive "natural order" algorithm
  
natsort()
Sorts an array using a "natural order" algorithm
  
next()
Advance the internal array pointer of an array
  
pos()
Alias of current()
  
prev()
Rewinds the internal array pointer
  
range()
Creates an array containing a range of elements
  
reset()
Sets the internal pointer of an array to its first element
  
rsort()
Sorts an indexed array in descending order
  
shuffle()
Shuffles an array
  
sizeof()
Alias of count()
  
sort()
Sorts an indexed array in ascending order
  
uasort()
Sorts an array by values using a user-defined comparison function
  
uksort()
Sorts an array by keys using a user-defined comparison function
  
usort()
Sorts an array using a user-defined comparison function




PHP Array Reference

Example
Create an indexed array named $cars, assign three elements to it, and then 
print a text containing the array values:

<?php
$cars=array("Volvo","BMW","Toyota");
echo "I like " . $cars[0] . ", " . $cars[1] . " and " . $cars[2] . ".";
?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The array() function is used to create an array.
In PHP, there are three types of arrays:
Indexed arrays - Arrays with numeric index
Associative arrays - Arrays with named keys
Multidimensional arrays - Arrays containing one or more arrays

Syntax
Syntax for indexed arrays:

 array(value1, value2, value3, etc.)

Syntax for associative arrays: 

 array(key=>value,key=>value,key=>value,etc.)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
key
Specifies the key (numeric or string)
  
value
Specifies the value
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array of the parameters

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
As of PHP 5.4, it is possible to use a short array syntax, which replaces array() with []. E.g. $cars=["Volvo","BMW"]; instead of
 $cars=array("Volvo","BMW");


More Examples

Example
Create an associative array named $age:

<?php
 $age=array("Peter"=>"35","Ben"=>"37","Joe"=>"43");echo "Peter is " . $age['Peter'] . " years old.";?>

Try it Yourself »

Example
Loop through and print all the values of an indexed array:

<?php
 $cars=array("Volvo","BMW","Toyota");
 $arrlength=count($cars);for($x=0;$x<$arrlength;$x++)  {  echo $cars[$x];  echo "<br>";  }?>

Try it Yourself »

Example
Loop through and print all the values of an associative array:

 <?php$age=array("Peter"=>"35","Ben"=>"37","Joe"=>"43");
 foreach($age as $x=>$x_value)  {  echo "Key=" . $x . ", Value=" . $x_value;  echo "<br>";  }?>

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Example
Create a multidimensional array:

 <?php// A two-dimensional array:$cars=array  (  array("Volvo",100,96),  array("BMW",60,59),  array("Toyota",110,100)  );?>

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PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Change all keys in an array to uppercase:

<?php
 $age=array("Peter"=>"35","Ben"=>"37","Joe"=>"43");
 print_r(array_change_key_case($age,CASE_UPPER));?>

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Definition and Usage
The array_change_key_case() function changes all keys in an array to lowercase or uppercase.

Syntax

array_change_key_case(array, case)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies the array to use
  
case
Optional. Possible values:
      
CASE_LOWER - Default value. Changes the keys to lowercase
      
CASE_UPPER - Changes the keys to uppercase
    
    
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array with its keys in lowercase or uppercase, or FALSE if array is not an array

  
PHP Version:
  
4.2+

More Examples

Example
Change all keys in an array to lowercase:

<?php
 $age=array("Peter"=>"35","Ben"=>"37","Joe"=>"43");
 print_r(array_change_key_case($age,CASE_LOWER));?>

Try it Yourself »

Example
If two or more keys will be equal after running array_change_key_case() (e.g. 
"b" and "B"), the 
latest array will override the other:

<?php
 $pets=array("a"=>"Cat","B"=>"Dog","c"=>"Horse","b"=>"Bird");
 print_r(array_change_key_case($pets,CASE_UPPER));?>

Try it Yourself »

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Split an array into chunks of two:

<?php
$cars=array("Volvo","BMW","Toyota","Honda","Mercedes","Opel");
 print_r(array_chunk($cars,2));?>

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Definition and Usage
The array_chunk() function splits an array into chunks of new arrays.

Syntax

array_chunk(array, size, preserve_key)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies the array to use
  
size
Required. An integer that specifies the size of each chunk
  
preserve_key
Optional. Possible values:
      
true - Preserves the keys
      
false - Default. Reindexes the chunk numerically
    
    
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a multidimensional indexed array, starting with zero, with each dimension containing size elements

  
PHP Version:
  
4.2+


More Examples

Example
Split an array into chunks of two and preserve the original keys:

<?php
 $age=array("Peter"=>"35","Ben"=>"37","Joe"=>"43","Harry"=>"50");print_r(array_chunk($age,2,true));?>

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 PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Get column of last names from a recordset:

 <?php// An array that represents a possible record set returned from a database$a = array(  array(    'id' => 5698,    'first_name' => 'Peter',    'last_name' => 'Griffin',  ),  array(    'id' => 4767,    'first_name' => 'Ben',    'last_name' => 'Smith',  ),  array(    'id' => 3809,    'first_name' => 'Joe',    'last_name' => 'Doe',  ));$last_names = array_column($a, 'last_name');print_r($last_names);?>

Output:
Array(  [0] => Griffin  [1] => Smith  [2] => Doe)


Definition and Usage
The array_column() function returns the values from a single column in the input array.

Syntax

array_column(array, column_key, index_key)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies the multi-dimensional array (record-set) to use. As 
    of PHP 7.0, this can also be an array of objects.
  
column_key
Required. An integer key or a string key name of the column of values to return. This parameter can also be NULL to return complete arrays (useful together with index_key to re-index the array)
  
index_key
Optional. The column to use as the index/keys for the returned array
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array of values that represents a single column from the input array 

  
PHP Version:
  
5.5+


More Examples

Example
Get column of last names from a recordset, indexed by the "id" column:

 <?php// An array that represents a possible record set returned from a database$a = array(  array(    'id' => 5698,    'first_name' => 'Peter',    'last_name' => 'Griffin',  ),  array(    'id' => 4767,    'first_name' => 'Ben',    'last_name' => 'Smith',  ),  array(    'id' => 3809,    'first_name' => 'Joe',    'last_name' => 'Doe',  ));$last_names = array_column($a, 'last_name', 'id');print_r($last_names);
 ?> 
Output:
Array(  [5698] => Griffin  [4767] => Smith  [3809] => Doe)


 PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Create an array by using the elements from one "keys" array and 
one "values" array:

<?php
 $fname=array("Peter","Ben","Joe");$age=array("35","37","43");
 $c=array_combine($fname,$age);print_r($c);?>

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Definition and Usage
The array_combine() function creates an array by using the elements from one 
"keys" array and 
one "values" array.
Note: Both arrays must have equal number of elements!

Syntax

array_combine(keys, values)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
keys
Required. Array of keys
  
values
Required. Array of values
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the combined array. FALSE if number of elements does not match

  
PHP Version:
  
5+

  
Changelog:
  
Versions before PHP 5.4 issues E_WARNING and returns FALSE for empty arrays

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Count all the values of an array:

<?php
$a=array("A","Cat","Dog","A","Dog");
print_r(array_count_values($a));?>

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Definition and Usage
The array_count_values() function counts all the values of an array.

Syntax

array_count_values(array)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifying the array to count values of
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an associative array, where the keys are the original array's values, and the values are the number of occurrences

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Compare the values of two arrays, and return the 
differences:

<?php
 $a1=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue","d"=>"yellow");
 $a2=array("e"=>"red","f"=>"green","g"=>"blue");$result=array_diff($a1,$a2);print_r($result);?>

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Definition and Usage
The array_diff() function compares the values of two (or more) arrays,
and returns the differences.
This function compares the values of two (or more) arrays, and return an array that contains the entries from 
array1 that are not present in 
array2 or array3, etc.

Syntax

array_diff(array1, array2, array3, ...)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array1
Required. The array to compare from
  
array2
Required. An array to compare against
  
array3,...
Optional. More arrays to compare against
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array containing the entries from 
 array1 that are not present in any of the other arrays

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0.1+


More Examples

Example
Compare the values of three arrays, and return the 
differences:

<?php
 $a1=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue","d"=>"yellow");
 $a2=array("e"=>"red","f"=>"black","g"=>"purple");$a3=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"black","h"=>"yellow");
 $result=array_diff($a1,$a2,$a3);print_r($result);?>

Try it Yourself »

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Compare the keys and values of two arrays, and return the 
differences:

<?php
 $a1=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue","d"=>"yellow");
 $a2=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue");$result=array_diff_assoc($a1,$a2);
 print_r($result);?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The array_diff_assoc() function compares the keys and values 
of two (or more) arrays,
and returns the differences.
This function compares the keys and values of two (or more) arrays, and return an array that contains the entries from 
array1 that are not present in 
array2 or array3, etc.

Syntax

array_diff_assoc(array1,array2,array3...)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array1
Required. The array to compare from
  
array2
Required. An array to compare against
  
array3,...
Optional. More arrays to compare against
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array containing the entries from 
 array1 that are not present in any of the other arrays

  
PHP Version:
  
4.3+


More Examples

Example
Compare the keys and values of two arrays, and 
return the differences:

<?php
 $a1=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue","d"=>"yellow");
 $a2=array("e"=>"red","f"=>"green","g"=>"blue");
 $result=array_diff_assoc($a1,$a2);print_r($result);?>

Try it Yourself »

Example
Compare the keys and values of three arrays, and 
return the differences:

<?php
 $a1=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue","d"=>"yellow");
 $a2=array("a"=>"red","f"=>"green","g"=>"blue");$a3=array("h"=>"red","b"=>"green","g"=>"blue");
 $result=array_diff_assoc($a1,$a2,$a3);print_r($result);?>

Try it Yourself »

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Compare the keys of two arrays, and return the differences:

<?php
 $a1=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue");$a2=array("a"=>"red","c"=>"blue","d"=>"pink");
 $result=array_diff_key($a1,$a2);print_r($result);?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage

The array_diff_key() function compares the keys 
of two (or more) arrays,
and returns the differences.
This function compares the keys of two (or more) arrays, and return an array that contains the entries from 
array1 that are not present in 
array2 or array3, etc.

Syntax

array_diff_key(array1, array2, array3, ...)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array1
Required. The array to compare from
  
array2
Required. An array to compare against
  
array3,...
Optional. More arrays to compare against
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array containing the entries from 
 array1 that are not present in any of the other arrays

  
PHP Version:
  
5.1+


More Examples

Example
Compare the keys of two indexed arrays, and return the 
differences:

<?php
 $a1=array("red","green","blue","yellow");$a2=array("red","green","blue");
 $result=array_diff_key($a1,$a2);print_r($result);?>

Try it Yourself »

Example
Compare the keys of three arrays, and return the 
differences:

<?php
 $a1=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue");$a2=array("c"=>"yellow","d"=>"black","e"=>"brown");
 $a3=array("f"=>"green","c"=>"purple","g"=>"red");$result=array_diff_key($a1,$a2,$a3);
 print_r($result);?>

Try it Yourself »

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Compare the keys and values of two arrays (use a user-defined 
function to compare the keys), and return the differences:

 <?phpfunction myfunction($a,$b){if ($a===$b)  {  return 0;  }  return ($a>$b)?1:-1;}
 $a1=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue");$a2=array("d"=>"red","b"=>"green","e"=>"blue");
 $result=array_diff_uassoc($a1,$a2,"myfunction");print_r($result);
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The array_diff_uassoc() function compares the keys and values 
of two (or more) arrays,
and returns the differences.
Note: This function uses a user-defined function to compare 
the keys!
This function compares the keys and values of two (or more) arrays, and return an array that contains the entries from 
array1 that are not present in 
array2 or array3, etc.

Syntax

array_diff_uassoc(array1, array2, array3, ..., myfunction)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array1
Required. The array to compare from
  
array2
Required. An array to compare against
  
array3,...
Optional. More arrays to compare against
  
myfunction
Required. A string that define a callable comparison function. The comparison function must return an integer <, =, or > than 0 if the first argument is <, =, or > than the second argument
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array containing the entries from 
 array1 that are not present in any of the other arrays

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


More Examples

Example
Compare the keys and values of three arrays (use a user-defined 
function to compare the keys), and return the differences:

 <?phpfunction myfunction($a,$b){if ($a===$b)  {  return 0;  }  return ($a>$b)?1:-1;}
 $a1=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue");$a2=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","d"=>"blue");
 $a3=array("e"=>"yellow","a"=>"red","d"=>"blue");$result=array_diff_uassoc($a1,$a2,$a3,"myfunction");
 print_r($result);
 ?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Compare the keys of two arrays (using a user-defined key 
comparison function), and return the differences:

 <?phpfunction myfunction($a,$b){if ($a===$b)  {  return 0;  }  return ($a>$b)?1:-1;}
 $a1=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue");$a2=array("a"=>"blue","b"=>"black","e"=>"blue");
 $result=array_diff_ukey($a1,$a2,"myfunction");print_r($result);
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The array_diff_ukey() function compares the keys 
of two (or more) arrays, and returns the differences.
Note: This function uses a user-defined function to compare the keys!
This function compares the keys of two (or more) arrays, and return an array that contains the entries from 
array1 that are not present in array2 or array3, etc.

Syntax

array_diff_ukey(array1, array2, array3, ..., myfunction)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array1
Required. The array to compare from
  
array2
Required. An array to compare against
  
array3,...
Optional. More arrays to compare against
  
myfunction
Required. A string that define a callable comparison function. The comparison function must return an integer <, =, or > than 0 if the first argument is <, =, or > than the second argument

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array containing the entries from 
 array1 that are not present in any of the other arrays

  
PHP Version:
  
5.1+


More Examples

Example
Compare the keys of three arrays (use a user-defined 
function to compare the keys), and return the differences:

 <?phpfunction myfunction($a,$b){if ($a===$b)  {  return 0;  }  return ($a>$b)?1:-1;}
 $a1=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue");$a2=array("a"=>"black","b"=>"yellow","d"=>"brown");
 $a3=array("e"=>"purple","f"=>"white","a"=>"gold");$result=array_diff_ukey($a1,$a2,$a3,"myfunction");
 print_r($result);?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Fill an array with values:

<?php
 $a1=array_fill(3,4,"blue");print_r($a1);?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The array_fill() function fills an array with values.

Syntax

array_fill(index, number, value)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
index
Required. The first index of the returned array
  
number
Required. Specifies the number of elements to insert
  
value
Required. Specifies the value to use for filling the array

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the filled array

  
PHP Version:
  
4.2+


PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Fill an array with values, specifying keys:

<?php
 $keys=array("a","b","c","d");$a1=array_fill_keys($keys,"blue");
 print_r($a1);?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The array_fill_keys() function fills an array with values, specifying keys.

Syntax

array_fill_keys(keys, value)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
keys
Required. Array of values that will be used as keys
  
value
Required. Specifies the value to use for filling the array
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the filled array

  
PHP Version:
  
5.2+


PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Filter the values of an array using a callback function:

 <?phpfunction test_odd($var)  {  return($var & 1);  
  }$a1=array(1,3,2,3,4);print_r(array_filter($a1,"test_odd"));?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The array_filter() function filters the values of an array using a callback function.
This function passes each value of the input array to the callback function. 
If the callback function returns true, the current value from input is returned 
into the result array. Array keys are preserved.

Syntax

array_filter(array, callbackfunction, flag)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies the array to filter
  
callbackfunction
Optional. Specifies the callback function to use
  
flag
Optional. Specifies what arguments are sent to callback:
    
      
ARRAY_FILTER_USE_KEY - pass key as the only argument to callback (instead of the value)
      
ARRAY_FILTER_USE_BOTH - pass both value and key as arguments to callback (instead of the value)
    
    
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the filtered array

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0.6+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.6: Added optional flag parameter


PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Flip all keys with their associated values in an array:

<?php
 $a1=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue","d"=>"yellow");
 $result=array_flip($a1);print_r($result);?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The array_flip() function flips/exchanges all keys with their associated values in an array.

Syntax

array_flip(array)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies an array of key/value pairs to be flipped
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the flipped array on success. NULL on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Compare the values of two arrays, and return the 
matches:

<?php
 $a1=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue","d"=>"yellow");
 $a2=array("e"=>"red","f"=>"green","g"=>"blue");$result=array_intersect($a1,$a2);print_r($result);?>

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Definition and Usage
The array_intersect() function compares the values of two (or more) arrays, and returns the matches.
This function compares the values of two or more arrays, and return an 
array that contains the entries from array1 that are present in 
array2, array3, etc.

Syntax

array_intersect(array1, array2, array3, ...)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array1
Required. The array to compare from
  
array2
Required. An array to compare against
  
array3,...
Optional. More arrays to compare against

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array containing the entries from array1 that are present in all of the other arrays

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0.1+


More Examples

Example
Compare the values of three arrays, and return the 
matches:

<?php
 $a1=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue","d"=>"yellow");
 $a2=array("e"=>"red","f"=>"black","g"=>"purple");$a3=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"black","h"=>"yellow");
 $result=array_intersect($a1,$a2,$a3);print_r($result);?>

Try it Yourself »

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Compare the  keys and values of two arrays, and return the 
matches:

<?php
 $a1=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue","d"=>"yellow");
 $a2=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue");$result=array_intersect_assoc($a1,$a2);
 print_r($result);?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The array_intersect_assoc() function compares the keys and values
of two (or more) arrays, and returns the matches. 
This function compares the keys and values of two or more arrays, and return 
an array that contains the entries from array1 that are present in 
array2, array3, etc.

Syntax

array_intersect_assoc(array1,array2,array3, ...)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array1
Required. The first array is the array that the others will be compared with
  
array2
Required. An array to be compared with the first array
  
array3,...
Optional. An array to be compared with the first array
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array containing the entries from 
 array1 that are present in all of the other arrays

  
PHP Version:
  
4.3.0+


More Examples

Example
Compare the  keys and values of three arrays, and return the matches:

<?php
 $a1=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue","d"=>"yellow");
 $a2=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","g"=>"blue");$a3=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","g"=>"blue");
 $result=array_intersect_assoc($a1,$a2,$a3);print_r($result);?>

Try it Yourself »

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Compare the keys of two arrays, and return the matches:

<?php
 $a1=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue");$a2=array("a"=>"red","c"=>"blue","d"=>"pink");
 $result=array_intersect_key($a1,$a2);print_r($result);?>

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Definition and Usage
The array_intersect_key() function compares the keys of two (or more) arrays, and returns the matches.
This function compares the keys of two or more arrays, and return an 
array that contains the entries from array1 that are present in 
array2, array3, etc.

Syntax

array_intersect_key(array1, array2, array3, ...)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array1
Required. The first array is the array that the others will be compared with
  
array2
Required. An array to be compared with the first array
  
array3,...
Optional. An array to be compared with the first array
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array containing the entries from 
 array1 that are present in all of the other arrays

  
PHP Version:
  
5.1.0+


More Examples

Example
Compare the keys of two indexed arrays, and return the matches:

<?php
 $a1=array("red","green","blue","yellow");$a2=array("red","green","blue");
 $result=array_intersect_key($a1,$a2);print_r($result);?>

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Example
Compare the keys of three arrays, and return the matches:

<?php
 $a1=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue");$a2=array("c"=>"yellow","d"=>"black","e"=>"brown");
 $a3=array("f"=>"green","c"=>"purple","g"=>"red");$result=array_intersect_key($a1,$a2,$a3);
 print_r($result);?>

Try it Yourself »

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Compare the keys and values of two arrays, and return the 
matches (using a user-defined key comparison function):

<?php
 function myfunction($a,$b){if ($a===$b)  {  return 0;  }  return ($a>$b)?1:-1;}
 $a1=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue");$a2=array("d"=>"red","b"=>"green","e"=>"blue");
 $result=array_intersect_uassoc($a1,$a2,"myfunction");print_r($result);?>

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Definition and Usage
The array_intersect_uassoc() function compares the keys and values 
of two (or more) arrays, and returns the matches.
Note: This function uses a user-defined function to compare the keys!
This function compares the keys and values of two or more arrays, and return 
an array that contains the entries from array1 that are present in 
array2, array3, etc.

Syntax

array_intersect_uassoc(array1, array2, array3, ..., myfunction)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array1
Required. The first array is the array that the others will be compared with
  
array2
Required. An array to be compared with the first array
  
array3,...
Optional. An array to be compared with the first array
  
myfunction
Required. A string that define a callable comparison function. The comparison function must return an integer <, =, or > than 0 if the first argument is <, =, or > than the second argument
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array containing the entries from array1 that are present in all of the other arrays

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


More Examples

Example
Compare the keys and values of three arrays (use a 
user-defined function to compare the keys), and return the matches:

<?php
 function myfunction($a,$b){if ($a===$b)  {  return 0;  }  return ($a>$b)?1:-1;}
 $a1=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue");$a2=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","d"=>"blue");
 $a3=array("e"=>"yellow","a"=>"red","d"=>"blue");$result=array_intersect_uassoc($a1,$a2,$a3,"myfunction");
 print_r($result);?>

Try it Yourself »

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Compare the keys of two arrays (using a user-defined key 
comparison function), and return the matches:

<?php
 function myfunction($a,$b){if ($a===$b)  {  return 0;  }  return ($a>$b)?1:-1;}
 $a1=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue");$a2=array("a"=>"blue","b"=>"black","e"=>"blue");
 $result=array_intersect_ukey($a1,$a2,"myfunction");print_r($result);?>

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Definition and Usage
The array_intersect_ukey() function compares the keys of two (or more) 
arrays, and returns the matches.
Note: This function uses a user-defined function to compare the keys!
This function compares the keys of two or more arrays, and return an array 
that contains the entries from array1 that are present in array2,
array3, etc.

Syntax

array_intersect_ukey(array1, array2, array3, ..., myfunction)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array1
Required. The first array is the array that the others will be compared with
  
array2
Required. An array to be compared with the first array
  
array3,...
Optional. An array to be compared with the first array
  
myfunction
Required. A string that define a callable comparison function. The comparison function must return an integer <, =, or > than 0 if the first argument is <, =, or > than the second argument
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array containing the entries from array1 that are present in all of the other arrays

  
PHP Version:
  
5.1.0+


More Examples

Example
Compare the keys of three arrays (use a user-defined function to compare the keys), and return the matches:

<?php
 function myfunction($a,$b){if ($a===$b)  {  return 0;  }  return ($a>$b)?1:-1;}
 $a1=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue");$a2=array("a"=>"black","b"=>"yellow","d"=>"brown");
 $a3=array("e"=>"purple","f"=>"white","a"=>"gold");$result=array_intersect_ukey($a1,$a2,$a3,"myfunction");
 print_r($result);?>

Try it Yourself »

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Check if the key "Volvo" exists in an array:

<?php
 $a=array("Volvo"=>"XC90","BMW"=>"X5");if (array_key_exists("Volvo",$a))  {  echo "Key exists!";  }else  {  echo "Key does not exist!";  }?>

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Definition and Usage
The array_key_exists() function checks an array for a specified key,
and returns true if the key exists and false if the key does not exist.
Tip: Remember that if you skip the key when you specify an array,
an integer key is generated, starting at 0 and increases by 1 for each value. (See example below)

Syntax

array_key_exists(key, array)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
key
Required. Specifies the key
  
array
Required. Specifies an array
  
Technical Details


  
Return Value:
  
Returns TRUE if the key exists and FALSE if the key does not exist

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0.7+


More Examples

Example
Check if the key "Toyota" exists in an array:

<?php
 $a=array("Volvo"=>"XC90","BMW"=>"X5");if (array_key_exists("Toyota",$a))
  {
  echo "Key exists!";
  }
else
  {
  echo "Key does not exist!";
  }
?>

Try it Yourself »

Example
Check if the integer key "0" exists in an array:

<?php
$a=array("Volvo","BMW");
if (array_key_exists(0,$a))
  {
  echo "Key exists!";
  }
else
  {
  echo "Key does not exist!";
  }
?>

Try it Yourself »

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Return an array containing the keys:

<?php
 $a=array("Volvo"=>"XC90","BMW"=>"X5","Toyota"=>"Highlander");print_r(array_keys($a));
?>

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Definition and Usage
The array_keys() function returns an array containing the keys.

Syntax

array_keys(array, value, strict)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies an array
  
value
Optional. You can specify a value, then only the keys with this value are returned
  
strict
Optional. Used with the value parameter. Possible values:
      
true - Returns the keys with the specified value, depending on type: the number 
      5 is not the same as the string "5".
      
false - Default value. Not depending on type, the number 5 is the same as the string "5".
    

  
Technical Details


  
Return Value:
  
Returns an array containing the keys

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
The strict parameter was added in PHP 5.0


More Examples

Example
Using the value parameter:

<?php
 $a=array("Volvo"=>"XC90","BMW"=>"X5","Toyota"=>"Highlander");print_r(array_keys($a,"Highlander"));?>

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Example
Using the strict parameter, false:

<?php
 $a=array(10,20,30,"10");print_r(array_keys($a,"10",false));?>

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Example
Using the strict parameter, true:

 <?php$a=array(10,20,30,"10");print_r(array_keys($a,"10",true));?>

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PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Send each value of an array to a function, multiply each value by itself, and 
return an array with the new values:

<?php
 function myfunction($v){  return($v*$v);}
 $a=array(1,2,3,4,5);print_r(array_map("myfunction",$a));
?>

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Definition and Usage
The array_map() function sends each value of an array to a user-made function,
and returns an array with new values, given by the user-made function.
Tip: You can assign one array to the function, or as many as you like.

Syntax

array_map(myfunction, array1, array2, array3, ...)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
myfunction
Required. The name of the user-made function, or null
  
array1
Required. Specifies an array
  
array2
Optional. Specifies an array
  
array3
Optional. Specifies an array
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array containing the values of array1, after applying the user-made function to each one

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0.6+


More Examples

Example
Using a user-made function to change the values of an array:

<?php
 function myfunction($v){if ($v==="Dog")  {  return "Fido";  }return $v;}$a=array("Horse","Dog","Cat");
 print_r(array_map("myfunction",$a));?>

Try it Yourself »

Example
Using two arrays:

<?php
 function myfunction($v1,$v2){if ($v1===$v2)  {  return "same";  }return "different";}$a1=array("Horse","Dog","Cat");
 $a2=array("Cow","Dog","Rat");print_r(array_map("myfunction",$a1,$a2));?>

Try it Yourself »

Example
Change all letters of the array values to uppercase:

<?php
 function myfunction($v) {$v=strtoupper($v);  return $v;
 }$a=array("Animal" => "horse", "Type" => "mammal");print_r(array_map("myfunction",$a));?>

Try it Yourself »

Example
Assign null as the function name:

 <?php$a1=array("Dog","Cat");
$a2=array("Puppy","Kitten");
print_r(array_map(null,$a1,$a2));?>

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PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Merge two arrays into one array:

<?php
 $a1=array("red","green");$a2=array("blue","yellow");print_r(array_merge($a1,$a2));
?>

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Definition and Usage
The array_merge() function merges one or more arrays into one array.
Tip: You can assign one array to the function, or as many as you like.
Note: If two or more array elements have the same key, the last one overrides the others.
Note: If you assign only one array to the array_merge() function, and the keys are integers,
the function returns a new array with integer keys starting at 0 and increases by 1 for each value (See 
example below).
Tip: The difference between this function and the
array_merge_recursive() function is 
when two or more array elements have the same key. Instead of override the keys, 
the array_merge_recursive() function makes the value as an array.

Syntax

array_merge(array1, array2, array3, ...)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array1
Required. Specifies an array
  
array2
Optional. Specifies an array
  
array3,...
Optional. Specifies an array
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the merged array

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
As of PHP 5.0, this function only accept parameters of type array


More Examples

Example
Merge two associative arrays into one array:

<?php
$a1=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green");
$a2=array("c"=>"blue","b"=>"yellow");
print_r(array_merge($a1,$a2));?>

Try it Yourself »

Example
Using only one array parameter with integer keys:

<?php
$a=array(3=>"red",4=>"green");
print_r(array_merge($a));?>

Try it Yourself »

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Merge two arrays into one array:

<?php
$a1=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green");
$a2=array("c"=>"blue","b"=>"yellow");
print_r(array_merge_recursive($a1,$a2));
?>

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Definition and Usage
The array_merge_recursive() function merges one or more arrays into one array.
The difference between this function and the array_merge() function is when two or more array elements have the same key.
Instead of override the keys, the array_merge_recursive() function makes the value as an array.
Note: If you assign only one array to the array_merge_recursive() function,
it will behave exactly the same as the array_merge() function.

Syntax

array_merge_recursive(array1, array2, array3, ...)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array1
Required. Specifies an array
  
array2
Optional. Specifies an array
  
array3,...
Optional. Specifies an array
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the merged array

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0.1+

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Return a sorted array in ascending order:

<?php
$a=array("Dog","Cat","Horse","Bear","Zebra");
array_multisort($a);
print_r($a);
?>

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Definition and Usage
The array_multisort() function returns a sorted array. You can assign one or 
more arrays. The function sorts the first array, and the other arrays follow, 
then, if two or more values are the same, it sorts the next array, and so on.
Note: String keys will be maintained, but numeric keys will be re-indexed, starting at 0 and increase by 1.
Note: You can assign the sortorder and the sorttype parameters after each array. 
If not specified, each array parameter uses the default values.

Syntax

array_multisort(array1, sortorder, sorttype, array2, array3, ...)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array1
Required. Specifies an array
  
sortorder
Optional. Specifies the sorting order. Possible values:
     
      
SORT_ASC - Default. Sort in ascending order (A-Z)
      
SORT_DESC - Sort in descending order (Z-A)
     
    
  
sorttype
Optional. Specifies the type to use, when comparing elements. Possible values:
     
      
SORT_REGULAR - Default. Compare elements normally (Standard ASCII)
      
SORT_NUMERIC - Compare elements as numeric values
      
SORT_STRING - Compare elements as string values
      
SORT_LOCALE_STRING - Compare elements as string, based on the   current locale (can be changed using    setlocale())
      
SORT_NATURAL - Compare elements as strings using "natural   ordering" like natsort()
      
SORT_FLAG_CASE - Can be combined (bitwise OR) with SORT_STRING   or SORT_NATURAL to sort strings case-insensitively
     
    
  
array2
Optional. Specifies an array
  
array3
Optional. Specifies an array

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns TRUE on success or FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.4: Added sorting type SORT_NATURAL and SORT_FLAG_CASE 
  PHP 5.3: Added sorting type SORT_LOCALE_STRING


More Examples

Example
Return a sorted array in ascending order:

<?php
$a1=array("Dog","Cat");
$a2=array("Fido","Missy");
array_multisort($a1,$a2);
print_r($a1);
print_r($a2);?>

Try it Yourself »

Example
See how it sorts when two values are the same:

<?php
$a1=array("Dog","Dog","Cat");
$a2=array("Pluto","Fido","Missy");
array_multisort($a1,$a2);
print_r($a1);
print_r($a2);?>

Try it Yourself »

Example
Using sorting parameters:

 <?php$a1=array("Dog","Dog","Cat");$a2=array("Pluto","Fido","Missy");array_multisort($a1,SORT_ASC,$a2,SORT_DESC);print_r($a1);print_r($a2);?>

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Example
Merge two arrays and sort them as numbers, in descending order:

<?php
 $a1=array(1,30,15,7,25);$a2=array(4,30,20,41,66);$num=array_merge($a1,$a2);
 array_multisort($num,SORT_DESC,SORT_NUMERIC);print_r($num);?>

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PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Return 5 elements and insert a value of "blue" to the new elements in the 
array:

<?php
$a=array("red","green");
print_r(array_pad($a,5,"blue"));
?>

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Definition and Usage
The array_pad() function inserts a specified number of elements, with a 
specified value, to an array.
Tip: If you assign a negative size parameter, the function will insert 
new elements BEFORE the original elements (See example below).
Note: This function will not delete any elements if the size parameter is 
less than the size of the original array.
Syntax

array_pad(array, size, value)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies an array
  
size
Required. Specifies the number of elements in the array returned from the function
  
value
Required. Specifies the value of the new elements in the array returned from the function
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array with new elements

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


More Examples

Example
Using a negative size parameter:

<?php
$a=array("red","green");
print_r(array_pad($a,-5,"blue"));?>

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PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Delete the last element of an array:

<?php
$a=array("red","green","blue");
array_pop($a);
print_r($a);
?>

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Definition and Usage
The array_pop() function deletes the last element of an array.

Syntax

array_pop(array)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies an array
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the last value of array. If array is empty, or is not an array, NULL will be returned.

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Calculate and return the product of an array:

<?php
$a=array(5,5);
echo(array_product($a));
?>

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Definition and Usage
The array_product() function calculates and returns the product of an array.

Syntax

array_product(array)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies an array
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the product as an integer or float

  
PHP Version:
  
5.1.0+

  
Changelog:
  
As of PHP 5.3.6, the product of an empty array is 1. Before PHP 5.3.6, this function would return 0 for an empty array.


More Examples

Example
Calculate and return the product of an array:

<?php
$a=array(5,5,2,10);
echo(array_product($a));?>

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PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Insert "blue" and "yellow" to the end of an array:

<?php
$a=array("red","green");
array_push($a,"blue","yellow");
print_r($a);?>

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Definition and Usage
The array_push() function inserts one or more elements to the end of an array.
Tip: You can add one value, or as many as you like.
Note: Even if your array has string keys, your added elements will always have numeric keys (See example below).

Syntax

array_push(array, value1, value2, ...)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies an array
  
value1
Optional. Specifies the value to add (Required in PHP versions before 7.3)
  
value2
Optional. Specifies the value to add
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the new number of elements in the array

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Change log:
  
As of version 7.3 this function can be called with only the array parameter


More Examples

Example
An array with string keys:

<?php
$a=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green");
array_push($a,"blue","yellow");
print_r($a);?>

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PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Return an array of random keys:

<?php
 $a=array("red","green","blue","yellow","brown");$random_keys=array_rand($a,3);
 echo $a[$random_keys[0]]."<br>";echo $a[$random_keys[1]]."<br>";echo $a[$random_keys[2]];?>

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Definition and Usage
The array_rand() function returns a random key from an array,
or it returns an array of random keys if you specify that the function should return more than one key.

Syntax

array_rand(array, number)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies an array
  
number
Optional. Specifies how many random keys to return
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a random key from an array, or an array of random keys if you specify that the function should return more than one key

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 7.1: rand() uses the Mersenne Twister random number generator
  PHP 5.2.1: The resulting array of keys is no longer shuffled
  PHP 4.2: The random number generator is seeded automatically


More Examples

Example
Return a random key from an array:

<?php
$a=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue","d"=>"yellow");
print_r(array_rand($a,1));?>

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Example
Return an array of random string keys:

<?php
$a=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue","d"=>"yellow");
print_r(array_rand($a,2));?>

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PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Send the values in an array to a user-defined function and return a string:

<?php
function myfunction($v1,$v2)
{
return $v1 . "-" . $v2;
}
$a=array("Dog","Cat","Horse");
print_r(array_reduce($a,"myfunction"));
?>

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Definition and Usage
The array_reduce() function sends the values in an array to a user-defined function, and returns a string.
Note: If the array is empty and initial is not passed, this 
function returns NULL.

Syntax

array_reduce(array, myfunction, initial)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies an array
  
myfunction
Required. Specifies the name of the function
  
initial
Optional. Specifies the initial value to send to the function

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the resulting value

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0.5+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
As of PHP 5.3.0, the initial parameter accepts multiple types (mixed). Versions prior to PHP 5.3.0, only allowed integer.


More Examples

Example
With the initial parameter:

<?php
function myfunction($v1,$v2)
{
return $v1 . "-" . $v2;
}
$a=array("Dog","Cat","Horse");
print_r(array_reduce($a,"myfunction",5));?>

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Example
Returning a sum:

<?php
function myfunction($v1,$v2)
{
return $v1+$v2;
}
$a=array(10,15,20);
print_r(array_reduce($a,"myfunction",5));?>

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PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Replace the values of the first array ($a1) with the values from the second 
array ($a2):

<?php
 $a1=array("red","green");$a2=array("blue","yellow");
 print_r(array_replace($a1,$a2));
?>

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Definition and Usage
The array_replace() function replaces the values of the first array with the values from following arrays.
Tip: You can assign one array to the function, or as many as you like.
If a key from array1 exists in array2, values from array1 will be replaced by 
the values from array2. If the key only exists in array1, it will be left as it is (See Example 1 below).
If a key exist in array2 and not in array1, it will be created in array1 (See Example 2 below).
If multiple arrays are used, values from later arrays will overwrite the previous ones (See Example 3 below).
Tip: Use array_replace_recursive() to replace the values of array1 with the values 
from following arrays recursively.

Syntax

array_replace(array1, array2, array3, ...)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array1
Required. Specifies an array
  
array2
Optional. Specifies an array which will replace the values of array1
  
array3,...
Optional. Specifies more arrays to replace the values of array1  and array2, etc. Values from later arrays will overwrite the previous ones.
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the replaced array, or NULL if an error occurs

  
PHP Version:
  
5.3.0+


More Examples

Example 1
If a key from array1 exists in array2, and if the key only exists in array1:

<?php
 $a1=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green");$a2=array("a"=>"orange","burgundy");
 print_r(array_replace($a1,$a2));?>

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Example 2
If a key exists in array2 and not in array1:

<?php
 $a1=array("a"=>"red","green");$a2=array("a"=>"orange","b"=>"burgundy");
 print_r(array_replace($a1,$a2));?>

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Example 3
Using three arrays - the last array ($a3) will overwrite the previous ones ($a1 and $a2):

<?php
 $a1=array("red","green");$a2=array("blue","yellow");$a3=array("orange","burgundy");
 print_r(array_replace($a1,$a2,$a3));?>

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Example 4
Using numeric keys - If a key exists in array2 and not in array1:

<?php
 $a1=array("red","green","blue","yellow");
 $a2=array(0=>"orange",3=>"burgundy");print_r(array_replace($a1,$a2));?>

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PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Replace the values of the first array with the values from the second array 
recursively:

<?php
 $a1=array("a"=>array("red"),"b"=>array("green","blue"),);
 $a2=array("a"=>array("yellow"),"b"=>array("black"));print_r(array_replace_recursive($a1,$a2));
?>

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Definition and Usage
The array_replace_recursive() function replaces the values of the first array with the values from following arrays recursively.
Tip: You can assign one array to the function, or as many as you like.
If a key from array1 exists in array2, values from array1 will be replaced by 
the values from array2. If the key only exists in array1, it will be left as it 
is. If a key exist in array2 and not in array1, it will be created in array1. If 
multiple arrays are used, values from later arrays will overwrite the previous ones.
Note: If you do not specify a key for each array, this 
function will behave exactly the same as the array_replace() function.

Syntax

array_replace_recursive(array1, array2, array3, ...)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array1
Required. Specifies an array
  
array2
Optional. Specifies an array which will replace the values of array1
  
array3,...
Optional. Specifies more arrays to replace the values of array1  and array2, etc. Values from later arrays will overwrite the previous ones.
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the replaced array, or NULL if an error occurs

  
PHP Version:
  
5.3.0+


More Examples

Example
Multiple arrays:

<?php
 $a1=array("a"=>array("red"),"b"=>array("green","blue"));
 $a2=array("a"=>array("yellow"),"b"=>array("black"));
 $a3=array("a"=>array("orange"),"b"=>array("burgundy"));print_r(array_replace_recursive($a1,$a2,$a3));?>

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Example
Differences between array_replace() and array_replace_recursive():

<?php
 $a1=array("a"=>array("red"),"b"=>array("green","blue"),);
 $a2=array("a"=>array("yellow"),"b"=>array("black"));$result=array_replace_recursive($a1,$a2);
 print_r($result);$result=array_replace($a1,$a2);print_r($result);?>

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PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Return an array in the reverse order:

<?php
$a=array("a"=>"Volvo","b"=>"BMW","c"=>"Toyota");
print_r(array_reverse($a));
?>

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Definition and Usage
The array_reverse() function returns an array in the reverse order.

Syntax

array_reverse(array, preserve)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies an array
  
preserve
Optional. Specifies if the function should preserve the keys of the array or not. Possible values:
    
true
false

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the reversed array

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
The preserve parameter was added in PHP 4.0.3


More Examples

Example
Return the original array, the reversed array and the preserved array:

<?php
 $a=array("Volvo","XC90",array("BMW","Toyota"));$reverse=array_reverse($a);
 $preserve=array_reverse($a,true);print_r($a);print_r($reverse);
 print_r($preserve);?>

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PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Search an array for the value "red" and return its key:

<?php
 $a=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue");echo array_search("red",$a);
?>

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Definition and Usage
The array_search() function search an array for a value and returns the key.

Syntax

array_search(value, array, strict)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
value
Required. Specifies the value to search for
  
array
Required. Specifies the array to search in
  
strict
Optional. If this parameter is set to TRUE, then this function will search for identical elements in the array. Possible values:
    
true
false - Default
 When set to true, the number 5 is not the same as the string 5 
    (See example 2)
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the key of a value if it is found in the array, and FALSE otherwise. If the value is found in the array more than once, the first matching key is returned.

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0.5+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
This function returns NULL if invalid parameters are passed to it (this applies to all PHP functions as of 5.3.0).As of PHP 4.2.0, this function returns FALSE on failure instead of NULL.


More Examples

Example
Search an array for the value 5 and return its key (notice the "):

<?php
$a=array("a"=>"5","b"=>5,"c"=>"5");
echo array_search(5,$a,true);?>

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PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Remove the first element (red) from an array, and return the value of the 
removed element:

<?php
 $a=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue");echo array_shift($a);
 print_r ($a);
?>

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Definition and Usage
The array_shift() function removes the first element from an array, and returns the value of the removed element.
Note: If the keys are numeric, all elements will get new keys, starting from 0 and increases by 1 (See example below).

Syntax

array_shift(array)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies an array
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the value of the removed element from an array, or NULL if the array is empty

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


More Examples

Example
Using numeric keys:

<?php
 $a=array(0=>"red",1=>"green",2=>"blue");
echo array_shift($a);
print_r ($a);?>

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PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Start the slice from the third array element, and return 
the rest of the elements in the array:

<?php
 $a=array("red","green","blue","yellow","brown");print_r(array_slice($a,2));
?>

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Definition and Usage
The array_slice() function returns selected parts of an array.
Note: If the array have string keys, the returned array will always preserve the keys (See example 4).

Syntax

array_slice(array, start, length, preserve)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies an array
  
start
Required. Numeric value. Specifies where the function will start the slice.
    0 = the first element.
    If this value is set to a negative number, the function will start slicing that far from the last element.
    -2 means start at the second last element of the array.
  
length
Optional. Numeric value. Specifies the length of the returned array.
    
    If this value is set to a negative number, the function will stop slicing that far from the last element. If this value is not set, the function will return all elements, starting from the position set by the start-parameter.
    
  
preserve
Optional. Specifies if the function should preserve or reset the keys. Possible values:
true - Preserve keys
false - 
      Default. Reset keys
    

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns selected parts of an array

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
The preserve parameter was added in PHP 5.0.2


More Examples

Example 1
Start the slice from from the second array element, and return only two 
elements:

<?php
 $a=array("red","green","blue","yellow","brown");print_r(array_slice($a,1,2));?>

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Example 2
Using a negative start parameter:

<?php
 $a=array("red","green","blue","yellow","brown");print_r(array_slice($a,-2,1));?>

Try it Yourself »

Example 3
With the preserve parameter set to true:

 <?php$a=array("red","green","blue","yellow","brown");print_r(array_slice($a,1,2,true));?>

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Example 4
With both string and integer keys:

 <?php
 $a=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue","d"=>"yellow","e"=>"brown");
 print_r(array_slice($a,1,2));
 $a=array("0"=>"red","1"=>"green","2"=>"blue","3"=>"yellow","4"=>"brown");
 print_r(array_slice($a,1,2));?>

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PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Remove elements from an array and replace it with new elements:

<?php
 $a1=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue","d"=>"yellow");
 $a2=array("a"=>"purple","b"=>"orange");array_splice($a1,0,2,$a2);
 print_r($a1);
?>

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Definition and Usage
The array_splice() function removes selected elements from an array and 
replaces it with new elements. The function also returns an array with the removed elements.
Tip: If the function does not remove any elements (length=0), the 
replaced array will be inserted from the position of the start parameter (See Example 2).
Note: The keys in the replaced array are not preserved.

Syntax

array_splice(array, start, length, array)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies an array
  
start
Required. Numeric value. Specifies where the function will start 
    removing elements.
    0 = the first element.
    If this value is set to a negative number, the function will start that far from the last element.
    -2 means start at the second last element of the array.
  
length
Optional. Numeric value. Specifies how many elements will 
    be removed, and also length of the returned array.
    
    If this value is set to a negative number, the function will stop that far from the last element. If this value is not set, the function will 
    remove all elements, starting from the position set by the start-parameter.
    
  
array
Optional. Specifies an array with the elements that will be 
    inserted to the original array. If it's only one element, it can be a 
    string, and does not have to be an array.

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the array consisting of the extracted elements

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


More Examples

Example 1
The same example as the example on top of the page, but the output is the returned array:

<?php
 $a1=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue","d"=>"yellow");
 $a2=array("a"=>"purple","b"=>"orange");print_r(array_splice($a1,0,2,$a2));?>

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Example 2
With the length parameter set to 0:

<?php
 $a1=array("0"=>"red","1"=>"green");
 $a2=array("0"=>"purple","1"=>"orange");array_splice($a1,1,0,$a2);
 print_r($a1);?>

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PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Return the sum of all the values in the array (5+15+25):

<?php
$a=array(5,15,25);
echo array_sum($a);
?>

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Definition and Usage
The array_sum() function returns the sum of all the values in the array.

Syntax

array_sum(array)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies an array
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the sum of all the values in an array

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0.4+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP versions prior to 4.2.1 modified the passed array itself and converted strings to numbers (which often converted them to zero, depending on their value)


More Examples

Example
Return the sum of all the values in the array (52.2+13.7+0.9):

<?php
 $a=array("a"=>52.2,"b"=>13.7,"c"=>0.9);echo array_sum($a);?>

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PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Compare the values of two arrays (use a user-defined 
function to compare the values) and return the 
differences:

<?php
 function myfunction($a,$b){if ($a===$b)  {  return 0;  }  return ($a>$b)?1:-1;}$a1=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue");
 $a2=array("a"=>"blue","b"=>"black","e"=>"blue");$result=array_udiff($a1,$a2,"myfunction");
 print_r($result);?>

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Definition and Usage
The array_udiff() function compares the values of two or 
more arrays, and returns the differences.
Note: This function uses a user-defined function to compare the values!
This function compares the values of two (or more) arrays, and return an 
array that contains the entries from array1 that are not present in 
array2 or array3, etc.

Syntax

array_udiff(array1, array2, array3, ..., myfunction)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array1
Required. The array to compare from
  
array2
Required. An array to compare against
  
array3,...
Optional. More arrays to compare against
  
myfunction
Required. A string that define a callable comparison function. The comparison function must return an integer <, =, or > than 0 if the first argument is <, =, or > than the second argument

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array containing the entries from 
 array1 that are not present in any of the other arrays

  
PHP Version:
  
5.1.0+


More Examples

Example
Compare the values of three arrays (use a user-defined function to compare the values), and return the differences:

<?php
 function myfunction($a,$b){if ($a===$b)  {  return 0;  }  return ($a>$b)?1:-1;}$a1=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue","yellow");
 $a2=array("A"=>"red","b"=>"GREEN","yellow","black");$a3=array("a"=>"green","b"=>"red","yellow","black");
 $result=array_udiff($a1,$a2,$a3,"myfunction");print_r($result);?>

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PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Compare the  keys and values of two arrays (using a built-in 
function to compare the keys and a user-defined 
function to compare the values) and return the 
differences:

<?php
 function myfunction($a,$b){if ($a===$b)  {  return 0;  }  return ($a>$b)?1:-1;}$a1=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue");
 $a2=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"blue","c"=>"green");$result=array_udiff_assoc($a1,$a2,"myfunction");
 print_r($result);?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The array_udiff() function compares the keys and values of two or more arrays, and returns the differences.
Note: This function uses a built-in function to compare the keys, and a user-defined function to compare the values!
This function compares the keys and values of two (or more) arrays, and return an 
array that contains the entries from array1 that are not present in array2 or array3, etc.

Syntax

array_udiff_assoc(array1, array2, array3, ..., myfunction)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array1
Required. The array to compare from
  
array2
Required. An array to compare against
  
array3,...
Optional. More arrays to compare against
  
myfunction
Required. A string that define a callable comparison function. The comparison function must return an integer <, =, or > than 0 if the first argument is <, =, or > than the second argument

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array containing the entries from 
 array1 that are not present in any of the other arrays

  
PHP Version:
  
5+

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Compare the  keys and values of two arrays (using two 
user-defined functions for comparison) and return the 
differences:

<?php
 function myfunction_key($a,$b){if ($a===$b)  {  return 0;  }  return ($a>$b)?1:-1;}function myfunction_value($a,$b){if ($a===$b)  {  return 0;  }  return ($a>$b)?1:-1;}
 $a1=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue");$a2=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"green");
 $result=array_udiff_uassoc($a1,$a2,"myfunction_key","myfunction_value");
 print_r($result);?>

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Definition and Usage
The array_udiff_uassoc() function compares the keys and values of two or more arrays, and returns the differences.
Note: This function uses two user-defined functions for 
comparison; the key is used in the first function and the value is used in the second!
This function compares the keys and values of two (or more) arrays, and return an 
array that contains the entries from array1 that are not present in array2or array3, etc.

Syntax

array_udiff_uassoc(array1, array2, array3, ..., myfunc_key, myfunc_value)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array1
Required. The array to compare from
  
array2
Required. An array to compare against
  
array3,...
Optional. More arrays to compare against
  
myfunc_key
Required. The name of the user-defined function that compares 
    the array keys.A string that define a callable comparison function. The comparison function must return an integer <, =, or > than 0 if the first argument is <, =, or > than the second argument
  
myfunc_value
Required. The name of the user-defined function that compares 
    the array values.A string that define a callable comparison function. The comparison function must return an integer <, =, or > than 0 if the first argument is <, =, or > than the second argument.
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array containing the entries from 
 array1 that are not present in any of the other arrays

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Compare the values of two arrays (use a user-defined 
function to compare the values) and return the matches:

<?php
 function myfunction($a,$b){if ($a===$b)  {  return 0;  }  return ($a>$b)?1:-1;}$a1=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue");
 $a2=array("a"=>"blue","b"=>"black","e"=>"blue");$result=array_uintersect($a1,$a2,"myfunction");
 print_r($result);?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The array_uintersect() function compares the values of two or more arrays, and returns the matches.
Note: This function uses a user-defined function to compare the values!
This function compares the values of two (or more) arrays, and return an array that contains the entries from array1 that are present in 
array2, array3, etc.

Syntax

array_uintersect(array1, array2, array3, ..., myfunction)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array1
Required. The array to compare from
  
array2
Required. An array to compare against
  
array3,...
Optional. More arrays to compare against
  
myfunction
Required. A string that define a callable comparison function. The comparison function must return an integer <, =, or > than 0 if the first argument is <, =, or > than the second argument

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array containing the entries from 
 array1 that are present in all of the other arrays

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


More Examples

Example
Compare the values of three arrays (use a 
user-defined function to compare the values), and return the 
matches:

<?php
 function myfunction($a,$b){if ($a===$b)  {  return 0;  }  return ($a>$b)?1:-1;}$a1=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue","yellow");
 $a2=array("A"=>"red","b"=>"GREEN","yellow","black");$a3=array("a"=>"green","b"=>"red","yellow","black");
 $result=array_uintersect($a1,$a2,$a3,"myfunction");print_r($result);?>

Try it Yourself »

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Compare the  keys and values of two arrays (using a built-in 
function to compare the keys and a user-defined function to compare the values) 
and return the matches:

<?php
 function myfunction($a,$b){if ($a===$b)  {  return 0;  }  return ($a>$b)?1:-1;}$a1=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue");
 $a2=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"blue","c"=>"green");$result=array_uintersect_assoc($a1,$a2,"myfunction");
 print_r($result);?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The array_uintersect_assoc() function compares the keys and values of 
two or more arrays, and returns the matches.
Note: This function uses a built-in function to compare the 
keys, and a user-defined function to compare the values!
This function compares the keys and values of two (or more) arrays, and return an 
array that contains the entries from array1 that are present in array2, array3, etc.

Syntax

array_uintersect_assoc(array1, array2, array3, ..., myfunction)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
  
array1
Required. The array to compare from
  
array2
Required. An array to compare against
  
array3,...
Optional. More arrays to compare against
  
myfunction
Required. A string that define a callable comparison function. The comparison function must return an integer <, =, or > than 0 if the first argument is <, =, or > than the second argument

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array containing the entries from 
 array1 that are present in all of the other arrays

  
PHP Version:
  
5+

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Compare the  keys and values of two arrays (using two 
user-defined functions for comparison) and return the matches:

<?php
 function myfunction_key($a,$b){if ($a===$b)  {  return 0;  }  return ($a>$b)?1:-1;}function myfunction_value($a,$b){if ($a===$b)  {  return 0;  }  return ($a>$b)?1:-1;}
 $a1=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue");$a2=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"green");
 $result=array_uintersect_uassoc($a1,$a2,"myfunction_key","myfunction_value");
 print_r($result);?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The array_uintersect_uassoc() function compares the keys and values of two or more arrays,
and returns the matches.
Note: This function uses two user-defined functions for comparison;
the key is used in the first function and the value is used in the second!
This function compares the keys and values of two (or more) arrays, and return an 
array that contains the entries from array1 that are present in array2, array3, etc.

Syntax

array_uintersect_uassoc(array1, array2, array3, ..., myfunc_key, myfunc_value)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array1
Required. The array to compare from
  
array2
Required. An array to compare against
  
array3,...
Optional. More arrays to compare against
  
myfunc_key
Required. The name of the user-defined function that compares 
    the array keys.A string that define a callable comparison function. The comparison function must return an integer <, =, or > than 0 if the first argument is <, =, or > than the second argument
  
myfunc_value
Required. The name of the user-defined function that compares 
    the array values.A string that define a callable comparison function. The comparison function must return an integer <, =, or > than 0 if the first argument is <, =, or > than the second argument.

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array containing the entries from 
 array1 that are present in all of the other arrays

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Remove duplicate values from an array:

<?php
 $a=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"red");print_r(array_unique($a));
?>

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Definition and Usage
The array_unique() function removes duplicate values from an array. If two or 
more array values are the same, the first appearance will be kept and the other will be removed.
Note: The returned array will keep the first array item's key type.

Syntax

array_unique(array, sorttype)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifying an array
  
sorttype
Optional. Specifies how to compare the array elements/items. Possible values:
    
        
SORT_STRING - Default. Compare items as strings
    
SORT_REGULAR - Compare items normally (don't change types)
    
SORT_NUMERIC - Compare items numerically
    
SORT_LOCALE_STRING - Compare items as strings, based on current locale
 
    

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the filtered array

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0.1+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 7.2: If sorttype is SORT_STRING, this returns a new array and adds the unique elements.
  PHP 5.2.9: The default value of sorttype was changed to SORT_REGULAR.
  PHP 5.2.1: The default value of sorttype was changed back to SORT_STRING.


PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Insert the element "blue" to an array:

<?php
 $a=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green");array_unshift($a,"blue");print_r($a);
?>

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Definition and Usage
The array_unshift() function inserts new elements to an array. The new array 
values will be inserted in the beginning of the array. 
Tip: You can add one value, or as many as you like.
Note: Numeric keys will start at 0 and increase by 1. String keys will remain the same.

Syntax

array_unshift(array, value1, value2, value3, ...)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifying an array
  
value1
Optional. Specifies a value to insert (Required in PHP versions before 7.3)
  
value2
Optional. Specifies a value to insert
  
value3
Optional. Specifies a value to insert
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the new number of elements in the array

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 7.3: This function can now be called with only the array parameter


More Examples

Example
Show the return value:

<?php
 $a=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green");print_r(array_unshift($a,"blue"));?>

Try it Yourself »

Example
Using numeric keys:

<?php
 $a=array(0=>"red",1=>"green");array_unshift($a,"blue");print_r($a);?>

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PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Return all the values of an array (not the keys):

<?php
 $a=array("Name"=>"Peter","Age"=>"41","Country"=>"USA");print_r(array_values($a));
?>

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Definition and Usage
The array_values() function returns an array containing all the values of an array.
Tip: The returned array will have numeric keys, starting at 0 and increase by 1.

Syntax

array_values(array)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifying an array

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array containing all the values of an array

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Run each array element in a user-defined function:

<?php
function myfunction($value,$key)
{
echo "The key $key has the value $value<br>";
}
$a=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue");
array_walk($a,"myfunction");
?>

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Definition and Usage
The array_walk() function runs each array element in a user-defined function. 
The array's keys and values are parameters in the function.
Note: You can change an array element's value in the user-defined 
function by specifying the first parameter as a reference: &$value (See Example 2).
Tip: To work with deeper arrays (an array inside an array),
use the array_walk_recursive() function.

Syntax

array_walk(array, myfunction, parameter...)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifying an array
  
myfunction
Required. The name of the user-defined function
  
parameter,...
Optional. Specifies a parameter to the user-defined function. You can assign one parameter to the function, or as many as you like

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns TRUE on success or FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


More Examples

Example 1
With a parameter:

<?php
function myfunction($value,$key,$p)
{
echo "$key $p $value<br>";
}
$a=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue");
array_walk($a,"myfunction","has the value");?>

Try it Yourself »

Example 2
Change an array element's value. (Notice the &$value)

<?php
function myfunction(&$value,$key)
{
$value="yellow";
}
$a=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue");
array_walk($a,"myfunction");
print_r($a);?>

Try it Yourself »

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Run each array element in a user-defined function:

<?php
 function myfunction($value,$key){echo "The key $key has the value $value<br>";}$a1=array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green");
 $a2=array($a1,"1"=>"blue","2"=>"yellow");array_walk_recursive($a2,"myfunction");
?>

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Definition and Usage
The array_walk_recursive() function runs each array element in a user-defined function.
The array's keys and values are parameters in the function. The difference 
between this function and the array_walk() 
function is that with this function you can work with deeper arrays (an array 
inside an array).

Syntax

array_walk_recursive(array, myfunction, parameter...)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifying an array
  
myfunction
Required. The name of the user-defined function
  
parameter,...
Optional. Specifies a parameter to the user-defined function. You can assign one parameter to the function, or as many as you like.

Technical Details

  

 
Return Value:
 
Returns TRUE on success or FALSE on failure
  

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Sort an associative array in descending order, according to the value:

<?php
 $age=array("Peter"=>"35","Ben"=>"37","Joe"=>"43");arsort($age);?>

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Definition and Usage

The arsort() function sorts an associative array in descending order, according 
to the value.
Tip: Use the asort() 
function to sort an associative array in ascending order, according to the 
value.

Tip: Use the krsort() 
function to sort an associative array in descending order, according to the key.

Syntax

arsort(array, sorttype)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies the array to sort
  
sorttype
Optional. Specifies how to compare the array elements/items. Possible values:
    
    
0 = SORT_REGULAR - Default. Compare items normally (don't change types)
    
1 = SORT_NUMERIC - Compare items numerically
    
2 = SORT_STRING - Compare items as strings
    
3 = SORT_LOCALE_STRING - Compare items as strings, based on current locale
    
4 = SORT_NATURAL - Compare items as strings using natural ordering
    
5 = SORT_FLAG_CASE - 
 
    

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Sort an associative array in ascending order, according to the value:

<?php
 $age=array("Peter"=>"35","Ben"=>"37","Joe"=>"43");asort($age);?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The asort() function sorts an associative array in ascending order, according to the value.
Tip: Use the arsort() 
function to sort an associative array in descending order, according to the value.
Tip: Use the ksort() 
function to sort an associative array in ascending order, according to the key.

Syntax

asort(array, sorttype)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies the array to sort
  
sorttype
Optional. Specifies how to compare the array elements/items. Possible values:
    
    
0 = SORT_REGULAR - Default. Compare items normally (don't change types)
    
1 = SORT_NUMERIC - Compare items numerically
    
2 = SORT_STRING - Compare items as strings
    
3 = SORT_LOCALE_STRING - Compare items as strings, based on current locale
    
4 = SORT_NATURAL - Compare items as strings using natural ordering
    
5 = SORT_FLAG_CASE - 
 
    

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Create an array from variables and their values:

<?php
$firstname = "Peter";
$lastname = "Griffin";
$age = "41";

$result = compact("firstname", "lastname", "age");
 print_r($result);
?>

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Definition and Usage
The compact() function creates an array from variables and their values.
Note: Any strings that does not match variable names will be skipped.

Syntax

compact(var1, var2...)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
var1
Required. Can be a string with the variable name, or an array of variables
  
var2,...
Optional. Can be a string with the variable name, or an array of variables. Multiple parameters are allowed.

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array with all the variables added to it

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Change log:
  
As of version 7.3 this function issues an E_NOTICE level error if an unset variable is given


More Examples

Example
Using a string that does not match a variable, and an array of variable 
names:

<?php
$firstname = "Peter";
$lastname = "Griffin";
$age = "41";

$name = array("firstname", "lastname");
$result = compact($name, "location", "age");

print_r($result);?>

Try it Yourself »

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Return the number of elements in an array:

<?php
 $cars=array("Volvo","BMW","Toyota");echo count($cars);?>

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Definition and Usage
The count() function returns the number of elements in an array.

Syntax

count(array, mode)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies the array
  
mode
Optional. Specifies the mode. Possible values:
    
0 - Default. Does not count all elements of multidimensional arrays
    
1 - Counts the array recursively (counts all the elements of  multidimensional arrays)
 
    

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the number of elements in the array

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
The mode parameter was added in PHP 4.2


More Examples

Example
Count the array recursively:

<?php
 $cars=array  (  "Volvo"=>array  (  "XC60",  "XC90"  ),  "BMW"=>array  (  "X3",  "X5"  ),  "Toyota"=>array  (
   "Highlander"  )  ); echo "Normal count: " . count($cars)."<br>";echo "Recursive count: " . count($cars,1);?>

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PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Output the value of the current element in an array:

<?php
$people = array("Peter", "Joe", "Glenn", "Cleveland");

echo current($people) . "<br>";
?>

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Definition and Usage
The current() function returns the value of the current element in an array.
Every array has an internal pointer to its "current" element, which is 
initialized to the first element inserted into the array. 
Tip: This function does not move the arrays internal pointer. 
Related methods:
end() - moves the internal pointer to, and outputs, the last element in the array
next() - moves the internal pointer to, and outputs, the next element in the array
prev() - moves the internal pointer to, and outputs, the previous element in the array
reset() - moves the internal pointer to the first element of the array
each() - returns the current element key and value, and moves the internal pointer forward

Syntax

current(array)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies the array to use

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the value of the current element in an array, or FALSE on empty elements or elements with no value

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


More Examples

Example
A demonstration of all related methods:

<?php
 $people = array("Peter", "Joe", "Glenn", "Cleveland");echo current($people) . "<br>"; // The current element is Peterecho next($people) . "<br>"; // The next element of Peter is Joeecho current($people) . "<br>"; // Now the current element is Joeecho prev($people) . "<br>"; // The previous element of Joe is Peterecho end($people) . "<br>"; // The last element is Clevelandecho prev($people) . "<br>"; // The previous element of Cleveland is Glennecho current($people) . "<br>"; // Now the current element is Glennecho reset($people) . "<br>"; // Moves the internal pointer to the first element of the array, which is Peter
 echo next($people) . "<br>"; // The next element of Peter is Joe
 print_r (each($people)); // Returns the key and value of the current element (now Joe), and moves the internal pointer forward?>

Try it Yourself »

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Return the current element key and value, and move the internal pointer 
forward:

<?php
$people = array("Peter", "Joe", "Glenn", "Cleveland");
print_r (each($people));
?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The each() function returns the current element key and value, and moves the internal pointer forward.

  Note: The each() function is deprecated in PHP 7.2.

This element key and value is returned in an array with four elements. Two 
elements (1 and Value) for the element value, and two elements (0 and Key) for the element key. 
Related methods:
current() - returns the value of the current element in an array
end() - moves the internal pointer to, and outputs, the last element in the array
next() - moves the internal pointer to, and outputs, the next element in the array
prev() - moves the internal pointer to, and outputs, the previous element in the array
reset() - moves the internal pointer to the first element of the array

Syntax

each(array)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies the array to use

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 

 Returns the current element key and value. This element key and value is returned in an array with four elements. Two elements (1 and Value) for the element value, and two elements (0 and Key) for the element key. This function returns FALSE if there are no more array elements

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
This functions has been deprecated as of PHP 7.2
 

More Examples

Example
Same example as the one on top of the page, but with a loop to output the 
whole array:

<?php
 $people = array("Peter", "Joe", "Glenn", "Cleveland");
 reset($people);while (list($key, $val) = each($people))  {  echo "$key => $val<br>";  }?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
A demonstration of all related methods:

<?php
 $people = array("Peter", "Joe", "Glenn", "Cleveland");echo current($people) . "<br>"; // The current element is Peterecho next($people) . "<br>"; // The next element of Peter is Joeecho current($people) . "<br>"; // Now the current element is Joeecho prev($people) . "<br>"; // The previous element of Joe is Peterecho end($people) . "<br>"; // The last element is Clevelandecho prev($people) . "<br>"; // The previous element of Cleveland is Glennecho current($people) . "<br>"; // Now the current element is Glennecho reset($people) . "<br>"; // Moves the internal pointer to the first element of the array, which is Peter
 echo next($people) . "<br>"; // The next element of Peter is Joe
 print_r (each($people)); // Returns the key and value of the current element (now Joe), and moves the internal pointer forward?>

Try it Yourself »

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Output the value of the current and the last element in an array:

<?php
$people = array("Peter", "Joe", "Glenn", "Cleveland");
echo current($people) . "<br>";
echo end($people); 
?>

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Definition and Usage
The end() function moves the internal pointer to, and outputs, the last element in the array.
Related methods:
current() - returns the value of the current element in an array
next() - moves the internal pointer to, and outputs, the next element in the array
prev() - moves the internal pointer to, and outputs, the previous element in the array
reset() - moves the internal pointer to the first element of the array
each() - returns the current element key and value, and moves the internal pointer forward

Syntax

end(array)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies the array to use

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the value of the last element in the array on success, or FALSE if the array is empty

  
PHP Version:
  
4+
 

More Examples

Example
A demonstration of all related methods:

<?php
 $people = array("Peter", "Joe", "Glenn", "Cleveland");echo current($people) . "<br>"; // The current element is Peterecho next($people) . "<br>"; // The next element of Peter is Joeecho current($people) . "<br>"; // Now the current element is Joeecho prev($people) . "<br>"; // The previous element of Joe is Peterecho end($people) . "<br>"; // The last element is Clevelandecho prev($people) . "<br>"; // The previous element of Cleveland is Glennecho current($people) . "<br>"; // Now the current element is Glennecho reset($people) . "<br>"; // Moves the internal pointer to the first element of the array, which is Peter
 echo next($people) . "<br>"; // The next element of Peter is Joe
 print_r (each($people)); // Returns the key and value of the current element (now Joe), and moves the internal pointer forward?>

Try it Yourself »

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Assign the values "Cat", "Dog" and "Horse" to the variables $a, $b and $c:

<?php
$a = "Original";
$my_array = array("a" => "Cat","b" => "Dog", "c" => "Horse");
extract($my_array);
echo "\$a = $a; \$b = $b; \$c = $c";
?>

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Definition and Usage
The extract() function imports variables into the local symbol table from an 
array.
This function uses array keys as variable names and values as variable 
values. For each element it will create a variable in the current symbol table. 
This function returns the number of variables extracted on success.

Syntax

extract(array, extract_rules, prefix)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies the array to use
  
extract_rules
Optional. The extract() function checks for invalid variable names and collisions with existing variable names. This parameter specifies how invalid and colliding names are treated.Possible values:
 
    
EXTR_OVERWRITE - Default. On collision, the existing variable is  overwritten
    
EXTR_SKIP - On collision, the existing variable is not overwritten
    
EXTR_PREFIX_SAME - On collision, the variable name will be given a  prefix
    
EXTR_PREFIX_ALL - All variable names will be given a prefix
    
EXTR_PREFIX_INVALID - Only invalid or numeric variable names will be  given a prefix
    
EXTR_IF_EXISTS - Only overwrite existing variables in the current  symbol table, otherwise do nothing
    
EXTR_PREFIX_IF_EXISTS - Only add prefix to variables if the same  variable exists in the current symbol table
    
EXTR_REFS - Extracts variables as references. The imported variables  are still referencing the values of the array parameter
 
    
  
prefix
Optional. If EXTR_PREFIX_SAME, EXTR_PREFIX_ALL, EXTR_PREFIX_INVALID or EXTR_PREFIX_IF_EXISTS are used in the extract_rules parameter, a specified prefix is required.
    This parameter specifies the prefix. The prefix is automatically separated from the array key by an underscore character.

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns  the number of variables extracted on success

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
The extract_rules value EXTR_REFS was added in PHP 4.3.
 The extract_rules values EXTR_IF_EXISTS and EXTR_PREFIX_IF_EXISTS were added in PHP 4.2.As of PHP 4.0.5, this function now returns the number of variables extracted.The extract_rules value EXTR_PREFIX_INVALID was added in PHP 4.0.5.As of PHP 4.0.5, the 
 extract_rules value EXTR_PREFIX_ALL now includes numeric variables as well.


More Examples

Example
Using all parameters:

<?php
$a = "Original";
$my_array = array("a" => "Cat", "b" => "Dog", "c" => "Horse");

extract($my_array, EXTR_PREFIX_SAME, "dup");

echo "\$a = $a; \$b = $b; \$c = $c; \$dup_a = $dup_a";?>

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PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Search for the value "Glenn" in an array and output some text:

<?php
$people = array("Peter", "Joe", "Glenn", "Cleveland");

if (in_array("Glenn", $people))
  {
  echo "Match found";
  }
else
  {
  echo "Match not found";
  }
?>

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Definition and Usage
The in_array() function searches an array for a specific value.
Note: If the search parameter is a string and the type parameter is 
set to TRUE, the search is case-sensitive.

Syntax

in_array(search, array, type)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
search
Required. Specifies the what to search for
  
array
Required. Specifies the array to search
  
type

 Optional. If this parameter is set to TRUE, the in_array() function searches for the search-string and specific type in the array.
    
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns TRUE if the value is found in the array, or FALSE otherwise

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 4.2: The search parameter may now be an array


More Examples

Example
Using all parameters:

<?php
 $people = array("Peter", "Joe", "Glenn", "Cleveland", 23);if (in_array("23", $people, TRUE))  {  echo "Match found<br>";  }
 else  {  echo "Match not found<br>";  } if (in_array("Glenn",$people, TRUE))  {  echo "Match found<br>";  }else  {  echo "Match not found<br>";  }if (in_array(23,$people, TRUE))  {  echo "Match found<br>";  }else  {  echo "Match not found<br>";  }?>

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PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Return the element key from the current internal pointer position:

<?php
$people=array("Peter","Joe","Glenn","Cleveland");
echo "The key from the current position is: " . key($people);?>

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Definition and Usage
The key() function returns the element key from the current internal pointer position.
This function returns FALSE on error.

Syntax

key(array)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies the array to use

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the key of the array element that is currently being pointed to by the internal pointer

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Sort an associative array in descending order, according to the key:

<?php
 $age=array("Peter"=>"35","Ben"=>"37","Joe"=>"43");
 krsort($age);?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The krsort() function sorts an associative array in descending order, according to the key.
Tip: Use the ksort() 
function to sort an associative array in ascending order, according to the key.
Tip: Use the arsort() 
function to sort an associative array in descending order, according to the value.

Syntax

krsort(array, sorttype)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies the array to sort
  
sorttype
Optional. Specifies how to compare the array elements/items. Possible values:
    
    
0 = SORT_REGULAR - Default. Compare items normally (don't change types)
    
1 = SORT_NUMERIC - Compare items numerically
    
2 = SORT_STRING - Compare items as strings
    
3 = SORT_LOCALE_STRING - Compare items as strings, based on current locale
    
4 = SORT_NATURAL - Compare items as strings using natural ordering
    
5 = SORT_FLAG_CASE - 
 
    

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Sort an associative array in ascending order, according to the key:

<?php
 $age=array("Peter"=>"35","Ben"=>"37","Joe"=>"43");
 ksort($age);?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The ksort() function sorts an associative array in ascending order, according to the key.
Tip: Use the krsort() 
function to sort an associative array in descending order, according to the key.
Tip: Use the asort() 
function to sort an associative array in ascending order, according to the value.

Syntax

ksort(array, sorttype)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies the array to sort
  
sorttype
Optional. Specifies how to compare the array elements/items. Possible values:
    
    
0 = SORT_REGULAR - Default. Compare items normally (don't change types)
    
1 = SORT_NUMERIC - Compare items numerically
    
2 = SORT_STRING - Compare items as strings
    
3 = SORT_LOCALE_STRING - Compare items as strings, based on current locale
    
4 = SORT_NATURAL - Compare items as strings using natural ordering
    
5 = SORT_FLAG_CASE - 
 
    

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Assign variables as if they were an array:

<?php
$my_array = array("Dog","Cat","Horse");

list($a, $b, $c) = $my_array;
echo "I have several animals, a $a, a $b and a $c.";
?>

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Definition and Usage
The list() function is used to assign values to a list of variables in one operation.
Note: Prior to PHP 7.1, this function only worked on 
numerical arrays.

Syntax

list(var1, var2, ...)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
var1
Required. The first variable to assign a value to
  
var2,...
Optional. More variables to assign values to
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the assigned array

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


More Examples

Example
Using the first and third variables:

<?php
$my_array = array("Dog","Cat","Horse");

list($a, , $c) = $my_array;
echo "Here I only use the $a and $c variables.";?>

Try it Yourself »

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Assign variables as if they were an array:

<?php
$temp_files = array("temp15.txt","Temp10.txt",
"temp1.txt","Temp22.txt","temp2.txt");

natsort($temp_files);
echo "Natural order: ";
print_r($temp_files);
echo "<br />";

natcasesort($temp_files);
echo "Natural order case insensitve: ";
print_r($temp_files);
?>

The output of the code above will be:

Natural order:
Array
(
[0] => Temp10.txt
[1] => Temp22.txt
[2] => temp1.txt
[4] => temp2.txt
[3] => temp15.txt
)
Natural order case insensitve:
Array
(
[2] => temp1.txt
[4] => temp2.txt
[0] => Temp10.txt
[3] => temp15.txt
[1] => Temp22.txt
)



Definition and Usage
The natcasesort() function sorts an array by using a "natural order" algorithm. The values keep their original keys.
In a natural algorithm, the number 2 is less than the number 10. In computer 
sorting, 10 is less than 2, because the first number in "10" is less than 2.
This function is case-insensitive.

Syntax

natcasesort(array)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies the array to sort
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Sort an array:

<?php
$temp_files = array("temp15.txt","temp10.txt",
"temp1.txt","temp22.txt","temp2.txt");

sort($temp_files);
echo "Standard sorting: ";
print_r($temp_files);
echo "<br>";

natsort($temp_files);
echo "Natural order: ";
print_r($temp_files);
?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The natsort() function sorts an array by using a "natural order" algorithm. The values keep their original keys.
In a natural algorithm, the number 2 is less than the number 10. In computer 
sorting, 10 is less than 2, because the first number in "10" is less than 2.

Syntax

natsort(array)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies the array to sort
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns TRUE on success, or FALSE on failure.

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.2.1: Zero padded numeric strings (e.g., '00006') now ignore the 0 padding


PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Output the value of the current and the next element in the array:

<?php
$people = array("Peter", "Joe", "Glenn", "Cleveland");

echo current($people) . "<br>";
echo next($people);
?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The next() function moves the internal pointer to, and outputs, the next element in the array.
Related methods:
prev() - moves the internal pointer to, and outputs, the previous element in the array
current() - returns the value of the current element in an array
end() - moves the internal pointer to, and outputs, the last element in the array
reset() - moves the internal pointer to the first element of the array
each() - returns the current element key and value, and moves the internal pointer forward

Syntax

next(array)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies the array to use

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the value of the next element in the array on success, or FALSE if there are no more elements

  
PHP Version:
  
4+
 

More Examples

Example
A demonstration of all related methods:

<?php
 $people = array("Peter", "Joe", "Glenn", "Cleveland");echo current($people) . "<br>"; // The current element is Peterecho next($people) . "<br>"; // The next element of Peter is Joeecho current($people) . "<br>"; // Now the current element is Joeecho prev($people) . "<br>"; // The previous element of Joe is Peterecho end($people) . "<br>"; // The last element is Clevelandecho prev($people) . "<br>"; // The previous element of Cleveland is Glennecho current($people) . "<br>"; // Now the current element is Glennecho reset($people) . "<br>"; // Moves the internal pointer to the first element of the array, which is Peter
 echo next($people) . "<br>"; // The next element of Peter is Joe
 print_r (each($people)); // Returns the key and value of the current element (now Joe), and moves the internal pointer forward?>

Try it Yourself »

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Output the value of the current element in an array:

<?php
$people = array("Peter", "Joe", "Glenn", "Cleveland");

echo pos($people) . "<br>";
?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The pos() function returns the value of the current element in an array.
This function is an alias of the current() function.
Every array has an internal pointer to its "current" element, which is 
initialized to the first element inserted into the array. 
Tip: This function does not move the arrays internal pointer. 
Related methods:
current() - returns the value of the current element in an array
end() - moves the internal pointer to, and outputs, the last element in the array
next() - moves the internal pointer to, and outputs, the next element in the array
prev() - moves the internal pointer to, and outputs, the previous element in the array
reset() - moves the internal pointer to the first element of the array
each() - returns the current element key and value, and moves the internal pointer forward

Syntax

pos(array)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies the array to use

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the value of the current element in an array, or FALSE on empty elements or elements with no value

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


More Examples

Example
A demonstration of all related methods:

<?php
 $people = array("Peter", "Joe", "Glenn", "Cleveland");echo current($people) . "<br>"; // The current element is Peterecho next($people) . "<br>"; // The next element of Peter is Joeecho current($people) . "<br>"; // Now the current element is Joeecho prev($people) . "<br>"; // The previous element of Joe is Peterecho end($people) . "<br>"; // The last element is Clevelandecho prev($people) . "<br>"; // The previous element of Cleveland is Glennecho current($people) . "<br>"; // Now the current element is Glennecho reset($people) . "<br>"; // Moves the internal pointer to the first element of the array, which is Peter
 echo next($people) . "<br>"; // The next element of Peter is Joe
 print_r (each($people)); // Returns the key and value of the current element (now Joe), and moves the internal pointer forward?>

Try it Yourself »

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Output the value of the current, next and previous element in the array:

<?php
$people = array("Peter", "Joe", "Glenn", "Cleveland");

echo current($people) . "<br>";
echo next($people) . "<br>";
echo prev($people);
?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The prev() function moves the internal pointer to, and outputs, the previous element in the array.
Related methods:
next() - moves the internal pointer to, and outputs, the next element in the array
current() - returns the value of the current element in an array
end() - moves the internal pointer to, and outputs, the last element in the array
reset() - moves the internal pointer to the first element of the array
each() - returns the current element key and value, and moves the internal pointer forward

Syntax

prev(array)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies the array to use

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the value of the previous element in the array on success, or FALSE if there are no more elements

  
PHP Version:
  
4+
 

More Examples

Example
A demonstration of all related methods:

<?php
 $people = array("Peter", "Joe", "Glenn", "Cleveland");echo current($people) . "<br>"; // The current element is Peterecho next($people) . "<br>"; // The next element of Peter is Joeecho current($people) . "<br>"; // Now the current element is Joeecho prev($people) . "<br>"; // The previous element of Joe is Peterecho end($people) . "<br>"; // The last element is Clevelandecho prev($people) . "<br>"; // The previous element of Cleveland is Glennecho current($people) . "<br>"; // Now the current element is Glennecho reset($people) . "<br>"; // Moves the internal pointer to the first element of the array, which is Peter
 echo next($people) . "<br>"; // The next element of Peter is Joe
 print_r (each($people)); // Returns the key and value of the current element (now Joe), and moves the internal pointer forward?>

Try it Yourself »

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Create an array containing a range of elements from "0" to "5":

<?php
$number = range(0,5);
print_r ($number);
?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The range() function creates an array containing a range of elements.
This function returns an array of elements from low to high.
Note: If the low parameter is higher than the high parameter, the 
range array will be from high to low.

Syntax

range(low, high, step)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
low
Required. Specifies the lowest value of the array
  
high
Required. Specifies the highest value of the array
  
step
Optional. Specifies the increment used in the range. Default is 1

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array of elements from low to high

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
The step parameter was added in PHP 5.0.In PHP versions 4.1.0 through 4.3.2, this function sees numeric strings as strings and not integers. The numeric strings will be used for character sequences, e.g., "5252" is treated as "5".Support for character sequences and decrementing arrays was added in PHP 4.1.0. Character sequence values are limited to a length of one. If the length is higher than one, only the first character is used. Before this version, range() only generated incrementing integer arrays. 


More Examples

Example
Return an array of elements from "0" to "50" and increment by 10.

<?php
$number = range(0,50,10);
print_r ($number);?>

Try it Yourself »

Example
Using letters - return an array of elements from "a" to "d"

<?php
$letter = range("a","d");
print_r ($letter);?>

Try it Yourself »

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Output the value of the current and next element in an array, then 
reset the array's internal pointer to the first element in the array:

<?php
$people = array("Peter", "Joe", "Glenn", "Cleveland");

echo current($people) . "<br>";
echo next($people) . "<br>";

echo reset($people);
?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The reset() function moves the internal pointer to the first element of the array.
Related methods:
current() - returns the value of the current element in an array
end() - moves the internal pointer to, and outputs, the last element in the array
next() - moves the internal pointer to, and outputs, the next element in the array
prev() - moves the internal pointer to, and outputs, the previous element in the array
each() - returns the current element key and value, and moves the internal pointer forward

Syntax

reset(array)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies the array to use

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the value of the first element in the array on success, or FALSE if the array is empty

  
PHP Version:
  
4+
 

More Examples

Example
A demonstration of all related methods:

<?php
 $people = array("Peter", "Joe", "Glenn", "Cleveland");echo current($people) . "<br>"; // The current element is Peterecho next($people) . "<br>"; // The next element of Peter is Joeecho current($people) . "<br>"; // Now the current element is Joeecho prev($people) . "<br>"; // The previous element of Joe is Peterecho end($people) . "<br>"; // The last element is Clevelandecho prev($people) . "<br>"; // The previous element of Cleveland is Glennecho current($people) . "<br>"; // Now the current element is Glennecho reset($people) . "<br>"; // Moves the internal pointer to the first element of the array, which is Peter
 echo next($people) . "<br>"; // The next element of Peter is Joe
 print_r (each($people)); // Returns the key and value of the current element (now Joe), and moves the internal pointer forward?>

Try it Yourself »

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Sort the elements of the $cars array in descending alphabetical order:

<?php
 $cars=array("Volvo","BMW","Toyota");rsort($cars);?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The rsort() function sorts an indexed array in descending order.
Tip: Use the sort() 
function to sort an indexed array in ascending order.

Syntax

rsort(array, sorttype)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies the array to sort
  
sorttype
Optional. Specifies how to compare the array elements/items. Possible values:
    
    
0 = SORT_REGULAR - Default. Compare items normally (don't change types)
    
1 = SORT_NUMERIC - Compare items numerically
    
2 = SORT_STRING - Compare items as strings
    
3 = SORT_LOCALE_STRING - Compare items as strings, based on current locale
    
4 = SORT_NATURAL - Compare items as strings using natural ordering
    
5 = SORT_FLAG_CASE - 
 
    

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


More Examples

Example
Sort the elements of the $numbers array in descending numerical order:

<?php
 $numbers=array(4,6,2,22,11);rsort($numbers);?>

Try it Yourself »

Example
Compare the items numerically and sort the elements of the $cars array in descending order:

<?php
 $cars=array("Volvo","BMW","Toyota");rsort($cars,SORT_NUMERIC);?>

Try it Yourself »

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Randomize the order of the elements in the array:

<?php
 $my_array = array("red","green","blue","yellow","purple");shuffle($my_array);
 print_r($my_array);
?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage

The shuffle() function randomizes the order of the elements in the array.
This function assigns new keys for the elements in the array. Existing keys 
will be removed (See Example below).

Syntax

shuffle(array)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
array
Required. Specifies the array to use

Technical Details

  

 
Return Value:
 
Returns TRUE on success or FALSE on failure
  

  
PHP Version:
  
4+
  

  
PHP Changelog:
  
 PHP 4.2: The random number generator is seeded automatically


More Examples

Example
Randomize the order of the elements in the array:

<?php
 $my_array = array("a"=>"red","b"=>"green","c"=>"blue","d"=>"yellow","e"=>"purple");
 shuffle($my_array);print_r($my_array);?>

Try it Yourself »

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Return the number of elements in an array:

<?php
 $cars=array("Volvo","BMW","Toyota");echo sizeof($cars);?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The sizeof() function returns the number of elements in an array.
The sizeof() function is an alias of the count() function.

Syntax

 sizeof(array, mode)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies the array
  
mode
Optional. Specifies the mode. Possible values:
    
0 - Default. Does not count all elements of multidimensional arrays
    
1 - Counts the array recursively (counts all the elements of  multidimensional arrays)
 
    

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the number of elements in the array

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


More Examples

Example
Count the array recursively:

<?php
 $cars=array  (  "Volvo"=>array  (  "XC60",  "XC90"  ),  "BMW"=>array  (  "X3",  "X5"  ),  "Toyota"=>array  (
   "Highlander"  )  ); echo "Normal count: " . sizeof($cars)."<br>";echo "Recursive count: " . sizeof($cars,1);?>

Try it Yourself »

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Sort the elements of the $cars array in ascending alphabetical order:

<?php
 $cars=array("Volvo","BMW","Toyota");sort($cars);?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The sort() function sorts an indexed array in ascending order.
Tip: Use the rsort() 
function to sort an indexed array in descending order.

Syntax

sort(array, sorttype)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies the array to sort
  
sorttype
Optional. Specifies how to compare the array elements/items. Possible values:
    
    
0 = SORT_REGULAR - Default. Compare items normally (don't change types)
    
1 = SORT_NUMERIC - Compare items numerically
    
2 = SORT_STRING - Compare items as strings
    
3 = SORT_LOCALE_STRING - Compare items as strings, based on current locale
    
4 = SORT_NATURAL - Compare items as strings using natural ordering
    
5 = SORT_FLAG_CASE - 
 
    

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


More Examples

Example
Sort the elements of the $numbers array in ascending numerical order:

<?php
 $numbers=array(4,6,2,22,11);sort($numbers);?>

Try it Yourself »

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Sort the elements of the $arr array by values using a user-defined comparison function:

<?php
 function my_sort($a,$b){if ($a==$b) return 0;return ($a<$b)?-1:1;}$arr=array("a"=>4,"b"=>2,"c"=>8,"d"=>6);
 uasort($arr,"my_sort");?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The uasort() function sorts an array by values using a user-defined comparison function.
Tip: Use the uksort() 
function to sort an array by keys using a user-defined comparison function.

Syntax

uasort(array, myfunction)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies the array to sort
  
myfunction
Optional. A string that define a callable comparison function. The comparison function must return an integer <, =, or > than 0 if the first argument is <, =, or > than the second argument

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Sort the elements of the $arr array by keys using a user-defined comparison function:

<?php
 function my_sort($a,$b){if ($a==$b) return 0;return ($a<$b)?-1:1;}$arr=array("a"=>4,"b"=>2,"c"=>8,"d"=>6);
 uksort($arr,"my_sort");?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The uksort() function sorts an array by keys using a user-defined comparison function.
Tip: Use the uasort() 
function to sort an array by values using a user-defined comparison function.

Syntax

uksort(array, myfunction)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies the array to sort
  
myfunction
Optional. A string that define a callable comparison function. The comparison function must return an integer <, =, or > than 0 if the first argument is <, =, or > than the second argument

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

PHP Array Reference

PHP Array Reference

Example
Sort the elements of the $a array using a user-defined comparison function:

<?php
 function my_sort($a,$b){if ($a==$b) return 0;return ($a<$b)?-1:1;}$a=array(4,2,8,6);usort($a,"my_sort");?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The usort() function sorts an array using a user-defined comparison function.

Syntax

usort(array, myfunction)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array
Required. Specifies the array to sort
  
myfunction
Optional. A string that define a callable comparison function. The comparison function must return an integer <, =, or > than 0 if the first argument is <, =, or > than the second argument

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Array Reference

Calendar Introduction
The calendar extension contains functions that simplifies converting between different calendar formats.
It is based on the Julian Day Count, which is a count of days starting from January 1st, 4713 B.C.
Note: To convert between calendar formats, you must first convert to Julian Day Count, then to the calendar of your choice.
Note: The Julian Day Count is not the same as the Julian Calendar!

Installation
For these functions to work, you have to compile PHP with 
--enable-calendar.
The Windows version of PHP has built-in support for this extension.
Calendar Functions


  
Function
Description
  
cal_days_in_month()
Returns the number of days in a month for a specified year and calendar
  
cal_from_jd()
Converts a Julian Day Count into a date of a specified calendar
  
cal_info()
Returns information about a specified calendar
  
cal_to_jd()
Converts a date in a specified calendar to Julian Day Count
  
easter_date()
Returns the Unix timestamp for midnight on Easter of a specified year
  
easter_days()
Returns the number of days after March 21, that the Easter Day is in a specified year
  
frenchtojd()
Converts a French Republican date to a Julian Day Count
  
gregoriantojd()
Converts a Gregorian date to a Julian Day Count
  
jddayofweek()
Returns the day of the week
  
jdmonthname()
Returns a month name
  
jdtofrench()
Converts a Julian Day Count to a French Republican date
  
jdtogregorian()
Converts a Julian Day Count to a Gregorian date
  
jdtojewish()
Converts a Julian Day Count to a Jewish date
  
jdtojulian()
Converts a Julian Day Count to a Julian date
  
jdtounix()
Converts Julian Day Count to Unix timestamp
  
jewishtojd()
Converts a Jewish date to a Julian Day Count
  
juliantojd()
Converts a Julian date to a Julian Day Count
  
unixtojd()
Converts Unix timestamp to Julian Day Count

Predefined Calendar Constants


  
Constant
Type
PHP Version
  
CAL_GREGORIAN
Integer
PHP 4
  
CAL_JULIAN
Integer
PHP 4
  
CAL_JEWISH
Integer
PHP 4
  
CAL_FRENCH
Integer
PHP 4
  
CAL_NUM_CALS
Integer
PHP 4
  
CAL_DOW_DAYNO
Integer
PHP 4
  
CAL_DOW_SHORT
Integer
PHP 4
  
CAL_DOW_LONG
Integer
PHP 4
  
CAL_MONTH_GREGORIAN_SHORT
Integer
PHP 4
  
CAL_MONTH_GREGORIAN_LONG
Integer
PHP 4
  
CAL_MONTH_JULIAN_SHORT
Integer
PHP 4
  
CAL_MONTH_JULIAN_LONG
Integer
PHP 4
  
CAL_MONTH_JEWISH
Integer
PHP 4
  
CAL_MONTH_FRENCH
Integer
PHP 4
  
CAL_EASTER_DEFAULT
Integer
PHP 4.3
  
CAL_EASTER_ROMAN
Integer
PHP 4.3
  
CAL_EASTER_ALWAYS_GREGORIAN
Integer
PHP 4.3
  
CAL_EASTER_ALWAYS_JULIAN
Integer
PHP 4.3
  
CAL_JEWISH_ADD_ALAFIM_GERESH
Integer
PHP 5.0
  
CAL_JEWISH_ADD_ALAFIM
Integer
PHP 5.0
  
CAL_JEWISH_ADD_GERESHAYIM
Integer
PHP 5.0




PHP Calendar Reference

Example
Get the number of days in a month for a specified year and calendar:

<?php
 $d=cal_days_in_month(CAL_GREGORIAN,10,2005);echo "There was $d days in October 2005";?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The cal_days_in_month() function returns the number of days in a month for a specified year and calendar.

Syntax

cal_days_in_month(calendar,month,year);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
calendar
Required. Specifies the calendar to use. Look at the
 PHP Calendar Constants
  
month
Required. Specifies the month in the selected calendar
  
year
Required. Specifies the year in the selected calendar

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The number of days in the selected month, in the given year and calendar 

  
PHP Version:
  
4.1+


PHP Calendar Reference

PHP Calendar Reference

Example
Convert a Julian Day Count into a date of in the Gregorian calendar:

<?php
 $d=unixtojd(mktime(0,0,0,6,20,2007));
 print_r(cal_from_jd($d,CAL_GREGORIAN));?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The cal_from_jd() function converts a Julian Day Count into a date of a specified calendar.

Syntax

 cal_from_jd(jd,calendar);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
jd
Required. Specifies a Julian Day as an integer
  
calendar
Required. Specifies the calendar to convert to. Must be one of the following values:
 
    
CAL_GREGORIAN
    
CAL_JULIAN
    
CAL_JEWISH
    
CAL_FRENCH
 
   


Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array that contains calendar information like:
 
    
date in form "month/day/year"
    
month
    
year
    
day of week
    
abbreviated and full names of weekday and month
 
  

  
PHP Version:
  
4.1+

PHP Calendar Reference

PHP Calendar Reference

Example
Return information about the Gregorian calendar:

<?php
 print_r(cal_info(0));?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The cal_info() function returns information about a specified calendar.

Syntax

 cal_info(calendar);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
calendar
Optional. Specifies a number that indicates which calendar to return information about:
 
    
0 = CAL_GREGORIAN
    
1 = CAL_JULIAN
    
2 = CAL_JEWISH
    
3 = CAL_FRENCH
 
   Tip: If the calendar parameter is omitted,   cal_info() returns info about all calendars
   
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array containing calendar elements like:
 
    
calname
    
calsymbol
    
month
    
abbrevmonth
    
maxdaysinmonth
 
  

  
PHP Version:
  
4.1+

  
Changelog:
  
In PHP 5.0 the calendar parameter became optional


PHP Calendar Reference

PHP Calendar Reference

Example
Convert 20th of June, 2007 (Gregorian calendar) to Julian Day Count:

<?php
 $d=cal_to_jd(CAL_GREGORIAN,6,20,2007);echo $d;?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The cal_to_jd() function converts a date in a specified calendar to Julian Day Count.

Syntax

cal_to_jd(calendar,month,day,year);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
calendar
Required. Specifies the calendar to convert from. Must be one of the following values:
 
    
CAL_GREGORIAN
    
CAL_JULIAN
    
CAL_JEWISH
    
CAL_FRENCH
 
   
  
month
Required. Specifies the month as a number
  
day
Required. Specifies the day as a number
  
year
Required. Specifies the year as a number
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a Julian Day number

  
PHP Version:
  
4.1+

PHP Calendar Reference

PHP Calendar Reference

Example
Print the easter date for different years:

<?php
 echo easter_date() . "<br />";echo date("M-d-Y",easter_date()) . "<br />";echo date("M-d-Y",easter_date(1975)) . "<br />";echo date("M-d-Y",easter_date(1998)) . "<br />";echo date("M-d-Y",easter_date(2007));?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The easter_date() function returns the Unix timestamp for midnight on Easter of a given year.
Tip: The date of Easter Day is defined as the Sunday after the first full moon which
falls on or after the Spring Equinox (21st March).

Syntax

easter_date(year);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
year
Optional. Specifies a year between 1970 and 2037. Default is the current year, local time
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the easter date as a unix timestamp

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
In PHP 4.3 the year parameter became optional

PHP Calendar Reference

PHP Calendar Reference

Example
Print the number of days after March 21, that the Easter Day is/was for different years:

<?php
 echo "Easter Day is ". easter_days() . " days after March 21 this year.<br />";echo "Easter Day was ". easter_days(1990) . " days after March 21 in 1990.<br />";echo "Easter Day was ". easter_days(1342) . " days after March 21 in 1342.<br />";echo "Easter Day will be ". easter_days(2050) . " days after March 21 in 2050.";?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The easter_days() function returns the number of days after March 21, that the Easter Day is in the given year.
Tip: The date of Easter Day is defined as the Sunday after the first full moon which falls
on or after the Spring Equinox (21st March).

Syntax

 easter_days(year,method);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
year
Optional. Specifies a year as a number. Default is the current year, local time
  
method
Optional. Allows you to calculate easter dates based on other calendars. E.g. it uses the Gregorian calendar during the years 1582 - 1752 when set to CAL_EASTER_ROMAN
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the number of days after March 21, that the Easter Day is in the given year

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
In PHP 4.3 the year parameter became optional and the 
 method parameter was added

PHP Calendar Reference

PHP Calendar Reference

Example
Convert a French Republican date to a Julian Day Count and back to a French Republican date:

<?php
 $jd=frenchtojd(3,3,14);echo $jd . "<br>";echo jdtofrench($jd);?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The frenchtojd() function converts a date from the French Republican Calendar to a Julian Day Count.
Tip: The French Republican Calendar is a calendar proposed during the French Revolution,
and used by the French government for about twelve years from late 1793. This function only convert dates in
years 1 through 14 (Gregorian dates 22 September 1792 - 22 September 1806).
Tip: Look at the jdtofrench() function
to convert a Julian Day Count to a French Republican date.

Syntax

 frenchtojd(month,day,year);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
month
Required. Specifies the month as a number from 1 to 13
  
day
Required. Specifies the day as a number from 1 to 30
  
year
Required. Specifies the year as a number from 1 to 14
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a Julian Day number

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

PHP Calendar Reference

PHP Calendar Reference

Example
Convert a Gregorian date to a Julian Day Count and back to a Gregorian date:

<?php
 $jd=gregoriantojd(6,20,2007);echo $jd . "<br>";echo jdtogregorian($jd);?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The gregoriantojd() function converts a date from the Gregorian Calendar to a Julian Day Count.
Note: Although this function can handle dates back to 4714 B.C., notice that the Gregorian
calendar was not instituted until 1582, and some countries did not accept it until much later (Britain converted in 1752,
USSR in 1918, and Greece in 1923). Most European countries used the Julian calendar prior the Gregorian.
Tip: Look at the jdtogregorian() function to convert
a Julian Day Count to a Gregorian date.

Syntax

 gregoriantojd(month,day,year);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
month
Required. Specifies the month as a number from 1 to 12
  
day
Required. Specifies the day as a number from 1 to 31
  
year
Required. Specifies the year as a number between -4714 and 9999
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a Julian Day number

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

PHP Calendar Reference

PHP Calendar Reference

Example
Return the weekday of 13th January, 1998:

<?php
$jd=gregoriantojd(1,13,1998);echo jddayofweek($jd,1);?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The jddayofweek() function returns the day of the week.

Syntax

jddayofweek(jd,mode);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
jd
Required. A Julian Day number
  
mode
Optional. Specifies how to return the weekday. Can have one of the following values:
    
    
0 - Default. Returns the weekday as an integer (0=Sunday, 1=Monday,  etc.)
    
1 - Returns the weekday as a string (Sunday, Monday, etc.)
    
2 - Returns the weekday as a string, abbreviated form (Sun, Mon,  etc.)
 
   
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the Gregorian weekday as a string or integer (depends on the mode parameter)

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

PHP Calendar Reference

PHP Calendar Reference

Example
Return the abbreviated Gregorian monthname of 13th January, 1998:

<?php
 $jd=gregoriantojd(1,13,1998);echo jdmonthname($jd,0);?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The jdmonthname() function returns a month name.

Syntax

 jdmonthname(jd,mode);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
jd
Required. A Julian Day number
  
mode
Optional. Specifies which calendar to convert the Julian Day Count to, and how the month name is to be returned. Mode values:
 
    
0 - Gregorian - abbreviated form (Jan, Feb, Mar, etc.)
    
1 - Gregorian (January, February, March, etc.)
    
2 - Julian - abbreviated form (Jan, Feb, Mar, etc.)
    
3 - Julian (January, February, March, etc.)
    
4 - Jewish (Tishri, Heshvan, Kislev, etc.)
    
5 - French Republican (Vendemiaire, Brumaire, Frimaire, etc.)
 
   
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the month name for the specified Julian Day and 
 calendar

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

PHP Calendar Reference

PHP Calendar Reference

Example
Convert a French Republican date to a Julian Day Count and back to a French Republican date:

<?php
 $jd=frenchtojd(3,3,14);echo $jd . "<br>";echo jdtofrench($jd);?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The jdtofrench() function converts a Julian Day Count to a French Republican date.
Tip: Look at the frenchtojd() function to
convert a French Republican date to a Julian Day Count.

Syntax

jdtofrench(jd);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
jd
Required. A Julian Day number
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a French Republican date in format "month/day/year"

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

PHP Calendar Reference

PHP Calendar Reference

Example
Convert a Gregorian date to a Julian Day Count and back to a Gregorian date:

<?php
$jd=gregoriantojd(6,20,2007);echo $jd . "<br>";echo jdtogregorian($jd);?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The jdtogregorian() function converts a Julian Day Count to a Gregorian date.
Tip: Look at the gregoriantojd() function to
convert a Gregorian date to a Julian Day Count.

Syntax

jdtogregorian(jd);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
jd
Required. A Julian Day number
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a Gregorian date in format "month/day/year"

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

PHP Calendar Reference

PHP Calendar Reference

Example
Convert a Julian Day Count to a Jewish date:

<?php
$jd=jdtojewish(1789430); echo $jd;?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The jdtojewish() function converts a Julian Day Count to a Jewish date.
Tip: Look at the jewishtojd() function to convert
a Jewish date to a Julian Day Count.

Syntax

jdtojewish(jd,hebrew,fl);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
jd
Required. A Julian Day number
  
hebrew
Optional. When set to TRUE it indicates Hebrew output format. FALSE is default
  
fl
Optional. Defines the Hebrew output format. The available formats are:
    
    
CAL_JEWISH_ADD_ALAFIM_GERESH
    
CAL_JEWISH_ADD_ALAFIM
    
CAL_JEWISH_ADD_GERESHAYIM
 
   
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a Jewish date in format "month/day/year"

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
The hebrew parameter was added in PHP 4.3, and the fl parameter was added in PHP 5.0

PHP Calendar Reference

PHP Calendar Reference

Example
Convert a Julian date to a Julian Day Count and back to a Julian date:

<?php
 $jd=juliantojd(6,20,2007);echo $jd . "<br>";echo jdtojulian($jd);?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The jdtojulian() function converts a Julian Day Count to a Julian date.
Tip: Look at the juliantojd() function to convert
a Julian date to a Julian Day Count.

Syntax

 jdtojulian(jd);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
jd
Required. A Julian Day number
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a Julian date in format "month/day/year"

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

PHP Calendar Reference

PHP Calendar Reference

Example
Convert a Gregorian date to a Julian Day Count; then convert the Julian Day Count to Unix timestamp:

<?php
 $jd=gregoriantojd(10,3,1975);echo jdtounix($jd);?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The jdtounix() function converts Julian Day Count to Unix timestamp.
Note: This function will return false if the parameter jd is not inside the Unix epoch
(which means that the Gregorian years must be between 1970 and 2037 OR that jd >= 2440588 and jd <= 2465342).
The time returned is local time.
Tip: Look at the unixtojd() function to convert 
Unix timestamp to Julian Day Count.

Syntax

 jdtounix(jd);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
jd
Required. A Julian Day number between 2440588 and 2465342
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the Unix timestamp for the start of the specified Julian day

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

PHP Calendar Reference

PHP Calendar Reference

Example
Convert a Jewish date to a Julian Day Count:

<?php
 $jd=jewishtojd(6,20,2007);echo $jd;?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The jewishtojd() function converts a date from the Jewish Calendar to a Julian Day Count.
Note: Although this function can handle dates back to year 1 (3761 B.C.), notice that
in the beginning there was no formula to determine the start of a month. A new month was started when the
new moon was first observed.
Tip: Look at the jdtojewish() function to convert
a Julian Day Count to a Jewish date.

Syntax

 jewishtojd(month,day,year);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
month
Required. Specifies the month as a number from 1 to 13
  
day
Required. Specifies the day as a number from 1 to 30
  
year
Required. Specifies the year as a number between 1 and 9999
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a Julian Day number

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

PHP Calendar Reference

PHP Calendar Reference

Example
Convert a Julian date to a Julian Day Count and back to a Julian date:

<?php
 $jd=juliantojd(6,20,2007);echo $jd . "<br>";echo jdtojulian($jd);?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The juliantojd() function converts a date from the Julian Calendar to a Julian Day Count.
Note: Although this function can handle dates back to 4713 B.C., notice that the Julian
calendar was created in 46 B.C., and it did not stabilize until at least 8 A.D. Also, the beginning of a year
varied from one culture to another - not all accepted January as the first month. Remember that the current calendar
being used worldwide is the Gregorian calendar. The gregoriantojd() function
can be used to convert such dates to their Julian Day count.
Tip: Look at the jdtojulian() function to convert a
Julian Day Count to a Julian date.

Syntax

 juliantojd(month,day,year);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
month
Required. Specifies the month as a number from 1 to 12
  
day
Required. Specifies the day as a number from 1 to 31
  
year
Required. Specifies the year as a number between -4713 and 9999
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a Julian Day number

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

PHP Calendar Reference

PHP Calendar Reference

Example
Convert Unix timestamp to Julian Day Count:

<?php
echo unixtojd();?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The unixtojd() function converts Unix timestamp to Julian Day Count.
Note: Unix timestamp indicates the number of seconds since midnight of January 1, 1970 (Gregorian Calendar).
Tip: Look at the jdtounix() function to convert
Julian Day Count to Unix timestamp.

Syntax

 unixtojd(timestamp);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
timestamp
Optional. Specifies A unix timestamp to convert
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the Julian Day number for a Unix timestamp (seconds since 1.1.1970), or for the current day if no timestamp is given

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

PHP Calendar Reference

Date/Time Introduction
The date/time functions allow you to get the date and time from 
the server where your PHP script runs. You can then use the date/time functions 
to format the date and time in several ways.
Note: These functions depend on the locale settings of your server. 
Remember to take daylight saving time and leap years into consideration when 
working with these functions.

Installation
The PHP date/time functions are part of the PHP core. No installation is required to use these functions.

Runtime Configuration
The behavior of these functions is affected by settings in php.ini:


  
Name
Description
Default
PHP Version
    
date.timezone
The default timezone (used by all date/time functions)
"
PHP 5.1
    
  
date.default_latitude
The default latitude (used by date_sunrise() and date_sunset())
 "31.7667"
PHP 5.0
  
date.default_longitude
The default longitude (used by date_sunrise() and date_sunset())
"35.2333"
PHP 5.0
  
date.sunrise_zenith
The default sunrise zenith (used by date_sunrise() and date_sunset())
"90.83"
PHP 5.0
  
date.sunset_zenith
The default sunset zenith (used by date_sunrise() and date_sunset())
"90.83"
PHP 5.0

  
Date/Time Functions


  
Function
Description
  
checkdate()
Validates a Gregorian date
  
date_add()
Adds days, months, years, hours, minutes, and seconds to a date
    
date_create_from_format()
Returns a new DateTime object formatted according to a specified format
    
  
date_create()
Returns a new DateTime object
    
  
date_date_set()
Sets a new date
    
  
date_default_timezone_get()
Returns the default timezone used by all date/time functions
  
date_default_timezone_set()
Sets the default timezone used by all date/time functions
  
date_diff()
Returns the difference between two dates
    
date_format()
Returns a date formatted according to a specified format
    
  
date_get_last_errors()
Returns the warnings/errors found in a date string
    
  
date_interval_create_from_date_string()
Sets up a DateInterval from the relative parts of the string
    
  
date_interval_format()
Formats the interval
  
date_isodate_set()
Sets the ISO date
  
date_modify()
Modifies the timestamp
  
date_offset_get()
Returns the timezone offset
  
date_parse_from_format()
Returns an associative array with detailed info about a specified date, according to a specified format
  
date_parse()
Returns an associative array with detailed info about a specified date
  
date_sub()
Subtracts days, months, years, hours, minutes, and seconds from a date
  
date_sun_info()
Returns an array containing info about sunset/sunrise and twilight begin/end, for a specified day and location
  
date_sunrise()
Returns the sunrise time for a specified day and location
  
date_sunset()
Returns the sunset time for a specified day and location
  
date_time_set()
Sets the time
  
date_timestamp_get()
Returns the Unix timestamp
  
date_timestamp_set()
Sets the date and time based on a Unix timestamp
  
date_timezone_get()
Returns the time zone of the given DateTime object
  
date_timezone_set()
Sets the time zone for the DateTime object
  
date()
Formats a local date and time
  
getdate()
Returns date/time information of a timestamp or the current local date/time
  
gettimeofday()
Returns the current time
  
gmdate()
Formats a GMT/UTC date and time
  
gmmktime()
Returns the Unix timestamp for a GMT date
  
gmstrftime()
Formats a GMT/UTC date and time according to locale settings
  
idate()
Formats a local time/date as integer
  
localtime()
Returns the local time
  
microtime()
Returns the current Unix timestamp with microseconds
  
mktime()
Returns the Unix timestamp for a date
  
strftime()
Formats a local time and/or date according to locale settings
  
strptime()
Parses a time/date generated with strftime()
  
strtotime()
Parses an English textual datetime into a Unix timestamp
  
time()
Returns the current time as a Unix timestamp
  
timezone_abbreviations_list()
Returns an associative array containing dst, offset, and the timezone name
  
timezone_identifiers_list()
Returns an indexed array with all timezone identifiers
  
timezone_location_get()
Returns location information for a specified timezone
  
timezone_name_from_ abbr()
Returns the timezone name from abbreviation
  
timezone_name_get()
Returns the name of the timezone
  
timezone_offset_get()
Returns the timezone offset from GMT
  
timezone_open()
Creates new DateTimeZone object
  
timezone_transitions_get()
Returns all transitions for the timezone
  
timezone_version_get()
Returns the version of the timezonedb


Predefined Date/Time Constants

  
Constant
Description
  
DATE_ATOM
Atom (example: 2019-01-18T14:13:03+00:00)
  
DATE_COOKIE
HTTP Cookies (example: Fri, 18 Jan 2019 14:13:03 UTC)
  
DATE_ISO8601
ISO-8601 (example: 2019-01-18T14:13:03+0000)
  
DATE_RFC822
RFC 822 (example: Fri, 18 Jan 2019 14:13:03 +0000)
  
DATE_RFC850
RFC 850 (example: Friday, 18-Jan-19 14:13:03 UTC)
  
DATE_RFC1036
RFC 1036 (example: Friday, 18-Jan-19 14:13:03 +0000)
  
DATE_RFC1123
RFC 1123 (example: Fri, 18 Jan 2019 14:13:03 +0000)
  
DATE_RFC2822
RFC 2822 (example: Fri, 18 Jan 2019 14:13:03 +0000)
  
DATE_RFC3339
Same as DATE_ATOM (since PHP 5.1.3)
  
DATE_RFC3339_EXTENDED
RFC3339 Extended format (since PHP 7.0.0) (example: 
    2019-01-18T16:34:01.000+00:00)
  
DATE_RSS
RSS (Fri, 18 Jan 2019 14:13:03 +0000)
  
DATE_W3C
World Wide Web Consortium (example: 2019-01-18T14:13:03+00:00)
  
SUNFUNCS_RET_TIMESTAMP
Timestamp (since PHP 5.1.2)
  
SUNFUNCS_RET_STRING
Hours:minutes (example: 09:41) (since PHP 5.1.2)
  
SUNFUNCS_RET_DOUBLE
Hours as a floating point number (example: 9.75) (since PHP 5.1.2)




PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Check if several dates are valid Gregorian dates:

<?php
 var_dump(checkdate(12,31,-400));echo "<br>";
 var_dump(checkdate(2,29,2003));echo "<br>";
 var_dump(checkdate(2,29,2004));?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The checkdate() function is used to validate a Gregorian date.

Syntax

checkdate(month, day, year)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
month
Required. Specifies the month as a number between 1 and 12
  
day
Required. Specifies the day as a number between 1 and 31
  
year
Required. Specifies the year as a number between 1 and 32767
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if the date is valid. FALSE otherwise

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Add 40 days to the 15th of March, 2013:

<?php
$date=date_create("2013-03-15");
date_add($date,date_interval_create_from_date_string("40 days"));
echo date_format($date,"Y-m-d");?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The date_add() function adds some days, months, years, hours, minutes, and seconds to a date.

Syntax

 date_add(object, interval)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
object
Required. Specifies a DateTime object returned by
 date_create()
  
interval
Required. Specifies a DateInterval object
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a DateTime object on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.3+

PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Return a new DateTime object formatted according to the specified format:

<?php
 $date=date_create_from_format("j-M-Y","15-Mar-2013");?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The date_create_from_format() function returns a new DateTime object formatted according to 
the specified format.

Syntax

date_create_from_format(format, time, timezone)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
format
Required. Specifies the format to use. The following characters can be used in the format parameter string:
 
    
d - Day of the month; with leading zeros
    
j - Day of the month; without leading zeros
    
D - Day of the month (Mon - Sun)
    
l - Day of the month (Monday - Sunday)
    
S - English suffix for day of the month (st, nd, rd, th)
    
F - Monthname (January - December)
    
M - Monthname (Jan-Dec)
    
m - Month (01-12)
    
n - Month (1-12)
    
Y - Year (e.g 2013)
    
y - Year (e.g 13)
    
a and A - am or pm
    
g - 12 hour format without leading zeros
    
G - 24 hour format without leading zeros
    
h - 12 hour format with leading zeros
    
H - 24 hour format with leading zeros
    
i - Minutes with leading zeros
    
s - Seconds with leading zeros
    
u - Microseconds (up to six digits)
    
e, O, P and T - Timezone identifier
    
U - Seconds since Unix Epoch
    
(space)
    
# - One of the following separation symbol: ;,:,/,.,,,-,(,)
    
? - A random byte
    
* - Rondom bytes until next separator/digit
    
! - Resets all fields to Unix Epoch
    
| - Resets all fields to Unix Epoch if they have not been parsed yet
    
+ - If present, trailing data in the string will cause a warning,  not an error
 
   
  
time
Required. Specifies a date/time string. NULL indicates the current date/time
  
timezone
Optional. Specifies the timezone of time. Default is the current timezone
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a new DateTime object on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.3+

PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Return a new DateTime object, and then format the date:

<?php
 $date=date_create("2013-03-15");
 echo date_format($date,"Y/m/d");?>

Try it Yourself »

More examples at the bottom of this page.

Definition and Usage
The date_create() function returns a new DateTime object.

Syntax

 date_create(time, timezone)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
time
Optional. Specifies a date/time string. NULL indicates the current time
  
timezone
Optional. Specifies the timezone of time. Default is the current timezone.Tip:
 Look at a list of all supported timezones in PHP
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a new DateTime object on success. FALSE/Exception on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.2+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 
  7.1: Microseconds is now filled with actual value, not just "00000".PHP 5.3: 
  An exception is thrown if time is an invalid 
  value. Previously an error was thrown

More Examples

Example
Return a new DateTime object (with a given timezone), and then format the date 
and time:

<?php
 $date=date_create("2013-03-15 23:40:00",timezone_open("Europe/Oslo"));
 echo date_format($date,"Y/m/d H:iP");?>

Try it Yourself »

PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Return a new DateTime object, set a new date, and then format the date:

<?php
 $date=date_create();date_date_set($date,2020,10,30);echo date_format($date,"Y/m/d");?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The date_date_set() function sets a new date.

Syntax

date_date_set(object, year, month, day)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
object
Required. Specifies a DateTime object returned by
 date_create()
  
year
Required. Specifies the year of the date
  
month
Required. Specifies the month of the date
  
day
Required. Specifies the day of the date
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a new DateTime object on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.2+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.3: The return value was changed from NULL to DateTime (on success)


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Return the default timezone:

<?php
 echo date_default_timezone_get();?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The date_default_timezone_get() function returns the default timezone used by all date/time functions in the script.

Syntax

date_default_timezone_get()
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the timezone as a string

  
PHP Version:
  
5.1+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.4: The TZ variable is no longer used to guess the timezone


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Set the default timezone:

<?php
 date_default_timezone_set("Asia/Bangkok");echo date_default_timezone_get();?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The date_default_timezone_set() function sets the default timezone used by all date/time functions in the script.

Syntax

date_default_timezone_set(timezone)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
timezone
Required. Specifies the timezone to use, like "UTC" or "Europe/Paris". List of valid timezones:
 
 http://www.php.net/manual/en/timezones.php
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns FALSE if the timezone is not valid. TRUE otherwise

  
PHP Version:
  
5.1+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.3: Throws an E_WARNING instead of E_STRICT.PHP 5.1.2: Started to validate the timezone parameter.


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Calculate the difference between two dates:

<?php
 $date1=date_create("2013-03-15");$date2=date_create("2013-12-12");
 $diff=date_diff($date1,$date2);?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The date_diff() function returns the difference between two DateTime objects.

Syntax

date_diff(datetime1, datetime2, absolute)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
datetime1
Required. Specifies a DateTime object
  
datetime2
Required. Specifies a DateTime object
  
absolute
Optional. Specifies a Boolean value. TRUE indicates that the interval/difference MUST be positive. Default is FALSE
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a DateInterval object on success that represents the difference between the two dates. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.3+


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Return a new DateTime object, and then format the date:

<?php
 $date=date_create("2013-03-15");echo date_format($date,"Y/m/d H:i:s");?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The date_format() function returns a date formatted according to the specified format.
Note: This function does not use locales (all output is in 
English).
Tip: Also look at the date() 
function, which formats a local date/time. 

Syntax

date_format(object, format)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
object
Required. Specifies a DateTime object returned by
 date_create()
  
format
Required. Specifies the format for the date. The following characters can be used:
    
    
d - The day of the month (from 01 to 31)
    
D - A textual representation of a day (three letters)
    
j - The day of the month without leading zeros (1 to 31)
    
l (lowercase 'L') - A full textual representation of a day
    
N - The ISO-8601 numeric representation of a day (1 for Monday, 7 for Sunday)
    
S - The English ordinal suffix for the day of the month (2 characters st, nd, rd or th. Works well with j)
    
w - A numeric representation of the day (0 for Sunday, 6 for Saturday)
    
z - The day of the year (from 0 through 365)
    
W - The ISO-8601 week number of year (weeks starting on Monday)
    
F - A full textual representation of a month (January through December)
    
m - A numeric representation of a month (from 01 to 12)
    
M - A short textual representation of a month (three letters)
    
n - A numeric representation of a month, without leading zeros (1 to 12)
    
t - The number of days in the given month
    
L - Whether it's a leap year (1 if it is a leap year, 0 otherwise)
    
o - The ISO-8601 year number
    
Y - A four digit representation of a year
    
y - A two digit representation of a year
    
a - Lowercase am or pm
    
A - Uppercase AM or PM
    
B - Swatch Internet time (000 to 999)
    
g - 12-hour format of an hour (1 to 12)
    
G - 24-hour format of an hour (0 to 23)
    
h - 12-hour format of an hour (01 to 12)
    
H - 24-hour format of an hour (00 to 23)
    
i - Minutes with leading zeros (00 to 59)
    
s - Seconds, with leading zeros (00 to 59)
    
u - Microseconds (added in PHP 5.2.2)
    
e - The timezone identifier (Examples: UTC, GMT, Atlantic/Azores)
    
I (capital i) - Whether the date is in daylights savings time (1 if Daylight Savings Time, 0 otherwise)
    
O - Difference to Greenwich time (GMT) in hours (Example: +0100)
    
P - Difference to Greenwich time (GMT) in hours:minutes (added in  PHP 5.1.3)
    
T - Timezone abbreviations (Examples: EST, MDT)
    
Z - Timezone offset in seconds. The offset for timezones west of UTC is negative (-43200 to  50400)
    
c - The ISO-8601 date (e.g. 2013-05-05T16:34:42+00:00)
    
r - The RFC 2822 formatted date (e.g. Fri, 12 Apr 2013 12:01:05 +0200)
    
U - The seconds since the Unix Epoch (January 1 1970 00:00:00 GMT)
 
 and the following predefined constants can also be used (available since PHP 5.1.0):
 
    
DATE_ATOM - Atom (example: 2013-04-12T15:52:01+00:00)
    
DATE_COOKIE - HTTP Cookies (example: Friday, 12-Apr-13 15:52:01 UTC)
    
DATE_ISO8601 - ISO-8601 (example: 2013-04-12T15:52:01+0000)
    
DATE_RFC822 - RFC 822 (example: Fri, 12 Apr 13 15:52:01 +0000)
    
DATE_RFC850 - RFC 850 (example: Friday, 12-Apr-13 15:52:01 UTC)
    
DATE_RFC1036 - RFC 1036 (example: Fri, 12 Apr 13 15:52:01 +0000)
    
DATE_RFC1123 - RFC 1123 (example: Fri, 12 Apr 2013 15:52:01 +0000)
    
DATE_RFC2822 - RFC 2822 (Fri, 12 Apr 2013 15:52:01 +0000)
    
DATE_RFC3339 - Same as DATE_ATOM (since PHP 5.1.3)
    
DATE_RSS - RSS (Fri, 12 Aug 2013 15:52:01 +0000)
    
DATE_W3C - World Wide Web Consortium (example:  2013-04-12T15:52:01+00:00)
 
   
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the formatted date as a string. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.2+


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Return the warnings and errors while parsing a date string:

<?php
 date_create("gyuiyiuyui%&&/");
 print_r(date_get_last_errors());?>

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Definition and Usage
The date_get_last_errors() function returns the warnings/errors found while parsing a date string.

Syntax

 date_get_last_errors()

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array that contains information about the errors/warnings

  
PHP Version:
  
5.3+


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Use date_interval_create_from_date_string() to add 1 year and 35 days to a 
date:

<?php
  $date = date_create('2019-01-01');date_add($date, 
  date_interval_create_from_date_string('1 year 35 days'));echo date_format($date, 
  'Y-m-d');?>

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Definition and Usage
The date_interval_create_from_date_string() function sets up a DateInterval from the relative parts of the string.

Syntax

  date_interval_create_from_date_string(datetime)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
datetime
Required. Specifies a DateInterval
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns new DateInterval object

  
PHP Version:
  
5.3+


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Calculate the interval between two dates, then format the interval:

<?php
 $date1=date_create("2013-01-01");$date2=date_create("2013-02-10");
 $diff=date_diff($date1,$date2);// %a outputs the total number of daysecho $diff->format("Total number of days: %a.");?>

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Definition and Usage
The date_interval_format() function is an alias of DateInterval::format().
The DateInterval::format() function is used to format the interval. 

Syntax

DateInterval::format(format)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
format
Required. Specifies the format. The following characters can be used in the format parameter string:
 
    
% - Literal %
    
Y - Year, at least 2 digits with leading zero (e.g 03)
    
y - Year (e.g 3)
    
M - Month, with leading zero (e.g 06)
    
m - Month (e.g 6)
    
D - Day, with leading zero (e.g 09)
    
d - Day (e.g 9)
    
a - Total number of days as a result of date_diff()
    
H - Hours, with leading zero (e.g 08, 23)
    
h - Hours (e.g 8, 23)
    
I - Minutes, with leading zero (e.g 08, 23)
    
i - Minutes (e.g 8, 23)
    
S - Seconds, with leading zero (e.g 08, 23)
    
s - Seconds (e.g 8, 23)
    
F - Microseconds, at least 6 digits (e.g 004403, 235689)
    
f - Microseconds (e.g 4403, 235689)
    
R - Sign "-" when negative, "+" when positive
    
r - Sign "-" when negative, empty when positive
 
   Note: Each format character must be prefixed by a % sign!
   
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the formatted interval

  
PHP Version:
  
5.3+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 7.1: Added the F and f parameters


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Set the ISO date to the 5th week in 2013:

<?php
 $date=date_create();date_isodate_set($date,2013,5);echo date_format($date,"Y-m-d");?>

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Definition and Usage
The date_isodate_set() function sets a date according to the ISO 8601 standard, using weeks and day
offsets (instead of using a specific date).

Syntax

date_isodate_set(object, year, week, day)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
object
Required. Specifies a DateTime object returned by
 date_create()
  
year
Required. Specifies the year of the date
  
week
Required. Specifies the week of the date
  
day
Optional. Specifies the offset from the first day of the week. Default is 1
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a DateTime object on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.2+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.3: Changed the return value from NULL to DateTime


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Modify the timestamp. Add 15 days:

<?php
 $date=date_create("2013-05-01");date_modify($date,"+15 days");echo date_format($date,"Y-m-d");?>

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Definition and Usage
The date_modify() function modifies the timestamp.

Syntax

date_modify(object, modify)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
object
Required. Specifies a DateTime object returned by
 date_create()
  
modify
Required. Specifies a date/time string
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a DateTime object on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.2+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.3: Changed the return value from NULL to DateTime


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Return the timezone offset for Oslo (in Norway, Europe) in seconds from UTC, winter and summer:

<?php
 $winter=date_create("2013-12-31",timezone_open("Europe/Oslo"));
 $summer=date_create("2013-06-30",timezone_open("Europe/Oslo"));echo date_offset_get($winter) . " seconds.<br>";echo date_offset_get($summer) . " seconds.";?>

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Definition and Usage
The date_offset_get() function returns the timezone offset.

Syntax

 date_offset_get(object)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
object
Required. Specifies a DateTime object returned by
 date_create()
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the timezone offset in seconds from UTC on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.2+


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Return an associative array with detailed information about a specified date, according to the specified format:

<?php
print_r(date_parse_from_format("mmddyyyy","05122013"));?>

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Definition and Usage
The date_parse_from_format() function returns an associative array with detailed information about 
a specified date, according to the specified format.

Syntax

date_parse_from_format(format, date)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
    
format
Required. Specifies the format (a format accepted by
 date_create_from_format())
    
  
date
Required. A string that specifies a date
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an associative array containing information about the specified date on success

  
PHP Version:
  
5.3+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 7.2: The [zone] element of the returned array now represents seconds 
  instead of minutes. It also has its sign inverted: -120 is now 7200.


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Return an associative array with detailed information about a specified date:

<?php
 print_r(date_parse("2013-05-01 12:30:45.5"));?>

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Definition and Usage
The date_parse() function returns an associative array with detailed information about a specified date.

Syntax

date_parse(date)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
date
Required. Specifies a date (in a format accepted by
 strtotime())
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an associative array containing information about the parsed date on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.2+


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Subtract 40 days from the 15th of March, 2013:

<?php
 $date=date_create("2013-03-15");
 date_sub($date,date_interval_create_from_date_string("40 days"));echo date_format($date,"Y-m-d");?>

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Definition and Usage
The date_sub() function subtracts some days, months, years, hours, minutes, and seconds from a date.

Syntax

date_sub(object, interval)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
object
Required. Specifies a DateTime object returned by
 date_create()
  
interval
Required. Specifies a DateInterval object
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a DateTime object on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.3+

PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Return information about sunset/sunrise and twilight begin/end on 1st 
January, 2013, for latitude 31.7667, longitude 35.2333:

<?php
 $sun_info=date_sun_info(strtotime("2013-01-01"),31.7667,35.2333);foreach ($sun_info as $key=>$val)  {  echo "$key: " . date("H:i:s",$val) . "<br>";  }?>

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Definition and Usage
The date_sun_info() function returns an array containing information about sunset/sunrise 
and twilight begin/end, for a specified day and location.
Tip: Look at the date_sunrise() function 
to return the sunrise time for a specified day and location.
Tip: Look at the 
date_sunset() function to return the sunset time for a specified day and location.

Syntax

 date_sun_info(timestamp, latitude, longitude)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
timestamp
Required. Specifies a timestamp
  
latitude
Required. Specifies the latitude in degrees
  
longitude
Required. Specifies the longitude in degrees
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.1.2+


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Return the sunrise time for Lisbon, Portugal today:

<?php
// Lisbon, Portugal:
// Latitude: 38.4 North, Longitude: 9 West
// Zenith ~= 90, offset: +1 GMT
echo("Lisbon, Portugal: Date: " . date("D M d Y"));
echo("<br>Sunrise time: ");
echo(date_sunrise(time(),SUNFUNCS_RET_STRING,38.4,-9,90,1));
 ?>

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Definition and Usage
The date_sunrise() function returns the sunrise time for a specified day and location.
Tip: Look at the date_sunset() function 
to return the sunset time for a specified day and location.

Syntax

date_sunrise(timestamp, format, latitude, longitude, zenith, gmtoffset)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
timestamp
Required. Specifies the timestamp of the day from which the sunrise time is taken
  
format

 Optional. Specifies how to return the result:
 
    
SUNFUNCS_RET_STRING (returns the result as string. e.g. 16:46) (This  is default)
    
SUNFUNCS_RET_DOUBLE (returns the result as float. e.g. 16.78243132)
    
SUNFUNCS_RET_TIMESTAMP (returns the result as integer (timestamp).  e.g. 1095034606)
 
   
  
latitude
Optional. Specifies the latitude of the location. Defaults to North. To specify a value for South, pass in a negative value
  
longitude
Optional. Specifies the longitude of the location. Defaults to East. To specify a value for West, pass in a negative value
  
zenith
Optional. Defaults to date.sunrise_zenith
  
gmtoffset
Optional. Specifies the difference between GMT and local time in hours
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the time of the sunrise, in the specified format,
 on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.1: This function now issues E_STRICT and E_NOTICE time zone errors


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Return the sunset time for Lisbon, Portugal today:

<?php
// Lisbon, Portugal:
// Latitude: 38.4 North, Longitude: 9 West
// Zenith ~= 90, offset: +1 GMT
echo("Lisbon, Portugal: Date: " . date("D M d Y"));
echo("<br>Sunset time: ");
echo(date_sunset(time(),SUNFUNCS_RET_STRING,38.4,-9,90,1));
 ?>

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Definition and Usage
The date_sunset() function returns the sunset time for a specified day and location.
Tip: Look at the date_sunrise() function 
to return the sunrise time for a specified day and location.

Syntax

date_sunset(timestamp, format, latitude, longitude, zenith, gmtoffset)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
timestamp
Required. Specifies the timestamp of the day from which the sunset time is taken
  
format

 Optional. Specifies how to return the result:
 
    
SUNFUNCS_RET_STRING (returns the result as string. e.g. 16:46) (This  is default)
    
SUNFUNCS_RET_DOUBLE (returns the result as float. e.g. 16.78243132)
    
SUNFUNCS_RET_TIMESTAMP (returns the result as integer (timestamp).  e.g. 1095034606)
 
   
  
latitude
Optional. Specifies the latitude of the location. Defaults to North. To specify a value for South, pass in a negative value
  
longitude
Optional. Specifies the longitude of the location. Defaults to East. To specify a value for West, pass in a negative value
  
zenith
Optional. Defaults to date.sunset_zenith
  
gmtoffset
Optional. Specifies the difference between GMT and local time in hours
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the time of the sunset, in the specified format,
 on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5+

  
Changelog:
  
From PHP 5.1.0 this function generates E_STRICT and E_NOTICE time zone errors


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Set the time:

<?php
 $date=date_create("2013-05-01");date_time_set($date,13,24);echo date_format($date,"Y-m-d H:i:s");?>

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Definition and Usage
The date_time_set() function sets the time.

Syntax

date_time_set(object, hour, minute, second, microseconds)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
object
Required. Specifies a DateTime object returned by
 date_create()
  
hour
Required. Specifies the hour of the time
  
minute
Required. Specifies the minute of the time
  
second
Optional. Specifies the second of the time. Default is 0
  
microseconds
Optional. Specifies the microsecond of the time. Default is 0
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a DateTime object on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.2+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 7.1: Added microseconds parameterPHP 5.3: Changed the return value from NULL to DateTime


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Return the Unix timestamp for today's date and time:

<?php
 $date=date_create();echo date_timestamp_get($date);?>

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Definition and Usage
The date_timestamp_get() function returns the Unix timestamp.

Syntax

date_timestamp_get(object)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
object
Required. Specifies a DateTime object returned by
 date_create()
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the Unix timestamp that represents the date

  
PHP Version:
  
5.3+


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Set the date and time based on a Unix timestamp:

<?php
 $date=date_create();date_timestamp_set($date,1371803321);echo date_format($date,"U = Y-m-d H:i:s");?>

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Definition and Usage
The date_timestamp_set() function sets the date and time based on a Unix timestamp.

Syntax

date_timestamp_set(object, unixtimestamp)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
object
Required. Specifies a DateTime object returned by
 date_create(). This function modifies this object
  
unixtimestamp
Required. Specifies a Unix timestamp representing the date
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the DateTime object for method chaining. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.3+


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Return the timezone of the given DateTime object:

<?php
 $date=date_create(null,timezone_open("Europe/Paris"));
 $tz=date_timezone_get($date);echo timezone_name_get($tz);?>

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Definition and Usage
The date_timezone_get() function returns the time zone of the given DateTime object.

Syntax

date_timezone_get(object)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
object
Required. Specifies a DateTime object returned by
 date_create().
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a DateTimeZone object on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.2+


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Set the timezone for the DateTime object:

<?php
 $date=date_create("2013-05-25",timezone_open("Indian/Kerguelen"));echo date_format($date,"Y-m-d H:i:sP");?>

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Definition and Usage
The date_timezone_set() function sets the time zone for the DateTime object.

Syntax

date_timezone_set(object, timezone)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
object
Required. Specifies a DateTime object returned by
 date_create(). This function modifies this object
  
timezone
Required. Specifies a DateTimeZone object that represents the desired time zone.Tip:
 Look at a list of all supported timezones in PHP
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the DateTime object for method chaining. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.2+

  
Changelog:
  
PHP 5.3: Changed the return value from NULL to DateTime (on success)


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Format a local date and time and return the formatted date strings:

<?php
 // Prints the dayecho date("l") . "<br>";// Prints the day, date, month, year, time, AM or PMecho date("l jS \of F Y h:i:s A");?>

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Definition and Usage
The date() function formats a local date and time, and returns the formatted date string.

Syntax

date(format, timestamp)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
format
Required. Specifies the format of the outputted date string. The following characters can be used:
    
    
d - The day of the month (from 01 to 31)
    
D - A textual representation of a day (three letters)
    
j - The day of the month without leading zeros (1 to 31)
    
l (lowercase 'L') - A full textual representation of a day
    
N - The ISO-8601 numeric representation of a day (1 for Monday, 7 for Sunday)
    
S - The English ordinal suffix for the day of the month (2 characters st, nd, rd or th. Works well with j)
    
w - A numeric representation of the day (0 for Sunday, 6 for Saturday)
    
z - The day of the year (from 0 through 365)
    
W - The ISO-8601 week number of year (weeks starting on Monday)
    
F - A full textual representation of a month (January through December)
    
m - A numeric representation of a month (from 01 to 12)
    
M - A short textual representation of a month (three letters)
    
n - A numeric representation of a month, without leading zeros (1 to 12)
    
t - The number of days in the given month
    
L - Whether it's a leap year (1 if it is a leap year, 0 otherwise)
    
o - The ISO-8601 year number
    
Y - A four digit representation of a year
    
y - A two digit representation of a year
    
a - Lowercase am or pm
    
A - Uppercase AM or PM
    
B - Swatch Internet time (000 to 999)
    
g - 12-hour format of an hour (1 to 12)
    
G - 24-hour format of an hour (0 to 23)
    
h - 12-hour format of an hour (01 to 12)
    
H - 24-hour format of an hour (00 to 23)
    
i - Minutes with leading zeros (00 to 59)
    
s - Seconds, with leading zeros (00 to 59)
    
u - Microseconds (added in PHP 5.2.2)
    
e - The timezone identifier (Examples: UTC, GMT, Atlantic/Azores)
    
I (capital i) - Whether the date is in daylights savings time (1 if Daylight Savings Time, 0 otherwise)
    
O - Difference to Greenwich time (GMT) in hours (Example: +0100)
    
P - Difference to Greenwich time (GMT) in hours:minutes (added in  PHP 5.1.3)
    
T - Timezone abbreviations (Examples: EST, MDT)
    
Z - Timezone offset in seconds. The offset for timezones west of UTC is negative (-43200 to  50400)
    
c - The ISO-8601 date (e.g. 2013-05-05T16:34:42+00:00)
    
r - The RFC 2822 formatted date (e.g. Fri, 12 Apr 2013 12:01:05 +0200)
    
U - The seconds since the Unix Epoch (January 1 1970 00:00:00 GMT)
 
 and the following predefined constants can also be used (available since PHP 5.1.0):
 
    
DATE_ATOM - Atom (example: 2013-04-12T15:52:01+00:00)
    
DATE_COOKIE - HTTP Cookies (example: Friday, 12-Apr-13 15:52:01 UTC)
    
DATE_ISO8601 - ISO-8601 (example: 2013-04-12T15:52:01+0000)
    
DATE_RFC822 - RFC 822 (example: Fri, 12 Apr 13 15:52:01 +0000)
    
DATE_RFC850 - RFC 850 (example: Friday, 12-Apr-13 15:52:01 UTC)
    
DATE_RFC1036 - RFC 1036 (example: Fri, 12 Apr 13 15:52:01 +0000)
    
DATE_RFC1123 - RFC 1123 (example: Fri, 12 Apr 2013 15:52:01 +0000)
    
DATE_RFC2822 - RFC 2822 (Fri, 12 Apr 2013 15:52:01 +0000)
    
DATE_RFC3339 - Same as DATE_ATOM (since PHP 5.1.3)
    
DATE_RSS - RSS (Fri, 12 Aug 2013 15:52:01 +0000)
    
DATE_W3C - World Wide Web Consortium (example:  2013-04-12T15:52:01+00:00)
 
  
  
timestamp
Optional. Specifies an integer Unix timestamp. Default is the current local time (time())
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a formatted date string on success. FALSE on failure + an E_WARNING

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
PHP 5.1.0: Added E_STRICT and E_NOTICE time zone errors. Valid range of timestamp is now from Fri, 13 Dec 1901 20:45:54 GMT to Tue, 19 Jan 2038 03:14:07 GMT. Before version 5.1.0 timestamp was limited from 01-01-1970 to 19-01-2038 on some systems (e.g. Windows).PHP 5.1.1: Added constants of standard date/time formats that can be used to specify the format parameter


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Return date/time information of the current local date/time:

<?php
print_r(getdate());?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The getdate() function returns date/time information of a timestamp or the current local date/time.

Syntax

getdate(timestamp)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
timestamp
Optional. Specifies an integer Unix timestamp. Default is the current local time (time())
  
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an associative array with information related to the timestamp:
[seconds] - seconds
[minutes] - minutes
[hours] - hours
[mday] - day of the month
[wday] - day of the week (0=Sunday, 1=Monday,...)
    
[mon] - month
[year] - year
[yday] - day of the year
[weekday] - name of the weekday
[month] - name of the month
    
[0] - seconds since Unix Epoch

  

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Return the current time:

<?php
 // Print the array from gettimeofday()print_r(gettimeofday());// Print the float from gettimeofday()echo gettimeofday(true);?>

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Definition and Usage
The gettimeofday() function returns the current time.

Syntax

 gettimeofday(return_float)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
return_float
Optional. When set to TRUE, a float instead of an array is returned. Default is FALSE
  
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an associative array by default, with the following array keys:
[sec] - seconds since the Unix Epoch
[usec] - microseconds
[minuteswest] - minutes west of Greenwich 
[dsttime] - type of dst correction 

 If the return_float parameter is set to true, a float is returned
  

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
PHP 5.1.0: Added the return_float parameter

PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Format a GMT/UTC date and time and return the formatted date strings:

<?php
 // Prints the dayecho gmdate("l") . "<br>";// Prints the day, date, month, year, time, AM or PMecho gmdate("l jS \of F Y h:i:s A");?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The gmdate() function formats a GMT/UTC date and time, and returns the formatted date string.

Syntax

gmdate(format, timestamp)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
format
Required. Specifies the format of the outputted date string. The following characters can be used:
    
    
d - The day of the month (from 01 to 31)
    
D - A textual representation of a day (three letters)
    
j - The day of the month without leading zeros (1 to 31)
    
l (lowercase 'L') - A full textual representation of a day
    
N - The ISO-8601 numeric representation of a day (1 for Monday, 7 for Sunday)
    
S - The English ordinal suffix for the day of the month (2 characters st, nd, rd or th. Works well with j)
    
w - A numeric representation of the day (0 for Sunday, 6 for Saturday)
    
z - The day of the year (from 0 through 365)
    
W - The ISO-8601 week number of year (weeks starting on Monday)
    
F - A full textual representation of a month (January through December)
    
m - A numeric representation of a month (from 01 to 12)
    
M - A short textual representation of a month (three letters)
    
n - A numeric representation of a month, without leading zeros (1 to 12)
    
t - The number of days in the given month
    
L - Whether it's a leap year (1 if it is a leap year, 0 otherwise)
    
o - The ISO-8601 year number
    
Y - A four digit representation of a year
    
y - A two digit representation of a year
    
a - Lowercase am or pm
    
A - Uppercase AM or PM
    
B - Swatch Internet time (000 to 999)
    
g - 12-hour format of an hour (1 to 12)
    
G - 24-hour format of an hour (0 to 23)
    
h - 12-hour format of an hour (01 to 12)
    
H - 24-hour format of an hour (00 to 23)
    
i - Minutes with leading zeros (00 to 59)
    
s - Seconds, with leading zeros (00 to 59)
    
u - Microseconds (added in PHP 5.2.2)
    
e - The timezone identifier (Examples: UTC, GMT, Atlantic/Azores)
    
I (capital i) - Whether the date is in daylights savings time (1 if Daylight Savings Time, 0 otherwise)
    
O - Difference to Greenwich time (GMT) in hours (Example: +0100)
    
P - Difference to Greenwich time (GMT) in hours:minutes (added in  PHP 5.1.3)
    
T - Timezone abbreviations (Examples: EST, MDT)
    
Z - Timezone offset in seconds. The offset for timezones west of UTC is negative (-43200 to  50400)
    
c - The ISO-8601 date (e.g. 2013-05-05T16:34:42+00:00)
    
r - The RFC 2822 formatted date (e.g. Fri, 12 Apr 2013 12:01:05 +0200)
    
U - The seconds since the Unix Epoch (January 1 1970 00:00:00 GMT)
 
 and the following predefined constants can also be used (available since PHP 5.1.0):
 
    
DATE_ATOM - Atom (example: 2013-04-12T15:52:01+00:00)
    
DATE_COOKIE - HTTP Cookies (example: Friday, 12-Apr-13 15:52:01 UTC)
    
DATE_ISO8601 - ISO-8601 (example: 2013-04-12T15:52:01+0000)
    
DATE_RFC822 - RFC 822 (example: Fri, 12 Apr 13 15:52:01 +0000)
    
DATE_RFC850 - RFC 850 (example: Friday, 12-Apr-13 15:52:01 UTC)
    
DATE_RFC1036 - RFC 1036 (example: Fri, 12 Apr 13 15:52:01 +0000)
    
DATE_RFC1123 - RFC 1123 (example: Fri, 12 Apr 2013 15:52:01 +0000)
    
DATE_RFC2822 - RFC 2822 (Fri, 12 Apr 2013 15:52:01 +0000)
    
DATE_RFC3339 - Same as DATE_ATOM (since PHP 5.1.3)
    
DATE_RSS - RSS (Fri, 12 Aug 2013 15:52:01 +0000)
    
DATE_W3C - World Wide Web Consortium (example:  2013-04-12T15:52:01+00:00)
 
  
  
timestamp
Optional. Specifies an integer Unix timestamp. Default is the current local time (time())
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a formatted date string on success. FALSE on failure + an E_WARNING

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.1: Valid range of timestamp is now from Fri, 13 Dec 1901 20:45:54 GMT to Tue, 19 Jan 2038 03:14:07 GMT. Before version 5.1 timestamp was limited from 01-01-1970 to 19-01-2038 on some systems (e.g. Windows).PHP 5.1.1: Added 
  the constants of standard date/time formats that can be used to specify the 
  format parameter


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Return the Unix timestamp for a GMT date. Then use it to find the day of that 
date:

<?php
 // Prints: October 3, 1975 was on a Fridayecho "Oct 3, 1975 was on a ".date("l", gmmktime(0,0,0,10,3,1975));?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The gmmktime() function returns the Unix timestamp for a GMT date.
Tip: This function is identical to mktime()
except the passed parameters represents a GMT date.

Syntax

gmmktime(hour, minute, second, month, day, year, is_dst)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
hour
Optional. Specifies the hour
  
minute
Optional. Specifies the minute
  
second
Optional. Specifies the second
  
month
Optional. Specifies the month
  
day
Optional. Specifies the day
  
year
Optional. Specifies the year
  
is_dst
Optional. Parameters always represent a GMT date so is_dst doesn't influence the result.
 Note: This parameter is removed in PHP 7.0. The new timezone handling features should be used instead
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an integer Unix timestamp

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.1: The is_dst parameter was deprecatedPHP 7.0: The is_dst parameter was 
  removed


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Format GMT/UTC date and time according to locale settings:

<?php
 echo(gmstrftime("%B %d %Y, %X %Z",mktime(20,0,0,12,31,98))."<br>");
 setlocale(LC_ALL,"hu_HU.UTF8");echo(gmstrftime("%Y. %B %d. %A. %X %Z"));?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The gmstrftime() function formats a GMT/UTC time and/or date according to locale settings.
Tip: Also look at the strftime() function, 
which formats a local time and/or date according to locale settings.

Syntax

gmstrftime(format, timestamp)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
format
Required. Specifies how to return the result:
    
%a - abbreviated weekday name
    
%A - full weekday name
    
%b - abbreviated month name
    
%B - full month name
    
%c - preferred date and time representation
    
%C - century number (the year divided by 100, range 00 to 99)
    
%d - day of the month (01 to 31)
    
%D - same as %m/%d/%y
    
%e - day of the month (1 to 31)
    
%g - like %G, but without the century
    
%G - 4-digit year corresponding to the ISO week number (see %V).
    
%h - same as %b
    
%H - hour, using a 24-hour clock (00 to 23)
    
%I - hour, using a 12-hour clock (01 to 12)
    
%j - day of the year (001 to 366)
    
%m - month (01 to 12)
    
%M - minute
    
%n - newline character
    
%p - either am or pm according to the given time value
    
%r - time in a.m. and p.m. notation
    
%R - time in 24 hour notation
    
%S - second
    
%t - tab character
    
%T - current time, equal to %H:%M:%S
    
%u - weekday as a number (1 to 7), Monday=1. Warning: In Sun Solaris  Sunday=1
    
%U - week number of the current year, starting with the first Sunday  as the first day of the first week
    
%V - The ISO 8601 week number of the current year (01 to 53), where  week 1 is the first week that has at least 4 days in the current year,  and with Monday as the first day of the week
    
%W - week number of the current year, starting with the first Monday  as the first day of the first week
    
%w - day of the week as a decimal, Sunday=0
    
%x - preferred date representation without the time
    
%X - preferred time representation without the date
    
%y - year without a century (range 00 to 99)
    
%Y - year including the century
    
%Z or %z - time zone or name or abbreviation
    
%% - a literal % character
 
   
  
timestamp
Optional. Specifies a Unix timestamp that represents the date and/or time to be formatted. Default is the current local time (time())
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a string formatted according format using the given timestamp. Month and weekday names and other language-dependent strings respect the current locale set with setlocale()

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Format a local time/date as integer. Test all the different formats:

<?php
 echo idate("B") . "<br>";echo idate("d") . "<br>";echo idate("h") . "<br>";echo idate("H") . "<br>";echo idate("i") . "<br>";echo idate("I") . "<br>";echo idate("L") . "<br>";echo idate("m") . "<br>";echo idate("s") . "<br>";echo idate("t") . "<br>";echo idate("U") . "<br>";echo idate("w") . "<br>";echo idate("W") . "<br>";echo idate("y") . "<br>";echo idate("Y") . "<br>";echo idate("z") . "<br>";echo idate("Z") . "<br>";?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The idate() function formats a local time and/or date as integer.
Note: The idate() function accepts just one character in the format parameter!

Syntax

 idate(format, timestamp)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
format
Required. Specifies how to return the result. One of the following 
    characters is allowed:
    
B - Swatch Beat/Internet Time
    
d - Day of the month
    
h - Hour (12 hour format)
    
H - Hour (24 hour format)
    
i - Minutes
    
I - returns 1 if DST (daylight saving time) is activated, 0  otherwise
    
L - returns 1 for leap year, 0 otherwise
    
m - Month number
    
s - Seconds
    
t - Days in current month
    
U - Seconds since the Unix Epoch (January 1 1970 00:00:00 GMT)
    
w - Day of the week (Sunday=0)
    
W - ISO-8601 week number of year (week starts on Monday)
    
y - Year (1 or 2 digits)
    
Y - Year (4 digits)
    
z - Day of the year
    
Z - Timezone offset in seconds
 
   
  
timestamp
Optional. Specifies a Unix timestamp that represents the date and/or time to be formatted. Default is the current local time (time())
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an integer formatted according the specified format using the given timestamp 

  
PHP Version:
  
5+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.1: Now issues E_STRICT and E_NOTICE time zone errors


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Print local time as an indexed and as an associative array:

<?php
 print_r(localtime());echo "<br><br>";
 print_r(localtime(time(),true));?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The localtime() function returns the local time.

Syntax

localtime(timestamp, is_assoc)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
timestamp
Optional. Specifies a Unix timestamp that defaults to the current local time, time(), if no timestamp is specified
  
is_assoc
Optional. Specifies whether to return an associative or indexed array. FALSE = the array returned is an indexed array. TRUE = the array returned is an associative array. FALSE is default.
The keys of the associative array are:

    
[tm_sec] - seconds
    
[tm_min] - minutes
    
[tm_hour] - hour
    
[tm_mday] - day of the month
    
[tm_mon] - month of the year (January=0)
    
[tm_year] - Years since 1900
    
[tm_wday] - Day of the week (Sunday=0)
    
[tm_yday] - Day of the year
    
[tm_isdst] - Is daylight savings time in effect

  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array that contains the components of a Unix timestamp 

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.1: Now issues E_STRICT and E_NOTICE time zone errors


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Return the current Unix timestamp with microseconds:

<?php
 echo(microtime());?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The microtime() function returns the current Unix timestamp with microseconds.

Syntax

 microtime(return_float);


Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
return_float
Optional. When set to TRUE it specifies that the function should return a float, instead of a string. Default is FALSE
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the string "microsec sec" by default, where sec is the number of seconds since the Unix Epoch (0:00:00 January 1, 1970 GMT), and microsec is the microseconds part. If the
 return_float parameter is set to TRUE, it returns a float representing the current time in seconds since the Unix epoch accurate to the nearest microsecond

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.0: Added the return_float parameter


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Return the Unix timestamp for a date. Then use it to find the day of that date:

<?php
 // Prints: October 3, 1975 was on a Fridayecho "Oct 3, 1975 was on a ".date("l", mktime(0,0,0,10,3,1975));?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The gmmktime() function returns the Unix timestamp for a date.
Tip: This function is identical to gmmktime() except the passed parameters 
represents a date (not a GMT date).

Syntax

mktime(hour, minute, second, month, day, year, is_dst)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
hour
Optional. Specifies the hour
  
minute
Optional. Specifies the minute
  
second
Optional. Specifies the second
  
month
Optional. Specifies the month
  
day
Optional. Specifies the day
  
year
Optional. Specifies the year
  
is_dst
Optional. Set this parameter to 1 if the time is during daylight savings time (DST), 0 if it is not, or -1 (the default) if it is unknown. If it's unknown, PHP tries to find out itself (which may cause unexpected results).
 Note: This parameter is removed in PHP 7.0. The new timezone handling features should be used instead
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an integer Unix timestamp. FALSE on error

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 7.1: The is_dst 
  parameter is removed.PHP 5.3.0: Throws E_DEPRECATED if the is_dst parameter is used
 PHP 5.1: The is_dst parameter was deprecated. If mktime() is called with no arguments, it now throws E_STRICT notice. Use the time() function instead.


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Format local date and time according to locale settings:

<?php
 echo(strftime("%B %d %Y, %X %Z",mktime(20,0,0,12,31,98))."<br>");
 setlocale(LC_ALL,"hu_HU.UTF8");echo(strftime("%Y. %B %d. %A. %X %Z"));?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The strftime() function formats a local time and/or date according to locale settings.
Tip: Also look at the gmstrftime() function,
which formats a GMT/UTC time and/or date according to locale settings.

Syntax

strftime(format, timestamp)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
format
Required. Specifies how to return the result:
    
%a - abbreviated weekday name
    
%A - full weekday name
    
%b - abbreviated month name
    
%B - full month name
    
%c - preferred date and time representation
    
%C - century number (the year divided by 100, range 00 to 99)
    
%d - day of the month (01 to 31)
    
%D - same as %m/%d/%y
    
%e - day of the month (1 to 31)
    
%g - like %G, but without the century
    
%G - 4-digit year corresponding to the ISO week number (see %V).
    
%h - same as %b
    
%H - hour, using a 24-hour clock (00 to 23)
    
%I - hour, using a 12-hour clock (01 to 12)
    
%j - day of the year (001 to 366)
    
%m - month (01 to 12)
    
%M - minute
    
%n - newline character
    
%p - either am or pm according to the given time value
    
%r - time in a.m. and p.m. notation
    
%R - time in 24 hour notation
    
%S - second
    
%t - tab character
    
%T - current time, equal to %H:%M:%S
    
%u - weekday as a number (1 to 7), Monday=1. Warning: In Sun Solaris  Sunday=1
    
%U - week number of the current year, starting with the first Sunday  as the first day of the first week
    
%V - The ISO 8601 week number of the current year (01 to 53), where  week 1 is the first week that has at least 4 days in the current year,  and with Monday as the first day of the week
    
%W - week number of the current year, starting with the first Monday  as the first day of the first week
    
%w - day of the week as a decimal, Sunday=0
    
%x - preferred date representation without the time
    
%X - preferred time representation without the date
    
%y - year without a century (range 00 to 99)
    
%Y - year including the century
    
%Z or %z - time zone or name or abbreviation
    
%% - a literal % character
 
   
  
timestamp
Optional. Specifies a Unix timestamp that represents the date and/or time to be formatted. Default is the current local time (time())
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a string formatted according format using the given timestamp. Month and weekday names and other language-dependent strings respect the current locale set with setlocale()

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.1: Now issues E_STRICT and E_NOTICE time zone errors


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Parse a time/date generated with strftime():

<?php
$format="%d/%m/%Y %H:%M:%S";
$strf=strftime($format);
echo("$strf");
print_r(strptime($strf,$format));?>

Definition and Usage
The strptime() function parses a time/date generated with strftime().
Note: This function is not implemented on Windows platforms!

Syntax

strptime(date, format)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
date
Required. The string to parse (e.g. returned from strftime())
  
format
Required. Specifies the format used in the date:
    
%a - abbreviated weekday name
    
%A - full weekday name
    
%b - abbreviated month name
    
%B - full month name
    
%c - preferred date and time representation
    
%C - century number (the year divided by 100, range 00 to 99)
    
%d - day of the month (01 to 31)
    
%D - same as %m/%d/%y
    
%e - day of the month (1 to 31)
    
%g - like %G, but without the century
    
%G - 4-digit year corresponding to the ISO week number (see %V).
    
%h - same as %b
    
%H - hour, using a 24-hour clock (00 to 23)
    
%I - hour, using a 12-hour clock (01 to 12)
    
%j - day of the year (001 to 366)
    
%m - month (01 to 12)
    
%M - minute
    
%n - newline character
    
%p - either am or pm according to the given time value
    
%r - time in a.m. and p.m. notation
    
%R - time in 24 hour notation
    
%S - second
    
%t - tab character
    
%T - current time, equal to %H:%M:%S
    
%u - weekday as a number (1 to 7), Monday=1. Warning: In Sun Solaris  Sunday=1
    
%U - week number of the current year, starting with the first Sunday  as the first day of the first week
    
%V - The ISO 8601 week number of the current year (01 to 53), where  week 1 is the first week that has at least 4 days in the current year,  and with Monday as the first day of the week
    
%W - week number of the current year, starting with the first Monday  as the first day of the first week
    
%w - day of the week as a decimal, Sunday=0
    
%x - preferred date representation without the time
    
%X - preferred time representation without the date
    
%y - year without a century (range 00 to 99)
    
%Y - year including the century
    
%Z or %z - time zone or name or abbreviation
    
%% - a literal % character
 
   
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
This function returns an array with the date parsed on success. FALSE on failure.
 The meaning of the returning array keys are:
[tm_sec] - seconds (0-61)
[tm_min] - minutes (0-59) 
[tm_hour] - hour (0-23)
[tm_mday] - day of the month (1-31)
[tm_mon] - months since January (0-11)
[tm_year] - years since 1900
[tm_wday] - days since Sunday (0-6)
[tm_yday] - days since January 1 (0-365)
[unparsed] - the date part which was not recognized using the specified format, if any

  

  
PHP Version:
  
5.1+


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Parse English textual datetimes into Unix timestamps:

<?php
echo(strtotime("now") . "<br>");
echo(strtotime("3 October 2005") . "<br>");
echo(strtotime("+5 hours") . "<br>");
echo(strtotime("+1 week") . "<br>");
echo(strtotime("+1 week 3 days 7 hours 5 seconds") . "<br>");
echo(strtotime("next Monday") . "<br>");
echo(strtotime("last Sunday"));?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The strtotime() function parses an English textual datetime into a 
Unix timestamp (the number of seconds since January 1 1970 00:00:00 GMT).
Note: If the year is specified in a two-digit format,  values between 0-69 are mapped to 2000-2069
and values between 70-100 are mapped to 1970-2000.
Note: Be aware of dates in the m/d/y or d-m-y formats; if 
the separator is a slash (/), then the American m/d/y is assumed. If the 
separator is a dash (-) or a dot (.), then the European d-m-y format is assumed. 
To avoid potential errors, you should YYYY-MM-DD dates or 
date_create_from_format() when possible.

Syntax

 strtotime(time, now);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
time
Required. Specifies a date/time string
  
now
Optional. Specifies the timestamp used as a base for the calculation of relative dates
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a timestamp on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.3.0: Relative time formats such as this week, previous week, last week, and next week 
  now interprets a week period of Monday through Sunday, rather then a 7-day period relative to the current date/timePHP 5.3.0: Now 24:00 is a valid formatPHP 5.2.7: In earlier versions, if requesting a given occurrence of a given weekday in a month where that weekday was the first day of the month it would incorrectly add one week to the returned timestamp. This has been corrected nowPHP 5.1.0: Returns FALSE on failure (earlier versions returns -1), and issues E_STRICT and E_NOTICE time zone errorsPHP 5.0.2: Now correctly computes "now" and other relative times from current time, not from today's midnight PHP 5.0.0: Allows microseconds (but they are ignored)


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Return the current time as a Unix timestamp, then format it to a date:

<?php
$t=time();
echo($t . "<br>");
 echo(date("Y-m-d",$t));?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The time() function returns the current time in the number of seconds since 
the Unix Epoch (January 1 1970 00:00:00 GMT).

Syntax

  time()

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an integer containing the current time as a Unix timestamp

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Print dst, offset, and timezone name for the "act" timezone:

<?php
  $tzlist = DateTimeZone::listAbbreviations();print_r($tzlist["acst"]);?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The timezone_abbreviations_list() returns an associative array containing dst, offset, and the timezone name.

Syntax

 timezone_abbreviations_list()

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an associative array on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.2+


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Print all timezones in Africa:

<?php
 print_r(timezone_identifiers_list(1));?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The timezone_identifiers_list() returns an indexed array containing all timezone identifiers.

Syntax

timezone_identifiers_list(what, country)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
what
Optional. Specifies a DateTimeZone class constant1 = AFRICA2 = AMERICA4 = ANTARCTICA8 = ARCTIC16 = ASIA32 = ATLANTIC
 64 = AUSTRALIA128 = EUROPE256 = INDIAN512 = PACIFIC1024 = UTC2047 = ALL4095 = ALL_WITH_BC4096 = PER_COUNTRY
  
country
Optional. Specifies a two-letter ISO 3166-1 compatible country code
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an indexed array on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.2+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.3: The optional what and country parameters were added


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Return location information for the given timezone:

<?php
 $tz=timezone_open("Asia/Taipei");
  print_r(timezone_location_get($tz));?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The timezone_location_get() returns location information for the given timezone.

Syntax

timezone_location_get(object)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
object
Required. Specifies a DateTimeZone object returned by
 timezone_open()
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array that contains location information for the timezone

  
PHP Version:
  
5.3+


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Return the timezone name from abbreviation:

<?php
 echo timezone_name_from_abbr("EST") . "<br>";echo timezone_name_from_abbr(",7200,0);?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The timezone_name_from_abbr() returns the timezone name from abbreviation.

Syntax

timezone_name_from_abbr(abbr, gmtoffset, isdst)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
abbr
Required. Specifies the timezone abbreviation
  
gmtoffset
Optional. Specifies the offset from GMT in seconds. Default is -1, which means that first found timezone corresponding to abbr is returned. Otherwise exact offset is searched. If not found, the first timezone with any offset is returned
  
isdst

 Optional. Specifies daylight saving time indicator.
    
-1 = Default. Whether the timezone has daylight saving or not is not  taken into consideration when searching
    
 1 = Means that the gmtoffset is an offset with daylight saving in effect
    
0 = Means that the gmtoffset is an offset without daylight saving in effect
  
 
   
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the timezone name on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.1.3+


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Return the name of the timezone:

<?php
 $tz=timezone_open("Europe/Paris");
 echo timezone_name_get($tz);?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The timezone_name_get() returns the name of the timezone.

Syntax

timezone_name_get(object)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
object
Required. Specifies a DateTimeZone object
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a timezone name from the
 list of timezones

  
PHP Version:
  
5.2+


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Return the timezone offset from GMT:

<?php
 $tz=timezone_open("Asia/Taipei");
 $dateTimeOslo=date_create("now",timezone_open("Europe/Oslo"));echo timezone_offset_get($tz,$dateTimeOslo);?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The timezone_offset_get() returns the timezone offset from GMT.

Syntax

timezone_offset_get(object, datetime)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
object
Required. Specifies a DateTimeZone object returned by
 timezone_open()
  
datetime
Required. Specifies a date/time to compute the offset from
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the timezone offset in seconds on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.2+


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Create a new DateTimeZone object, then return the name of the timezone:

<?php
 $tz=timezone_open("Europe/Paris");
 echo timezone_name_get($tz);?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The timezone_open() creates a new DateTimeZone object.

Syntax
The two functions below are equivalent and any of the functions can be used 
as shown in the example above.
Procedural style:

timezone_open(timezone)
Object oriented style:

  DateTimeZone::__construct(timezone)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
timezone
Required. Specifies a timezoneTip:
 Look at a list of all supported timezones in PHP
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the DateTimeZone object on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.2+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.5.1: The timezone parameter accepts offset values 


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Return a transition for a timezone:

<?php
  $timezone = new DateTimeZone("Europe/Paris");
  // Procedural styleprint_r(reset(timezone_transitions_get($timezone)));
  echo "<br><br>"// Object oriented styleprint_r(reset($timezone->getTransitions()));
  ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The timezone_transitions_get() returns all transitions for the timezone.

Syntax
The two functions below are equivalent and any of the functions can be used 
as shown in the example above.
Procedural style:

timezone_transitions_get(object, timestamp_start, timestamp_end)
Object oriented style:

  DateTimeZone::getTransitions(timestamp_start, timestamp_end)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
object
Required (for procedural style). Specifies a DateTimeZone object
  
timestamp_start
Optional. Begin timestamp
  
timestamp_end
Optional. End timestamp
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
A numerically indexed array containing associative array 
 with all transitions on success. FALSE on failure 

  
PHP Version:
  
5.2+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.3: Added timestamp_begin and timestamp_end 
  parameters


PHP Date/Time Reference

PHP Date/Time Reference

Example
Return the version of the timezonedb:

<?php
 echo timezone_version_get();?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The timezone_version_get() function returns the version of the timezonedb.

Syntax

timezone_version_get()

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the version of the timezonedb as a string

  
PHP Version:
  
5.3+


PHP Date/Time Reference

Directory Introduction
The directory functions allow you to retrieve information about directories 
and their contents.

Installation
The PHP directory functions are part of the PHP core. No installation is required to use these functions.

Directory Functions

  
Function
Description
  
chdir()
Changes the current directory
  
chroot()
Changes the root directory
    
closedir()
Closes a directory handle
    
  
dir()
Returns an instance of the Directory class
  
getcwd()
Returns the current working directory
  
opendir()
Opens a directory handle
  
readdir()
Returns an entry from a directory handle
  
rewinddir()
Resets a directory handle
  
scandir()
Returns an array of files and directories of a specified directory




PHP Directory Reference

Example
Change the current directory:

<?php// Get current directory
 echo getcwd() . "<br>";// Change directory
 chdir("images");// Get current directory
 echo getcwd();
 ?>

Result:

 /home/php/home/php/images



Definition and Usage
The chdir() function changes the current directory.

Syntax

chdir(directory)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
directory
Required. Specifies the new current directory
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure. Throws an error of level E_WARNING on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+


PHP Directory Reference

PHP Directory Reference

Example
Change the root directory:

<?php// Change root directory
 chroot("/path/to/chroot/");// Get current directory
 echo getcwd();?>
Result:

 /


Definition and Usage
The chroot() function changes the root directory of the current process to
directory, and changes the current working directory to "/".
Note: This function requires root privileges, and is only 
available to GNU and BSD systems, and only when using the CLI, CGI or Embed 
SAPI.
Note: This function is not implemented on Windows platforms.

Syntax

chroot(directory)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
directory
Required. Specifies the path to change the root directory to
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure.

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0.5+

PHP Directory Reference

PHP Directory Reference

Example
Open a directory, read its contents, then close:

<?php$dir = "/images/";// Open a directory, and read its contentsif (is_dir($dir)){  if ($dh = opendir($dir)){    while (($file = readdir($dh)) !== false){      echo "filename:" . $file . "<br>";    }    closedir($dh);  }}?>
Result:

filename: cat.gif
filename: dog.gif
filename: horse.gif



Definition and Usage
The closedir() function closes a directory handle.

Syntax

closedir(dir)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
dir
Optional. Specifies the directory handle resource previously opened with
 opendir(). If this parameter is not specified, the last link opened by opendir() is assumed
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
-

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+


PHP Directory Reference

PHP Directory Reference

Example
Use the dir() function:

 <?php $d = dir(getcwd());echo "Handle: " . $d->handle . "<br>";
 echo "Path: " . $d->path . "<br>";while (($file = $d->read()) !== false){   echo "filename: " . $file . "<br>"; } 
 $d->close(); ?>
Result:

 Handle: Resource id #2Path: /etc/phpfilename: .filename: ..
 filename: ajax.giffilename: books.xmlfilename: cdcatalog.xml
 filename: cd_catalog.xmlfilename: default.aspfilename: demo_array.aspfilename: demo_array.htm...
 ......


Definition and Usage
The dir() function returns an instance of the Directory class. This function 
is used to read a directory, which includes the following:
The given directory is opened
The two properties handle and path of dir() are available
Both handle and path properties have three methods: read(), rewind(), and close()

Syntax

dir(directory, context)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
directory
Required. Specifies the directory to open
  
context
Optional.
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
An instance of the Directory class. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Directory Reference

PHP Directory Reference

Example
Get the current working directory:

<?phpecho getcwd();?>

Result:

 /home/php


Definition and Usage
The getcwd() function returns the current working directory.

Syntax

getcwd()
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The current working directory on success, FALSE on failure.

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+


PHP Directory Reference

PHP Directory Reference

Example
Open a directory, read its contents, then close:

<?php$dir = "/images/";// Open a directory, and read its contentsif (is_dir($dir)){  if ($dh = opendir($dir)){    while (($file = readdir($dh)) !== false){      echo "filename:" . $file . "<br>";    }    closedir($dh);  }}?>
Result:

filename: cat.gif
filename: dog.gif
filename: horse.gif



Definition and Usage
The opendir() function opens a directory handle.

Syntax

opendir(path, context)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
path
Required. Specifies the directory path to be opened
  
context
Optional. Specifies the context of the directory handle. Context is a set of options that can modify the behavior of a stream
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the directory handle resource on success. FALSE on failure. Throws an error of level E_WARNING if path is not a valid directory, or if the directory cannot be opened due to permission restrictions or filesysytem errors. You can hide the error output of opendir() by adding '@' to the front of the function name

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.0: The path parameter now supports the ftp:// URL wrapper


PHP Directory Reference

PHP Directory Reference

Example
List all entries in the images directory, then close:

<?php$dir = "/images/";// Open a directory, and read its contentsif (is_dir($dir)){  if ($dh = opendir($dir)){    while (($file = readdir($dh)) !== false){      echo "filename:" . $file . "<br>";    }    closedir($dh);  }}?>
Result:

filename: cat.gif
filename: dog.gif
filename: horse.gif



Definition and Usage
The readdir() function returns the name of the next entry in a directory.

Syntax

readdir(dir)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
dir
Optional. Specifies the directory handle resource previously opened with
 opendir(). If this parameter is not specified, the last link opened by opendir() is assumed
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The entry name (filename) on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+


PHP Directory Reference

PHP Directory Reference

Example
Open a directory, list its files, reset directory handle, list its files once 
again, then close:

<?php$dir = "/images/";// Open a directory, and read its contentsif (is_dir($dir)){  if ($dh = opendir($dir)){    // List files in images directory    while (($file = readdir($dh)) !== false){      echo "filename:" . $file . "<br>";    }    rewinddir();    // List once again files in images directory    while (($file = readdir($dh)) !== false){      echo "filename:" . $file . "<br>";    }    closedir($dh);  }}?>
Result:

filename: cat.gif
filename: dog.gif
filename: horse.giffilename: cat.gif
filename: dog.gif
filename: horse.gif



Definition and Usage
The rewinddir() function resets the directory handle created by opendir().

Syntax

rewinddir(dir)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
dir
Optional. Specifies the directory handle resource previously opened with
 opendir(). If this parameter is not specified, the last link opened by opendir() is assumed
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
NULL on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Directory Reference

PHP Directory Reference

Example
List files and directories inside the images directory:

<?php$dir = "/images/";// Sort in ascending order - this is default$a = scandir($dir);// Sort in descending order$b = scandir($dir,1);print_r($a);print_r($b);?>
Result:

 Array([0] => .[1] => ..[2] => cat.gif[3] => dog.gif
 [4] => horse.gif[5] => myimages)Array([0] => myimages[1] => horse.gif[2] => dog.gif[3] => cat.gif[4] => ..[5] => .) 



Definition and Usage
The scandir() function returns an array of files and directories of the specified directory.

Syntax

scandir(directory, order, context)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
directory
Required. Specifies the directory to be scanned
  
order
Optional. Specifies the sorting order. Default sort order is alphabetical in ascending order (0). Set to SCANDIR_SORT_DESCENDING or 1 to sort in alphabetical descending order, or SCANDIR_SORT_NONE to return the result unsorted  
  
context
Optional. Specifies the context of the directory handle. Context is a set of options that can modify the behavior of a stream

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
An array of files and directories on success, FALSE on failure. Throws an E_WARNING if directory is not a directory

  
PHP Version:
  
5.0+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.4: The order constants were added


PHP Directory Reference

Error Introduction
The error functions are used to deal with error handling and logging.
The error functions allow us to define own error handling rules, and modify 
the way the errors can be logged.
The logging functions allow us to send messages 
directly to other machines, emails, or system logs.
The error reporting functions allow us to customize what level and kind of 
error feedback is given. 

Installation
The PHP error functions are part of the PHP core. No installation is required 
to use these functions.

Runtime Configuration
The behavior of the error functions is affected by settings in php.ini.
Errors and logging configuration options:


  
Name
Default
Description
Changeable
    
error_reporting
NULL
Sets the error reporting level (either an integer or  named constants)
PHP_INI_ALL
    
  
display_errors
"1"
Specifies whether errors should be printed to the screen, or if they should be hidden from the user.Note: This feature should never be used on production systems (only to support your development)
PHP_INI_ALL
    
  
display_startup_errors
"0"
Even when display_errors is on, errors that occur during PHP's startup sequence are not displayedNote: It is strongly recommended to keep display_startup_errors off, except for debugging
PHP_INI_ALL
    
  
log_errors
"0"
Defines whether script error messages should be logged to the server's error log or error_log. Note: It is strongly advised to use error logging instead of error displaying on production web sites
PHP_INI_ALL
    
  
log_errors_max_len
"1024"
Sets the maximum length of log_errors in bytes. The value "0" can be used to not apply any maximum length at all. This length is applied to logged errors, displayed errors, and also to $php_errormsg (available since PHP 4.3)
PHP_INI_ALL
    
  
ignore_repeated_errors
"0"
Specifies whether to log repeated error messages. When set to "1" it will not log errors with repeated errors from the same file on the same line (available since PHP 4.3)
PHP_INI_ALL
  
ignore_repeated_source
"0"
Specifies whether to log repeated error messages. When set to "1" it will not log errors with repeated errors from different files or source lines (available since PHP 4.3)
PHP_INI_ALL
  
report_memleaks
"1"
If set to "1" (the default), this parameter will show a report of memory leaks detected by the Zend memory manager (available since PHP 4.3)
PHP_INI_ALL
  
track_errors
"0"
If set to "1", the last error message will always be present in the variable $php_errormsg
PHP_INI_ALL
  
html_errors
"1"
Turns off HTML tags in error messages
PHP_INI_ALLPHP_INI_SYSTEM in PHP <= 4.2.3.
  
xmlrpc_errors
"0"
Turns off normal error reporting and formats errors as XML-RPC error message (available since PHP 4.1)
PHP_INI_SYSTEM
  
xmlrpc_error_number
"0"
Used as the value of the XML-RPC faultCode element (available since PHP 4.1)
PHP_INI_ALL
  
docref_root
"
(available since PHP 4.3)
PHP_INI_ALL
  
docref_ext
"
(available since PHP 4.3.2)
PHP_INI_ALL
  
error_prepend_string
NULL
Specifies a string to output before an error message
PHP_INI_ALL
  
error_append_string
NULL
Specifies a string to output after an error message
PHP_INI_ALL
  
error_log
NULL
Specifies the name of the file where script errors should be logged. The file should be writable by the web server's user. If the special value syslog is used, the errors are sent to the system logger instead
PHP_INI_ALL


Error and Logging Functions

  
Function
Description
  
debug_backtrace()
Generates a backtrace
  
debug_print_backtrace()
Prints a backtrace
  
error_clear_last()
Clears the last error
  
error_get_last()
Returns the last error that occurred
  
error_log()
Sends an error message to a log, 
to a file, or to a mail account
  
error_reporting()
Specifies which errors are reported
  
restore_error_handler()
Restores the previous error handler
  
restore_exception_handler()
Restores the previous exception handler
  
set_error_handler()
Sets a user-defined error handler function
  
set_exception_handler()
Sets a user-defined exception handler function
  
trigger_error()
Creates a user-level error message
  
user_error()
Alias of trigger_error()


Predefined Error and Logging Constants


  
Value
Constant
Description
  
1
E_ERROR
Fatal run-time errors. Errors that cannot be recovered from. Execution of the script is halted
  
2
E_WARNING
Run-time warnings (non-fatal errors). Execution of the script is not halted
  
4
E_PARSE
Compile-time parse errors. Parse errors should only be generated by the parser
  
8
E_NOTICE
Run-time notices. The script found something that might be an error, but could also happen when running a script normally
  
16
E_CORE_ERROR
Fatal errors at PHP startup. This is like E_ERROR, except it is generated by the core of PHP
  
32
E_CORE_WARNING
Non-fatal errors at PHP startup. This is like E_WARNING, except it is generated by the core of PHP
  
64
E_COMPILE_ERROR
Fatal compile-time errors. This is like E_ERROR, except it is generated by the Zend Scripting Engine
  
128
E_COMPILE_WARNING
Non-fatal compile-time errors. This is like E_WARNING, except it is generated by the Zend Scripting Engine
  
256
E_USER_ERROR
Fatal user-generated error. This is like E_ERROR, except it is generated in PHP code by using the PHP function trigger_error()
  
512
E_USER_WARNING
Non-fatal user-generated warning. This is like E_WARNING, except it is generated in PHP code by using the PHP function trigger_error()
  
1024
E_USER_NOTICE
User-generated notice. This is like E_NOTICE, except it is generated in PHP code by using the PHP function trigger_error()
  
2048
E_STRICT
Enable to have PHP suggest changes to your code which will ensure the best interoperability and forward compatibility of your code (Since PHP 5 but not included in E_ALL until PHP 5.4)
  
4096
E_RECOVERABLE_ERROR
Catchable fatal error. Indicates that a probably dangerous error occurred, but did not leave the Engine in an unstable state. If the error is not caught by a user defined handle, the application aborts as it was an E_ERROR (Since PHP 5.2)
  
8192
E_DEPRECATED
Run-time notices. Enable this to receive warnings about code that will not work in future versions (Since PHP 5.3)
  
16384
E_USER_DEPRECATED
User-generated warning message. This is like E_DEPRECATED, except it is generated in PHP code by using the PHP function trigger_error() (Since PHP 5.3)
  
32767
E_ALL
Enable all PHP errors and warnings (except E_STRICT in versions < 5.4)
  



 PHP Error Reference

Example
Generate a PHP backtrace:

<?php
function a($txt) {
    b("Glenn");
 }
function b($txt) {
 
  c("Cleveland");}
function c($txt) {
 
  var_dump(debug_backtrace());
 }
 a("Peter");
?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The debug_backtrace() function generates a PHP backtrace.
This function displays data from the code that led up to the debug_backtrace() function.
Returns an array of associative arrays. The possible returned elements are: 

  
Name
Type 
Description
  
function
string
The current function name
  
line
integer
The current line number
  
file
string
The current file name
  
class
string
The current class name
  
object
object
The current object
  
type
string
The current call type. Possible calls:
      
Returns: "->"  - Method call
      
Returns: "::"  - Static method call
      
Returns nothing - Function call
  
    
  
args
array
If inside a function, it lists the functions arguments. If inside 
an included file, it lists the included file names 

Syntax

 debug_backtrace(options, limit);

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
options
Optional. Specifies a bitmask for the following options:DEBUG_BACKTRACE_PROVIDE_OBJECT (Whether or not to populate the "object" indexDEBUG_BACKTRACE_IGNORE_ARGS (Whether or not to omit the "args" index, and all the function/method arguments, to save memory)
  
limit
Optional. Limits the number of stack frames printed. By default (limit=0) it prints all stack frames 

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
An array of associative arrays

  
PHP Version:
  
4.3+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.4: The optional parameter limit was addedPHP 5.3.6: The parameter provide_object was changed to options and additional option DEBUG_BACKTRACE_IGNORE_ARGS is addedPHP 5.2.5: The optional parameter provide_object was addedPHP 5.1.1: Added the current object as a possible return element


 PHP Error Reference

 PHP Error Reference

Example
Print a PHP backtrace:

<?php
function a($txt) {
    b("Glenn");
 }
function b($txt) {
 
  c("Cleveland");}
function c($txt) {
 
  debug_print_backtrace();
 }
 a("Peter");
?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The debug_print_backtrace() function prints a PHP backtrace.
This function displays data from the code that led up to the debug_print_backtrace() function.

Syntax

debug_print_backtrace(options, limit);

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
options
Optional. Specifies a bitmask for the following option: DEBUG_BACKTRACE_IGNORE_ARGS (Whether or not to omit the "args" index, and all the function/method arguments, to save memory)
  
limit
Optional. Limits the number of stack frames printed. By default (limit=0) it prints all stack frames 

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
None

  
PHP Version:
  
5.0+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.4: The optional parameter limit was addedPHP 5.3.6: The optional parameter options was added


 PHP Error Reference

 PHP Error Reference

Example
Return the last error that occurred:

<?php
echo $test;
print_r(error_get_last());
?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The error_get_last() function returns the last error that occurred (as an 
associative array).
The associative array contains four keys:
[type] - Describes the error type
[message] - Describes the error message
[file] - Describes the file where the error occurred
[line] - Describes the line where the error occurred

Syntax

error_get_last();

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an associative array describing the last error with keys: type, message, file, and line. Returns NULL if no error has occurred yet

  
PHP Version:
  
5.2+


 PHP Error Reference

 PHP Error Reference

Example
Send error messages to the web server's error log and to a mail account:

<?php
 // Send error message to the server log if error connecting to the databaseif (!mysqli_connect("localhost","bad_user","bad_password","my_db")) {    error_log("Failed to connect to database!", 0);}// Send email to administrator if we run out of FOOif (!($foo = allocate_new_foo())) {    error_log("Oh no! We are out of FOOs!", 1, "admin@example.com");}?>



Definition and Usage
The error_log() function sends an error message to a log, to a file, or to a mail account.

Syntax

 error_log(message, type, destination, headers);

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
message
Required. Specifies the error message to log
  
type
Optional. Specifies where the error message should go.
 Possible values:
    
0 - Default. Message is sent to PHP's system logger,  using the OS' system logging mechanism or a file, depending on what the error_log configuration is set  to in php.ini
    
1 - Message is sent by email to the address in the destination  parameter 
    
2 - No longer in use (only available in PHP 3)
    
3 - Message is appended to the file specified in destination
    
4 - Message is sent directly to the SAPI logging handler
 
    
  
destination
Optional. Specifies the destination of the error message. This value depends on the value of the type parameter
  
headers
Optional. Only used if the type parameter is set to 1. Specifies additional headers, like From, Cc, and Bcc. Multiple headers should be separated with a CRLF (\r\n)

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

  
Binary Safe:
  
No

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.2.7: The value of 4 was added to the type parameter


 PHP Error Reference

 PHP Error Reference

Example
Specify different error level reporting:

<?php
// Turn off error reporting
error_reporting(0);

// Report runtime errors
error_reporting(E_ERROR | E_WARNING | E_PARSE);

// Report all errors
error_reporting(E_ALL);// Same as error_reporting(E_ALL);ini_set("error_reporting", E_ALL);// Report all errors except E_NOTICE
error_reporting(E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE);
?>



Definition and Usage
The error_reporting() function specifies which errors are reported.
PHP has many levels of errors, and using this function sets that level for the current script.

Syntax

error_reporting(level);

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
level
Optional. Specifies the error-report level for the current script. Error numbers and named constants are accepted.
 Note: Named constants are recommended to ensure compatibility for future PHP versions

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the old error reporting level or the current error reporting level if no level parameter is given

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.4: E_STRICT is now a part of E_ALL.PHP 5.3: New: E_DEPRECATED 
  and E_USER_DEPRECATED.PHP 5.2: New: E_RECOVERABLE_ERROR.PHP 5.0: New: 
  E_STRICT.


 PHP Error Reference

 PHP Error Reference

Example
Restore the previous error handler after changing it with the set_error_handler() 
function:

<?php
// A user-defined error handler function
function myErrorHandler($errno, $errstr, $errfile, $errline) {
 
  echo "<b>Custom error:</b> [$errno] $errstr<br>";
    echo " Error on line $errline in $errfile<br>";
 }

// Set user-defined error handler function
set_error_handler("myErrorHandler");

$test=2;

// Trigger error
if ($test>1) {
    trigger_error("A custom error has been triggered");
 }

// Restore previous error handler
restore_error_handler();

// Trigger error again
if ($test>1) {
    trigger_error("A custom error has been triggered");
 }?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The restore_error_handler() function restores the previous error handler.
This function is used to restore the previous error handler after changing 
it with the set_error_handler() function. 
Tip: The previous error handler could be the built-in error handler or 
a user-defined error handler function.

Syntax

restore_error_handler();

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Always TRUE

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0.1+


 PHP Error Reference

 PHP Error Reference

Example
Restore exception handler example:

<?php// Two user-defined exception handler functions
function myException1($exception)
{
   
echo "[" . __FUNCTION__ . "]" . $exception->getMessage();
}
function myException2($exception)
{
   
echo "[" . __FUNCTION__ . "]" . $exception->getMessage();
}

set_exception_handler("myException1");set_exception_handler("myException2");
 restore_exception_handler();
 // Throw exceptionthrow new Exception("This triggers the first exception handler...");
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The restore_exception_handler() function restores the previous exception handler.
This function is used to restore the previous exception handler after changing 
it with the set_exception_handler() function. 
Tip: The previous exception handler could be the built-in exception handler or 
a user-defined exception handler function.

Syntax

restore_exception_handler();

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Always TRUE

  
PHP Version:
  
5.0+


 PHP Error Reference

 PHP Error Reference

Example
Set a user-defined error handler function with the set_error_handler() 
function, and trigger an error (with trigger_error()):

<?php
// A user-defined error handler function
function myErrorHandler($errno, $errstr, $errfile, $errline) {
 
  echo "<b>Custom error:</b> [$errno] $errstr<br>";
    echo " Error on line $errline in $errfile<br>";
 }

// Set user-defined error handler function
set_error_handler("myErrorHandler");

$test=2;

// Trigger error
if ($test>1) {
    trigger_error("A custom error has been triggered");
 }
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The set_error_handler() function sets a user-defined error handler function.
Note: The standard PHP error handler is completely bypassed if this function is used,
and the user-defined error handler must terminate the script, die(), if necessary.
Note: If errors occur before the script is executed the custom error handler cannot be used since it is not registered at that time.

Syntax

 set_error_handler(errorhandler, E_ALL | E_STRICT)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
errorhandler
Required. Specifies the name of the function to be run at errors
  
E_ALL|E_STRICT
Optional. Specifies on which error report level the user-defined error will be shown. Default is "E_ALL"

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
A string that contains the previously defined error handler

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0.1+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.5: The parameter errorhandler now accepts NULLPHP 5.2: The error handler must return FALSE to populate $php_errormsg

 PHP Error Reference

 PHP Error Reference

Example
Set a user-defined exception handler function:

<?php// A user-defined exception handler function
function myException($exception)
{
   
echo "<b>Exception:</b> ", $exception->getMessage();
}

// Set user-defined exception handler function
set_exception_handler("myException");
 // Throw exceptionthrow new Exception("Uncaught exception occurred!");
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The set_exception_handler() function sets a user-defined exception handler function.
The script will stop executing after the exception handler is called.

Syntax

set_exception_handler(exceptionhandler);

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
exceptionhandler
Required. Specifies the name of the function to be run when an uncaught exception occurs. NULL can be passed instead, to reset this handler to its default state
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
A string that contains the previously defined exception handler, or NULL on error or if no previous handler was defined

  
PHP Version:
  
5.0+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
Previously, if NULL was passed then this function returned TRUE. It returns the previous handler since PHP 5.5

 PHP Error Reference

 PHP Error Reference

Example
If $usernum > 10, trigger an error:

<?php
if ($usernum>10) {
    trigger_error("Number cannot be larger than 10");
 }
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The trigger_error() function creates a user-level error message.
The trigger_error() function can be used with 
the built-in error handler, or with a user-defined function set by the
set_error_handler() function.

Syntax

trigger_error(message, type)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
message
Required. Specifies the error message for this error. Max 1024 bytes in length
  
type
Optional. Specifies the error type for this error. Possible values:
 
    
E_USER_ERROR
    
E_USER_WARNING
    
E_USER_NOTICE (this is default)
 
   

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
FALSE if wrong error type is specified, TRUE otherwise

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0.1+

 PHP Error Reference

Filesystem Introduction
The filesystem functions allow you to access and manipulate the filesystem.

Installation
The filesystem functions are part of the PHP core. There is no installation 
needed to use these functions.

Unix / Windows Compatibility
When specifying a path on Unix platforms, a forward slash (/) is used as directory separator.
On Windows platforms, both 
forward slash (/) and backslash (\) can be used.

Runtime Configuration
The behavior of the filesystem functions is affected by settings in php.ini.


  
Name
Default
Description
Changeable
  
allow_url_fopen
"1"
Allows fopen()-type functions to work with URLs
PHP_INI_SYSTEM 
  
allow_url_include
"0"
(available since PHP 5.2)
PHP_INI_SYSTEM
  
user_agent
NULL
Defines the user agent for PHP to send (available since PHP 4.3)
PHP_INI_ALL
  
default_socket_timeout
"60"
Sets the default timeout, in seconds, for socket based streams (available since PHP 4.3) 
PHP_INI_ALL
  
from
"
Defines the email address to be used on unauthenticated FTP connections 
    and in the From header for HTTP connections when using ftp and http wrappers
PHP_INI_ALL
  
auto_detect_line_endings
"0"
When set to "1", PHP will examine the data read by fgets() and file() to see if it is using Unix, MS-Dos or Mac line-ending characters (available since PHP 4.3)
PHP_INI_ALL
  
sys_temp_dir
"
(available since PHP 5.5)
PHP_INI_SYSTEM


Filesystem Functions

  
Function
Description
  
basename()
Returns the filename component of a path
  
chgrp()
Changes the file group
  
chmod()
Changes the file mode
  
chown()
Changes the file owner
  
clearstatcache()
Clears the file status cache
  
copy()
Copies a file
  
delete()
See unlink()
  
dirname()
Returns the directory name component of a path
  
disk_free_space()
Returns the free space of a filesystem or disk
  
disk_total_space()
Returns the total size of a filesystem or disk
  
diskfreespace()
Alias of disk_free_space()
  
fclose()
Closes an open file
  
feof()
Checks if the "end-of-file" (EOF) has been reached for an open file
  
fflush()
Flushes buffered output to an open file
  
fgetc()
Returns a single character from an open file
  
fgetcsv()
Returns a line from an open CSV file
  
fgets()
Returns a line from an open file
  
fgetss()
Deprecated from PHP 7.3. Returns a line from an open file - stripped 
    from HTML and PHP tags
  
file()
Reads a file into an array
  
file_exists()
Checks whether or not a file or directory exists
  
file_get_contents()
Reads a file into a string
  
file_put_contents()
Writes data to a file
  
fileatime()
Returns the last access time of a file
  
filectime()
Returns the last change time of a file
  
filegroup()
Returns the group ID of a file
  
fileinode()
Returns the inode number of a file
  
filemtime()
Returns the last modification time of a file
  
fileowner()
Returns the user ID (owner) of a file
  
fileperms()
Returns the file's permissions
  
filesize()
Returns the file size
  
filetype()
Returns the file type
  
flock()
Locks or releases a file
  
fnmatch()
Matches a filename or string against a specified pattern
  
fopen()
Opens a file or URL
  
fpassthru()
Reads from the current position in a file - until EOF, and writes the result 
    to the output buffer
  
fputcsv()
Formats a line as CSV and writes it to an open file
  
fputs()
Alias of fwrite()
  
fread()
Reads from an open file (binary-safe)
  
fscanf()
Parses input from an open file according to a specified format
  
fseek()
Seeks in an open file
  
fstat()
Returns information about an open file
  
ftell()
Returns the current position in an open file
  
ftruncate()
Truncates an open file to a specified length
  
fwrite()
Writes to an open file (binary-safe)
  
glob()
Returns an array of filenames / directories matching a specified pattern
  
is_dir()
Checks whether a file is a directory
  
is_executable()
Checks whether a file is executable
  
is_file()
Checks whether a file is a regular file
  
is_link()
Checks whether a file is a link
  
is_readable()
Checks whether a file is readable
  
is_uploaded_file()
Checks whether a file was uploaded via HTTP POST
  
is_writable()
Checks whether a file is writable
  
is_writeable()
Alias of is_writable()
  
lchgrp()
Changes the group ownership of a symbolic link
  
lchown()
Changes the user ownership of a symbolic link
  
link()
Creates a hard link
  
linkinfo()
Returns information about a hard link
  
lstat()
Returns information about a file or symbolic link
  
mkdir()
Creates a directory
  
move_uploaded_file()
Moves an uploaded file to a new location
  
parse_ini_file()
Parses a configuration file
  
parse_ini_string()
Parses a configuration string
  
pathinfo()
Returns information about a file path
  
pclose()
Closes a pipe opened by popen()
  
popen()
Opens a pipe
  
readfile()
Reads a file and writes it to the output buffer
  
readlink()
Returns the target of a symbolic link
  
realpath()
Returns the absolute pathname
  
realpath_cache_get()
Returns realpath cache entries
  
realpath_cache_size()
Returns realpath cache size
  
rename()
Renames a file or directory
  
rewind()
Rewinds a file pointer
  
rmdir()
Removes an empty directory
  
set_file_buffer()
Alias of stream_set_write_buffer(). Sets the buffer size for write 
    operations on the given file
  
stat()
Returns information about a file
  
symlink()
Creates a symbolic link
  
tempnam()
Creates a unique temporary file
  
tmpfile()
Creates a unique temporary file
  
touch()
Sets access and modification time of a file
  
umask()
Changes file permissions for files
  
unlink()
Deletes a file




PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Return filename from the specified path:

<?php
$path = "/testweb/home.php";

//Show filenameecho basename($path) ."<br/>";

//Show filename, but cut off file extension for ".php" files
echo basename($path,".php");
?> 

The output of the code above will be:

home.php
home



Definition and Usage
The basename() function returns the filename from a path.

Syntax

basename(path, suffix)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
path
Required. Specifies a file path
  
suffix
Optional. A file extension.
 If the filename has this file extension, the file extension will be cut off
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The filename of the specified path

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Change the usergroup to "admin" for the "test.txt" file:

<?php
chgrp("test.txt","admin")
?>



Definition and Usage
The chgrp() function changes the usergroup of the specified file.

Syntax

chgrp(file, group)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
file
Required. Specifies the path to the file to change user group for
  
group
Required. Specifies the new group name or number
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+


PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Change permissions for the "test.txt" file:

<?php
// Read and write for owner, nothing for everybody else
chmod("test.txt",0600);

// Read and write for owner, read for everybody else
chmod("test.txt",0644);

// Everything for owner, read and execute for everybody else
chmod("test.txt",0755);

// Everything for owner, read for owner's group
chmod("test.txt",0740);
?> 



Definition and Usage
The chmod() function changes permissions of the specified file.

Syntax

chmod(file, mode)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
file
Required. Specifies the path to the file
  
mode
Required. Specifies the new permissions.The mode parameter consists of four numbers:
 
    
The first number is always zero
    
The second number specifies permissions for the owner
    
The third number specifies permissions for the owner's user group
    
The fourth number specifies permissions for everybody else
 
 Possible values (to set multiple permissions, add up the following numbers):
 
    
1 = execute permissions
    
2 = write permissions
    
4 = read permissions
 
  
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+


PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Change owner for the "test.txt" file:

<?php
chown("test.txt","charles")
?> 



Definition and Usage
The chown() function changes the owner of the specified file.

Syntax

chown(file, owner)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
file
Required. Specifies the path to the file to change owner for
  
owner
Required. Specifies the new owner. Can be a user name or a user ID.
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+


PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Output file size, truncate file, clear cache, and then output file size again:

<?php
//output filesize
echo filesize("test.txt");
echo "<br />";

$file = fopen("test.txt", "a+");
// truncate file
ftruncate($file,100);
fclose($file);

//Clear cache and check filesize again
clearstatcache();
echo filesize("test.txt");
?>

The output of the code above could be:

792
100



Definition and Usage
The clearstatcache() function clears the file status cache.
PHP caches data for some functions for better performance. If a file is 
to be checked several times in a script, you probably want to avoid caching to get 
correct results. To do this, use the clearstatcache() function.

Syntax

clearstatcache(clear_realpath_cache, filename)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
clear_realpath_cache
Optional. Indicates whether to clear the realpath cache or not. Default 
    is FALSE, which indicates not to clear realpath cache
  
filename
Optional. Specifies a filename, and clears the realpath and cache for 
    that file only
  

Tips and Notes
Tip: Functions that are caching:
stat()
lstat()
file_exists()
is_writable()
is_readable()
is_executable()
is_file()
is_dir()
is_link()
filectime()
fileatime()
filemtime()
fileinode()
filegroup()
fileowner()
filesize()
filetype()
fileperms()

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Nothing

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.3 - Added two optional parameters: clear_realpath_cahe and
  filename 


PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Copy "source.txt" to "target.txt":

<?php
echo copy("source.txt","target.txt");
?> 



Definition and Usage
The copy() function copies a file.
Note: If the to_file file already exists, it will be overwritten.

Syntax

copy(from_file, to_file, context)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
from_file
Required. Specifies the path to the file to copy from
  
to_file
Required. Specifies the path to the file to copy to
  
context
Optional. Specifies a context resource created with 
    stream_context_create()
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.3 - Added context parameter

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Definition and Usage
There is no delete() function in PHP.
If you need to delete a file, look at the
unlink() function.

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Return the path of the parent directory:

<?php
echo dirname("c:/testweb/home.php") . "<br />";echo dirname("c:/testweb/home.php", 
  2) . "<br />";
echo dirname("/testweb/home.php");
?> 

The output of the code above will be:

c:/testwebc:
/testweb



Definition and Usage
The dirname() function returns the path of the parent directory.

Syntax

dirname(path, levels)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
path
Required. Specifies a path to check
  
levels
Optional. An integer that specifies the number of parent directories to 
    go up. Default is 1
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The path of the parent directory on success

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

  
Binary Safe:
  
Yes, in PHP 5.0 

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 7.0 - Added the levels parameter


PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Return the free space, in bytes, of the C: directory:

<?php
echo disk_free_space("C:");
?> 

The output of the code above could be:

109693288448



Definition and Usage
The disk_free_space() function returns the free space, in bytes, of the specified filesystem or disk.
Tip: Look at the disk_total_space()
to get the total size of a filesystem or disk.

Syntax

disk_free_space(directory)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
directory
Required. Specifies the filesystem or disk to check
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The number of free space (in bytes) on success, FALSE on 
 failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.1+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Return the total size, in bytes, of the C: directory:

<?php
echo disk_total_space("C:");
?> 

The output of the code above could be:

119990349824



Definition and Usage
The disk_total_space() function returns the total size, in bytes, of the 
specified filesystem or disk.
Tip: Look at the
disk_free_space() to get the 
free space of a filesystem or disk. 

Syntax

disk_total_space(directory)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
directory
Required. Specifies the filesystem or disk to check
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The number of total size (in bytes) on success, FALSE on 
 failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.1+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Definition and Usage
The diskfreespace() function is an alias of the
disk_free_space() function.

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Open and close file "test.txt":

<?php
$file = fopen("test.txt", "r");
fclose($file);
?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The fclose() function closes an open file.
Note: The file must have been opened by 
fopen() or fsockopen().

Syntax

fclose(file)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
file
Required. Specifies the file to close
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success, FALSE on 
 failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Open file, read lines - until EOF is reached:

<?php
$file = fopen("test.txt", "r");
  //Output lines until EOF is reached
while(! feof($file)) {  $line = fgets($file);  echo $line. "<br>";}

fclose($file);
?> 

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The feof() function checks if the "end-of-file" (EOF) has been reached 
for an open file.
Tip: This function is useful for looping through data of unknown length.

Syntax

feof(file)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
file
Required. Specifies an open file to check
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if EOF is reached or an error occurs, FALSE 
 otherwise

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Write all buffered output to the open file:

<?php
 $file = fopen("test.txt","r+");
  rewind($file);fwrite($file, 'Hello World');fflush($file);
  fclose($file);?> 



Definition and Usage
The fflush() function writes all buffered output to an open file.

Syntax

fflush(file)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
file
Required. Specifies the open file to write the buffered output to
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success, FALSE on 
 failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0.1+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Read one character from the open file:

<?php
$file = fopen("test.txt","r");
echo fgetc($file);
fclose($file);
?> 

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The fgetc() function returns a single character from an open file.
Note: This function is slow and should not be used on large files. If 
you need to read one character at a time from a large file, use 
fgets() to read 
data one line at a time and then process the line one single character at a time with fgetc().

Syntax

fgetc(file)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
file
Required. Specifies the open file to return a single character from
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
A single character read from the file on success, FALSE on 
 EOF

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

  
Binary Safe:
  
Yes


More Examples

Example
Read open file, character by character:

<?php
$file = fopen("test.txt","r");
while (! feof($file)) {
  echo fgetc($file);
  }
fclose($file);
?>

Run Example »

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Read and output one line from the open CSV file:

<?php
$file = fopen("contacts.csv","r");
print_r(fgetcsv($file));
fclose($file);
?> 

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The fgetcsv() function parses a line from an open file, checking for CSV fields.
Tip: Also see the fputcsv() function.
Syntax

fgetcsv(file, length, separator, enclosure)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
file
Required. Specifies the open file to return and parse a line from
  
length
Optional. Specifies the maximum length of a line. Must be greater than the longest line (in characters) in the CSV file. Omitting this parameter (or setting it to 0) the line length is not limited, which is slightly slower. Note: This parameter is required in versions prior to PHP 5
  
separator
Optional. Specifies the field separator. Default is comma ( , )
  
enclosure
Optional. Specifies the field enclosure character. Default is "
  
escape
Optional. Specifies the escape character. Default is "\\"
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
An array with the CSV fields on success, NULL if an 
 invalid file is supplied, FALSE on other errors and on EOF

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

  
Binary Safe:
  
Yes, in PHP 4.3.5

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.3 - Added the escape parameter


More Examples

Example
Read and output the entire contents of a CSV file:

<?php
$file = fopen("contacts.csv","r");

while(! feof($file))
  {
  print_r(fgetcsv($file));
  }

fclose($file);
?> 

Run Example »

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Read one line from the open file:

<?php
$file = fopen("test.txt","r");
echo fgets($file);
fclose($file);
?> 

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The fgets() function returns a line from an open file.

Syntax

fgets(file, length)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
file
Required. Specifies the open file to return a line from
  
length
Optional. Specifies the number of bytes to read. Reading stops when 
    length-1 bytes have been reached, or when a new line occurs, or on 
    EOF. If no length is specified, it reads until end of the line
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
A single line read from the file on success, FALSE on 
 EOF or error

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

  
Binary Safe:
  
Yes, in PHP 4.3


More Examples

Example
Read open file, line by line:

<?php
$file = fopen("test.txt","r");

while(! feof($file))
  {
  echo fgets($file). "<br />";
  }

fclose($file);
?> 

Run Example »

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Read one line from the open HTML file (strip tags):

<?php
$file = fopen("test.htm","r");
echo fgetss($file);
fclose($file);
?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The fgetss() function returns a line from an open file - stripped from HTML and PHP tags.

Note: The fgetss() function is deprecated from PHP 7.3.

Syntax

fgetss(file, length, tags)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
file
Required. Specifies the open file to return a line from
  
length
Optional. Specifies the number of bytes to read. Reading stops when 
    length-1 bytes have been reached, or a when a new line occurs, or on 
    EOF. Note: This parameter is required in versions prior to PHP 5
  
tags
Optional. Specifies which tags that will not be removed
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
A single line read from the file on success, FALSE on 
 EOF or error

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Read a file into an array:

<?php
print_r(file("test.txt"));
?> 

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The file() reads a file into an array.
Each array element contains a line from the file, with the newline character still attached.

Syntax

file(filename, flag, context)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
filename
Required. Specifies the path to the file to read
  
flag

    Optional. Can be one or more of the following constants:
    
      
FILE_USE_INCLUDE_PATH - Search for the file in the include_path (in php.ini)
      
FILE_IGNORE_NEW_LINES - Skip the newline at the end of each array 
      element
      
FILE_SKIP_EMPTY_LINES - Skip empty lines in the file
    
    
  
context
Optional. Specifies the context of the file handle. Context is a set of options that can modify the behavior of a stream. Can be skipped by using NULL.
 

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The entire file in an array, FALSE 
 on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

  
Binary Safe:
  
Yes, in PHP 4.3


PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Check whether a file exists:

<?php
echo file_exists("test.txt");
?> 

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The file_exists() function checks whether a file or directory exists.
Note: The result of this function is cached. Use 
clearstatcache() to 
clear the cache.

Syntax

file_exists(path)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
path
Required. Specifies the path to the file or directory to check
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if the file or directory exists, FALSE 
 on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Read a file into a string:

<?php
echo file_get_contents("test.txt");
?> 

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The file_get_contents() reads a file into a string.
This function is the preferred way to read the contents of a file into 
a string. It will use memory mapping techniques, if this is supported by the server, to enhance performance.

Syntax

file_get_contents(path, include_path, context, start,
  max_length)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
path
Required. Specifies the path to the file to read
  
include_path
Optional. Set this parameter to '1' if you want to search for the file in the include_path (in php.ini) as well
  
context
Optional. Specifies the context of the file handle. Context is a set of options that can modify the behavior of a stream. Can be skipped by using NULL.
  
start
Optional. Specifies where in the file to start reading. Negative values 
    count from the end of the file
  
max_length
Optional. Specifies the maximum length of data read. Default is read to 
    EOF
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The entire file in a string, FALSE 
 on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.3+

  
Binary Safe:
  
Yes, in PHP 4.3

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 7.1 - Support for negative values in start parameterPHP 
  5.1 - Added the start and max_length parameters

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Write data to a file:

<?php
echo file_put_contents("test.txt","Hello World. Testing!");
?> 

The output of the code above will be:

21


Definition and Usage
The file_put_contents() writes data to a file.
This function follows these rules when accessing a file:
If FILE_USE_INCLUDE_PATH is set, check the include path for a copy of filename
Create the file if it does not exist
Open the file
Lock the file if LOCK_EX is set
If FILE_APPEND is set, move to the end of the file. Otherwise, clear the file content
Write the data into the file
Close the file and release any locks

Note: Use FILE_APPEND to avoid deleting the existing content of the 
file.

Syntax

file_put_contents(filename, data, mode, context)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
filename
Required. Specifies the path to the file to write to. If the file does not exist, this function will create one 
  
data
Required. The data to write to the file. Can be a string, array, or a data stream
  
mode
Optional. Specifies how to open/write to the file. Possible values:
    
FILE_USE_INCLUDE_PATH - search for filename in the include directory
    
FILE_APPEND - if file already exists, append the data to it - instead of 
    overwriting it
    
LOCK_EX - Put an exclusive lock on the file while writing to it
 
  
  
context
Optional. Specifies the context of the file handle. Context is a set of options that can modify the behavior of a stream.
 

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The number of bytes written into the file on success, FALSE 
 on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.0+

  
Binary Safe:
  
Yes

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 
  5.1 - Added support for LOCK_EX and the ability to pass a stream resource to 
  the data parameter

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Get last access time of "webdictionary.txt":

<?php
echo fileatime("webdictionary.txt");
echo "<br>";
echo "Last access: ".date("F d Y H:i:s.", fileatime("webdictionary.txt"));
?>
Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The fileatime() function returns the last access time of the specified file.
Note: The result of this function is cached. Use 
clearstatcache() to 
clear the cache.
Note: The atime of a file changes each time the data of a file are 
being read. This can decrease the performance if an application accesses a  
large number of files or directories. Some Unix systems have access time updates disabled 
to increase performance. In this case this function is useless.

Syntax

fileatime(filename)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
filename
Required. Specifies the path to the file to check
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The last access time as a Unix timestamp on success, 
 FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Get last change time of "webdictionary.txt":

<?php
echo filectime("webdictionary.txt");
echo "<br>";
echo "Last changed: ".date("F d Y H:i:s.", filectime("webdictionary.txt"));
?>
Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The filectime() function returns the last time a file was changed.
This function checks for inode changes as well as regular changes. Inode 
changes is when permissions, owner, group or other metadata is changed.
Tip: Use the filemtime() function to return the last time the file 
content was changed.
Note: The result of this function is cached. Use 
clearstatcache() to 
clear the cache.

Syntax

filectime(filename)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
filename
Required. Specifies the path to the file to check
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The last change time as a Unix timestamp on success, 
 FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Return the group ID of "test.txt":

<?php
echo filegroup("test.txt");
?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The filegroup() function returns the group ID of a file.
Tip: Use the posix_getgrgid() function to convert the group ID to a group name.
Note: The result of this function is cached. Use 
clearstatcache() to 
clear the cache.

Syntax

filegroup(filename)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
filename
Required. Specifies the path to the file to check
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The group ID for the file on success, 
 FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Return the file inode of "test.txt":

<?php
echo fileinode("test.txt");
?> 

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The fileinode() function returns the inode of the specified file.
Note: The result of this function is cached. Use 
clearstatcache() to 
clear the cache.

Syntax

fileinode(filename)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
filename
Required. Specifies the path to the file to check
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The inode number of the file on success, 
 FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+


PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Get the last time the file content was modified:

<?php
echo filemtime("webdictionary.txt");
echo "<br>";
echo "Content last changed: ".date("F d Y H:i:s.", filemtime("webdictionary.txt"));
?>
Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The filemtime() function returns the last time the file content was modified.
Note: The result of this function is cached. Use 
clearstatcache() to 
clear the cache.

Syntax

filemtime(filename)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
filename
Required. Specifies the path to the file to check
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The last time the file content was modified as a Unix timestamp, 
 FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Return the user ID (owner) of "test.txt":

<?php
echo fileowner("test.txt");
?> 

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The fileowner() function returns the user ID (owner) of the specified file.
Tip: Use posix_getpwuid() to convert the user ID to a user name.
Note: The result of this function is cached. Use 
clearstatcache() to clear the cache.

Syntax

fileowner(filename)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
filename
Required. Specifies the path to the file to check
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The user ID of the owner of the file on success, 
 FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Return the file permissions for "test.txt":

<?php
echo fileperms("test.txt");
?> 

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The fileperms() function returns the permissions for a file.
Note: The result of this function is cached. Use 
clearstatcache() to clear the cache.

Syntax

fileperms(filename)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
filename
Required. Specifies the path to the file to check
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The file's permissions as a number, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+


More Examples

Example
Display permissions as an octal value:

<?php
echo substr(sprintf("%o",fileperms("test.txt")),-4);
?> 

Run Example »

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Return the file size for "test.txt":

<?php
echo filesize("test.txt");
?> 

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The filesize() function returns the size of a file.
Note: The result of this function is cached. Use 
clearstatcache() to clear the cache.

Syntax

filesize(filename)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
filename
Required. Specifies the path to the file to check
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The file size in bytes on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Return the file type for "test.txt":

<?php
echo filetype("test.txt");
?> 

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The filetype() function returns the file type of a file.
Possible return values:
fifo
char
dir
block
link
file
socket
unknown

Note: The result of this function is cached. Use 
clearstatcache() to clear the cache.

Syntax

filetype(filename)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
filename
Required. Specifies the file to check
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
One of the file types on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+


More Examples

Example
Return the file type for /images/:

<?php
echo filetype("/images/");
?> 

Run Example »

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Lock and release a file:

<?php
$file = fopen("test.txt","w+");

// exclusive lock
if (flock($file,LOCK_EX)) {
  fwrite($file,"Add some text to the file.");  
  fflush($file);
  // release lock
  flock($file,LOCK_UN);
  }
else {
  echo "Error locking file!";
  }
fclose($file);
?>



Definition and Usage
The flock() function locks and releases a file.

Syntax

flock(file, lock, block)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
file
Required. Specifies an open file to lock or release
  
lock
Required. Specifies what kind of lock to use.Possible values:
 
    
LOCK_SH - A shared lock (reader). Allow other processes to access the  file
    
LOCK_EX - An exclusive lock (writer). Prevent other  processes from accessing the file
    
LOCK_UN - Release the lock
    
LOCK_NB - Avoid blocking other processes while locking
 
  
  
block
Optional. Set to 1 to block other processes while locking
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.5: Added support for the block parameter on WindowsPHP 
  5.3: Removed automatic unlocking on fclose(). Unlocking must now be done 
  manually

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Checking a color name against a shell wildcard pattern:

<?php
$txt = "My car is a dark color";
if (fnmatch("*col[ou]r",$txt))
  {
  echo "hmm...";
  }
?>



Definition and Usage
The fnmatch() function checks if a string or filename matches the given shell 
wildcard pattern.

Syntax

fnmatch(pattern, string, flags)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
pattern
Required. Specifies the shell wildcard pattern
  
string
Required. Specifies the string or file to check
  
flags
Optional. Can be one or a combination of the following:
    
      
FNM_NOESCAPE - Disable backslash escaping
      
FNM_PATHNAME - Slash in string only matches slash in the 
      given pattern
      
FNM_PERIOD - Leading period in string must be exactly matched 
      by period in pattern
      
FNM_CASEFOLD - Caseless match. Part of the GNU extension
      
    
    
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.3+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 
  5.3: Now available on Windows platforms

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Open file, read lines - until EOF is reached:

<?php
$file = fopen("test.txt", "r");
  //Output lines until EOF is reached
while(! feof($file)) {  $line = fgets($file);  echo $line. "<br>";}

fclose($file);
?> 

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The fopen() function opens a file or URL.
Note: When writing to a text file, be sure to use the correct 
line-ending character! Unix systems use \n, Windows systems use \r\n, and Macintosh 
systems use \r as the line ending character.
Windows offers a translation flag ('t') which will translate \n to \r\n when working with the file. 
You can also use 'b' to force binary mode. To use 
these flags, specify either 'b' or 't' as the last character of the mode parameter.

Syntax

fopen(filename, mode, include_path, context)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
filename
Required. Specifies the file or URL to open
  
mode
Required. Specifies the type of access you require to the file/stream.Possible values:
 
    
"r" - Read only. Starts at the beginning of the file
    
"r+" - Read/Write. Starts at the beginning of the file
    
"w" - Write only. Opens and truncates the file; or creates a new  file if it doesn't exist. 
    Place file pointer at the beginning of the file
    
"w+" - Read/Write. Opens and truncates the file; or creates a new  file if it doesn't exist. 
    Place file pointer at the beginning of the file
    
"a" - Write only. Opens and writes to the end of the file or 
    creates a new file if it doesn't exist
    
"a+" - Read/Write. Preserves file content by writing to the 
    end of the file
    
"x" - Write only. Creates a new file. Returns FALSE and an 
    error if file already exists
    
"x+" - Read/Write. Creates a new file. Returns FALSE and an 
    error if file already exists
    
"c" - Write only. Opens the file; or creates a new  file if it doesn't exist. 
    Place file pointer at the beginning of the file
    
"c+" - Read/Write. Opens the file; or creates a new  file if it doesn't exist. 
    Place file pointer at the beginning of the file
    
"e" - Only available in PHP compiled on POSIX.1-2008 conform systems. 
 
  
  
include_path
Optional. Set this parameter to '1' if you want to search for the file in the include_path (in php.ini) as well
  
context
Optional. Specifies the context of the file handle. Context is a set of options that can modify the behavior of a stream
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success, FALSE and an error on failure. You can 
 hide the error by adding an "@" in front of the function name.

  
PHP Version:
  
4.3+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 
  7.1: Added "e" optionPHP 
  5.2: Added "c" and "c+" options

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Read from the current position in file - until EOF, and then write the 
remaining data to the output buffer:

<?php
$file = fopen("test.txt","r");
// Read first line
fgets($file);

// Read from the current position in file 
  - until EOF, and then write the result to the output buffer
echo fpassthru($file);

fclose($file);
?> 

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The fpassthru() function reads from the current position in a file - until EOF, and 
then writes the result to the output buffer.

Note: When using fpassthru() on a binary file on Windows, remember to open the file in binary mode.
Tip: Call rewind() to set the file pointer to the beginning of 
the file if you have already written to the file.
Tip: To just dump the contents of a file to the output buffer, use the
readfile() function instead.

Syntax

fpassthru(file)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
file
Required. Specifies the open file to read from
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The number of characters read from the file and passed 
 through the output or FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Format a line as CSV and writes it to an open file:

<?php
$list = array
(
  array("Peter", "Griffin" ,"Oslo", "Norway"),
  array("Glenn", "Quagmire", "Oslo", "Norway")
);

$file = fopen("contacts.csv","w");
foreach ($list as $line) {
  fputcsv($file, $line);
  }
  fclose($file);?> 



Definition and Usage
The fputcsv() function formats a line as CSV and writes it to an open file.
Tip: Also see the fgetcsv() function.

Syntax

fputcsv(file, fields, separator, enclosure,
  escape)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
file
Required. Specifies the open file to write to
  
fields 
Required. Specifies which array to get the data from
  
separator
Optional. A character that specifies the field separator. Default is comma ( , )
  
enclosure
Optional. A character that specifies the field enclosure character. Default is "
  
escape
Optional. Specifies the escape character. Default is "\\". Can also 
    be an empty string (") which disables the escape mechanism
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The length of the written string on success, FALSE on 
 failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.1+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 7.4 - The escape parameter now accepts an empty string to 
  disable the escape mechanism PHP 5.5 - Added the escape parameter

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Definition and Usage
The fputs() function is an alias of the fwrite() function.
PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Read 10 bytes from an open file:

<?php
$file = fopen("test.txt","r");
fread($file,"10");
fclose($file);
?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The fread() reads from an open file.
The function will stop at the end of the file or when it reaches the specified length, whichever comes first.

Syntax

fread(file, length)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
file
Required. Specifies the open file to read from
  
length
Required. Specifies the maximum number of bytes to read
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The read string, FALSE on 
 failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

  
Binary Safe:
  
Yes


More Examples

Example
Read entire file:

<?php
$file = fopen("test.txt","r");
fread($file,filesize("test.txt"));
fclose($file);
?>

Run Example »

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Definition and Usage
The fscanf() function parses the input from an open file according to the specified format.
Note: Any whitespace in the format string matches any whitespace in the input 
stream. This means that a tab (\t) in the format string can match a single space 
character in the input stream.

Syntax

fscanf(file, format, mixed)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
file
Required. Specifies the file to check
  
format
Required. Specifies the format.Possible format values:
%% - Returns a percent sign
%b - Binary number
%c - The character according to the ASCII value
%d - Signed decimal number
%e - Scientific notation (e.g. 1.2e+2)
%u - Unsigned decimal number
%f - Floating-point number (local settings aware)
%F - Floating-point number (not local settings aware)
%o - Octal number
%s - String
%x - Hexadecimal number (lowercase letters)
%X - Hexadecimal number (uppercase letters)

 Additional format values. These are placed between the % and the letter (example %.2f):
 
+ (Forces both + and - in front of numbers. By default, only negative numbers are marked)
    
' (Specifies what to use as padding. Default is space. Must be used  together with the width specifier.  Example: %'x20s (this uses "x" as padding)
    
- (Left-justifies the variable value)
    
[0-9] (Specifies the minimum width held of to the variable value)
    
.[0-9] (Specifies the number of decimal digits or maximum string length)
 
 Note: If multiple additional format values are used, they must be in the same order as above.
  
mixed
Optional.
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The read string, FALSE on 
 failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0.1+


PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Read first line from the open file, then move the file pointer back to the 
beginning of the file:

<?php
$file = fopen("test.txt","r");// Read first line
echo fgets($file);// Move back to beginning of filefseek($file,0);
fclose($file);
?> 

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The fseek() function seeks in an open file.
This function moves the file pointer from its current position to a new 
position, forward or backward, specified by the number of bytes.
Tip: You can find the current position by using ftell()!

Syntax

fseek(file, offset, whence)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
file
Required. Specifies the open file to seek in
  
offset
Required. Specifies the new position (measured in bytes from the beginning of the file)
  
whence
Optional. Possible values:
    
SEEK_SET - Set position equal to offset. Default
    
SEEK_CUR - Set position to current location plus offset
    
SEEK_END - Set position to EOF plus offset (to move  to a position before EOF, the offset must be a negative value)
 
  
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
0 on success, otherwise -1

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Return information about the open file:

<?php
$file = fopen("test.txt","r");print_r(fstat($file));
fclose($file);
?> 

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The fstat() function returns information about an open file.
Note: The results from this function will differ from server to server. The array 
may contain the number index, the name index, or both.
Tip: This function is similar to stat(), except that with this function the file must be open.

Syntax

fstat(file)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
file
Required. Specifies the open file to check
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
An array with information about the open file:
 
[0] or [dev] - Device number
[1] or [ino] - Inode number
[2] or [mode] - Inode protection mode
[3] or [nlink] - Number of links
[4] or [uid] - User ID of owner
[5] or [gid] - Group ID of owner
[6] or [rdev] - Inode device type
[7] or [size] - Size in bytes
[8] or [atime] - Last access (as Unix timestamp)
[9] or [mtime] - Last modified (as Unix timestamp)
[10] or [ctime] - Last inode change (as Unix timestamp)
[11] or [blksize] - Blocksize of filesystem IO (if supported)
[12] or [blocks] - Number of blocks allocated



  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Return the current position of the read/write pointer in an open file:

<?php
$file = fopen("test.txt","r");// Print current position
echo ftell($file);

// Change current position
fseek($file,"15");

// Print current position again
echo "<br>" . ftell($file);
fclose($file);
?> 

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The ftell() function returns the current position of the read/write pointer in an open file.

Syntax

ftell(file)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
file
Required. Specifies the open file to check
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The file pointer position, or FALSE on failure.

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Truncates an open file to the specified length (100 bytes):

<?php
// Check filesize
echo filesize("test.txt");
echo "<br>";

$file = fopen("test.txt", "a+");
ftruncate($file,100);
fclose($file);

// Clear cache and check filesize again
clearstatcache();
echo filesize("test.txt");
?> 

The output of the code above will be:

792
100



Definition and Usage
The ftruncate() function truncates an open file to the specified length.

Syntax

ftruncate(file, size)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
file
Required. Specifies the open file to truncate
  
size
Required. Specifies the new file size
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success, or FALSE on failure.

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Write to an open file:

<?php
$file = fopen("test.txt","w");
echo fwrite($file,"Hello World. Testing!");
fclose($file);
?> 

The output of the code above will be:

21



Definition and Usage
The fwrite() writes to an open file.
The function will stop at the end of the file (EOF) or when it reaches the specified length, whichever comes first.

Syntax

fwrite(file, string, length)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
file
Required. Specifies the open file to write to
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to write to the open file
  
length
Optional. Specifies the maximum number of bytes to write
 

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The number of bytes written, FALSE on 
 failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

  
Binary Safe:
  
Yes

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Return an array of filenames or directories that matches the specified pattern:

<?php
print_r(glob("*.txt"));
?> 

The output of the code above could be:

Array
(
 
[0] => target.txt
 
[1] => source.txt
 
[2] => test.txt
 
[3] => test2.txt
)



Definition and Usage
The glob() function returns an array of filenames or directories matching a specified pattern.

Syntax

glob(pattern, flags)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
pattern
Required. Specifies the pattern to search for
  
flags
Optional. Specifies special settings.Possible values:
 
    
GLOB_MARK - Adds a slash to each item returned
    
GLOB_NOSORT - Return files as they appear in the directory (unsorted)
    
GLOB_NOCHECK - Returns the search pattern if no match were found
    
GLOB_NOESCAPE - Backslashes do not quote metacharacters
    
GLOB_BRACE - Expands {a,b,c} to match 'a', 'b', or 'c'
    
GLOB_ONLYDIR - Return only directories which match the pattern
    
GLOB_ERR - (added in PHP 5.1) Stop on errors (errors are ignored by  default)
 
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
An array of files/directories that matches the pattern, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.3+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.1: GLOB_ERR value added to the flags parameter

More Examples

Example
Return an array of filenames or directories that matches the specified pattern:

<?php
print_r(glob("*.*"));
?> 

The output of the code above could be:

Array
(
 
[0] => contacts.csv
 
[1] => default.php
 
[2] => target.txt
 
[3] => source.txt
 
[4] => tem1.tmp
 
[5] => test.htm
 
[6] => test.ini
 
[7] => test.php
 
[8] => test.txt
 
[9] => test2.txt
)



PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Check whether the specified filename is a directory:

<?php
$file = "images";
if(is_dir($file)) {
  echo ("$file is a directory");
  }
else {
  echo ("$file is not a directory");
  }
?> 

The output of the code above could be:

images is a directory



Definition and Usage
The is_dir() function checks whether the specified filename is a directory.
Note: The result of this function is cached. Use
clearstatcache() to clear the cache.

Syntax

is_dir(file)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
file
Required. Specifies the path to the file to check
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if the directory exists, FALSE otherwise

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Check whether the specified filename is executable:

<?php
$file = "setup.exe";
if(is_executable($file)) {
  echo ("$file is executable");
  }
else {
  echo ("$file is not executable");
  }
?>

The output of the code above could be:

setup.exe is executable



Definition and Usage
The is_executable() function checks whether the specified filename is executable.
Note: The result of this function is cached. Use
clearstatcache() to 
clear the cache.

Syntax

is_executable(file)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
file
Required. Specifies the path to the file to check
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if the file is executable, FALSE and an E_WARNING on 
 failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Check whether the specified filename is a regular file:

<?php
$file = "test.txt";
if(is_file($file)) {
  echo ("$file is a regular file");
  } else {
  echo ("$file is not a regular file");
  }
?> 

The output of the code above could be:

test.txt is a regular file



Definition and Usage
The is_file() function checks whether the specified filename is a regular file.
Note: The result of this function is cached. Use
clearstatcache() to clear the cache. 

Syntax

is_file(file)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
file
Required. Specifies the path to the file to check
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if the file is a regular file, FALSE otherwise

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Check whether the specified filename is a symbolic link:

<?php
$link = "images";
if(is_link($link)) {
  echo ("$link is a link");
  } else {
  echo ("$link is not a link");
  }
?> 

The output of the code above could be:

images is not a link



Definition and Usage
The is_link() function checks whether the specified filename is a symbolic link.
Note: The result of this function is cached. Use
clearstatcache() to clear the cache.

Syntax

is_link(file)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
file
Required. Specifies the path to the file to check
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if the file is a symbolic link, FALSE and an 
 E_WARNING otherwise

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Check whether the specified filename is readable:

<?php
$file = "test.txt";
if(is_readable($file)) {
  echo ("$file is readable");
  } else {
  echo ("$file is not readable")}
?> 

The output of the code above could be:

test.txt is readable



Definition and Usage
The is_readable() function checks whether the specified filename is readable.
Note: The result of this function is cached. Use
clearstatcache() to clear the cache.

Syntax

is_readable(file)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
file
Required. Specifies the path to the file to check
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if the file is readable, FALSE and an 
 E_WARNING otherwise

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Check whether the specified filename is uploaded via HTTP POST:

<?php
$file = "test.txt";
if(is_uploaded_file($file)) {
  echo ("$file is uploaded via HTTP POST");
  } else {
  echo ("$file is not uploaded via HTTP POST");
  }
?> 

The output of the code above could be:

test.txt is not uploaded via HTTP POST



Definition and Usage
The is_uploaded_file() function checks whether the specified file is uploaded via HTTP POST.

Syntax

is_uploaded_file(file)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
file
Required. Specifies the path to the file to check
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if the file is uploaded via HTTP POST, FALSE on 
 failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0.3+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Check whether the specified filename is writable:

<?php
$file = "test.txt";
if(is_writable($file)) {
  echo ("$file is writable");
  }
else {
  echo ("$file is not writable");
  }
?> 

The output of the code above could be:

test.txt is writable



Definition and Usage
The is_writable() function checks whether the specified filename is writable.
Note: The result of this function is cached. Use
clearstatcache() to clear the cache.

Syntax

is_writable(file)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
file
Required. Specifies the path to the file to check
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if the file is writable, an 
 E_WARNING on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+


PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Definition and Usage
The is_writeable() function is an alias of the
is_writable() function.
PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Change the group ownership of a symbolic link:

<?php
  $target = "downloads.php";$link = "downloads";symlink($target, $link);
  lchgrp($link, 8)?> 



Definition and Usage
The lchgrp() function changes the group ownership of a symbolic link.
Note: This is not an HTML link, but a link in the filesystem.
Note: This function does not work on Windows platforms.

Syntax

  lchgrp(file, group)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
file
Required. Specifies the path to the symlink
  
group
Required. Specifies the new group by name or number
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.1.3+


PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Change the user ownership of a symbolic link:

<?php
  $target = "downloads.php";$link = "downloads";symlink($target, $link);
  lchown($link, 8)?> 



Definition and Usage
The lchown() function changes the user ownership of a symbolic link.
Note: This is not an HTML link, but a link in the filesystem.
Note: This function does not work on Windows platforms.

Syntax

  lchown(file, group)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
file
Required. Specifies the path to the symlink
  
group
Required. Specifies the new user by name or number
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.1.3+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Create a hard link:

<?php
  $target = "text.txt";$linkname = "mylink";link($target, $linkname);
  ?> 



Definition and Usage
The link() function creates a hard link.

Syntax

link(target, link)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
target
Required. Specifies the target
  
link
Required. Specifies the name of the link
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.3.0: Now available on Windows platforms

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Verify if a link really exists:

<?php
  echo linkinfo(/rubbish);
  ?> 



Definition and Usage
The linkinfo() function returns information about a hard link, and is used to 
verify if a link really exists.

Syntax

linkinfo(path)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
path
Required. Specifies the path to check
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The device ID returned by lstat system call on success, FALSE 
 or 0 on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.3.0: Now available on Windows platforms

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Get information about a file:

<?php
print_r(lstat("test.txt"));
?> 

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The lstat() function returns information about a file or symbolic link.

Note: The results from this function will differ from server to server. The array 
may contain the number index, the name index, or both.
Note: The result of this function is cached. Use
clearstatcache() to clear the cache.

Tip: This function is similar to stat(), except that if the
filename 
parameter is a symbolic link, the status of the symbolic link is returned.

Syntax

lstat(filename)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
filename
Required. Specifies the path to the file or a symbolic link to check
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 

An array with the following elements:
[0] or [dev] - Device number
[1] or [ino] - Inode number
[2] or [mode] - Inode protection mode
[3] or [nlink] - Number of links
[4] or [uid] - User ID of owner
[5] or [gid] - Group ID of owner
[6] or [rdev] - Inode device type
[7] or [size] - Size in bytes
[8] or [atime] - Last access (as Unix timestamp)
[9] or [mtime] - Last modified (as Unix timestamp)
[10] or [ctime] - Last inode change (as Unix timestamp)
[11] or [blksize] - Blocksize of filesystem IO (if supported)
[12] or [blocks] - Number of blocks allocated

 It returns an E_WARNING on failure 
  

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Create a directory named "test":

<?php
mkdir("test");
  ?> 



Definition and Usage
The mkdir() function creates a directory specified by a pathname.

Syntax

mkdir(path, mode, recursive, context)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
path
Required. Specifies the directory path to create
  
mode
Optional. Specifies permissions. By default, the mode is 0777 (widest possible access).Note: 
    The mode parameters is ignored on Windows platforms!
    The mode parameter consists of four numbers:
 
    
The first number is always zero
    
The second number specifies permissions for the owner
    
The third number specifies permissions for the owner's user group
    
The fourth number specifies permissions for everybody else 
 
 Possible values (to set multiple permissions, add up the following numbers):
 
    
1 = execute permissions
    
2 = write permissions
    
4 = read permissions
 
  
  
recursive
Optional. Specifies if the recursive mode is set (added in PHP 5)
  
context
Optional. Specifies the context of the file handle. Context is a set of options that can modify the behavior of a stream (added in PHP 5)
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Definition and Usage
The move_uploaded_file() function moves an uploaded file to a new destination.
Note: This function only works on files uploaded via PHP's HTTP POST upload mechanism.
Note: If the destination file already exists, it will be overwritten.

Syntax

move_uploaded_file(file, dest)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
file
Required. Specifies the filename of the uploaded file
  
dest
Required. Specifies the new location for the file
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0.3+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Contents of "test.ini":

[names]
me = Robert
you = Peter

[urls]
first = "http://www.example.com"
second = "https://www.w3schools.com"

PHP code:

<?php
print_r(parse_ini_file("test.ini"));
?>

The output of the code above will be:

Array
(
 
[me] => Robert
 
[you] => Peter
 
[first] => http://www.example.com
 
[second] => https://www.w3schools.com
)



Definition and Usage
The parse_ini_file() function parses a configuration (ini) file and returns 
the settings.
Tip: This function can be used to read in your own  
configuration files, and has nothing to do with the php.ini file.
Note: The following reserved words must not be used as keys for ini 
files: null, yes, no, true, false, on, off, none. Furthermore, the following reserved 
characters must not be used in the key: {}|&~!()^".

Syntax

parse_ini_file(file, process_sections, scanner_mode)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
file
Required. Specifies the ini file to parse
  
process_sections
Optional. If set to TRUE, it returns is a multidimensional array with section names and settings included. Default is FALSE
  
scanner_mode

    Optional. Can be one of the following values:
    
      
INI_SCANNER_NORMAL (default)
      
INI_SCANNER_RAW (means option values will not be parsed)
      
INI_SCANNER_TYPED (means that boolean, null and integer types are 
      preserved when possible. "true", "on", "yes" are converted to TRUE. 
      "false", "off", "no", "none" are converted to FALSE. "null" is converted 
      to NULL. Numeric strings are converted to integer type if possible)
    
    
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
An array on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 7.0: Hash marks (#) is no longer recognized as commentsPHP 5.6.1: 
  Added INI_SCANNER_TYPED modePHP 5.3: Added optional scanner_mode parameter

More Examples

Example
Contents of "test.ini":

[names]
me = Robert
you = Peter

[urls]
first = "http://www.example.com"
second = "https://www.w3schools.com"

PHP code (with process_sections set to true):

<?php
print_r(parse_ini_file("test.ini",true));
?>

The output of the code above will be:

Array
(
[names] => Array
  (
  [me] => Robert
  [you] => Peter
  )
[urls] => Array
  (
  [first] => http://www.example.com
  [second] => https://www.w3schools.com
  )
)



PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Parse an ini string:

  $ini = '[names]
me = "Robert"
you = "Peter"

[urls]
first = "http://www.example.com"
second = "https://www.w3schools.com"
  ';print_r(parse_ini_string($ini));
The output of the code above will be:

Array
(
[names] => Array
  (
  [me] => Robert
  [you] => Peter
  )
[urls] => Array
  (
  [first] => http://www.example.com
  [second] => https://www.w3schools.com
  )
)



Definition and Usage
The parse_ini_file() function parses a configuration (ini) string and returns 
the settings.
Tip: This function can be used to read in your own  
configuration files, and has nothing to do with the php.ini file.
Note: The following reserved words must not be used as keys for ini 
files: null, yes, no, true, false, on, off, none. Furthermore, the following reserved 
characters must not be used in the key: {}|&~!()^".

Syntax

parse_ini_string(ini, process_sections, scanner_mode)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
ini
Required. Specifies the ini file to parse
  
process_sections
Optional. If set to TRUE, it returns is a multidimensional array with section names and settings included. Default is FALSE
  
scanner_mode

    Optional. Can be one of the following values:
    
      
INI_SCANNER_NORMAL (default)
      
INI_SCANNER_RAW (means option values will not be parsed)
      
INI_SCANNER_TYPED (means that boolean, null and integer types are 
      preserved when possible. "true", "on", "yes" are converted to TRUE. 
      "false", "off", "no", "none" are converted to FALSE. "null" is converted 
      to NULL. Numeric strings are converted to integer type if possible)
    
    
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
An array on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.3+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Get information about a file path:

<?php
print_r(pathinfo("/testweb/test.txt"));
?>

The output of the code above will be:

Array
(
[dirname] => /testweb
[basename] => test.txt
[extension] => txt
)



Definition and Usage
The pathinfo() function returns information about a file path.
Syntax

pathinfo(path, options)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
path
Required. Specifies the path to be checked
  
options
Optional. Specifies which array element to return. If not specified, it 
    returns all elements.Possible values:
 
    
PATHINFO_DIRNAME - return only dirname
    
PATHINFO_BASENAME - return only basename
    
PATHINFO_EXTENSION - return only extension
    
PATHINFO_FILENAME - return only filename
 
  
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
If the option parameter is omitted, it returns 
 an associative array with dirname, basename, extension, and filename. If the
 option parameter is specified, it returns a string with the requested 
 element. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0.3+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.2: PATHINFO_FILENAME was added


More Examples

Example
Get information about a file path:

<?php
print_r(pathinfo("/testweb/test.txt",PATHINFO_BASENAME));
?>

The output of the code above will be:

test.txt



PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Open and close a pipe to the program specified in the command parameter:

<?php
$file = popen("/bin/ls","r");
//some code to be executed
pclose($file);
?>



Definition and Usage
The pclose() function closes a pipe opened by 
popen().

Syntax

pclose(pipe)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
pipe
Required. Specifies the pipe opened by popen()
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The termination status, -1 on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Open a pipe to the program specified in the command parameter:

<?php
$file = popen("/bin/ls","r");
//some code to be executed
pclose($file);
?>



Definition and Usage
The popen() function opens a pipe to the program specified in the command parameter.

Syntax

popen(command, mode)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
command
Required. Specifies the command to execute
  
mode
Required. Specifies the connection mode. Can be "r" (Read only) or "w" (Write only - opens and clears existing file or creates a new file)
 

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Read a file:

<?php
echo readfile("test.txt");
?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The readfile() function reads a file and writes it to the output buffer.
Tip: You can use a URL as a filename with this function if the fopen 
wrappers have been enabled in the php.ini file.

Syntax

readfile(file, include_path, context)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
file
Required. Specifies the file to read
  
include_path
Optional. Set this parameter to TRUE if you want to search for the file in the include_path (in php.ini) as well
  
context
Optional. Specifies the context of the file handle. Context is a set of options that can modify the behavior of a stream
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The number of bytes read on success, FALSE and an error 
 on failure. You can hide the error message by adding an '@' in front of the 
 function name

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.0: Added context support

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Get the target of a symbolic link:

<?php
echo readlink("/user/testlink");
?> 



Definition and Usage
The readlink() function returns the target of a symbolic link.

Syntax

readlink(linkpath)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
linkpath
Required. Specifies the link path to check
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The target of the link on success, FALSE on failure
  

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.3: readlink() now available on Windows platforms

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Returns the absolute pathname:

<?php
echo realpath("test.txt");
?> 

The output of the code above will be:

C:\Inetpub\testweb\test.txt

Definition and Usage
The realpath() function returns the absolute pathname.
This function removes all symbolic links (like '/./', '/../' and extra '/') 
and returns the absolute pathname.

Syntax

realpath(path)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
path
Required. Specifies the path to check
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The absolute pathname on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.3:PHP 5.2.1:

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Return realpath cache entries:

<?php
  var_dump(realpath_cache_get());
?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The realpath_cache_get() function returns realpath cache entries.

Syntax

realpath_cache_get()

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
An array of realpath cache entries

  
PHP Version:
  
5.3.2+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Return realpath cache size:

<?php
  var_dump(realpath_cache_size());
?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The realpath_cache_size() function returns realpath cache size.

Syntax

realpath_cache_size()

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
How much memory realpath cache is using

  
PHP Version:
  
5.3.2+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Rename a directory + a file:

<?php
rename("images","pictures");rename("/test/file1.txt","/home/docs/my_file.txt");
?> 



Definition and Usage
The rename() function renames a file or directory.

Syntax

rename(old, new, context)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
old
Required. Specifies the file or directory to be renamed
  
new
Required. Specifies the new name for the file or directory
  
context
Optional. Specifies the context of the file handle. Context is a set of options that can modify the behavior of a stream
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.3.1: Allow renaming files across drives in Windows.PHP 5.0: Can 
  be used with some URL wrappers. 

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Rewind the position of the file pointer to the beginning of the file:

<?php
$file = fopen("test.txt","r");

//Change position of file pointer
fseek($file,"15");

//Set file pointer to 0
rewind($file);

fclose($file);
?> 



Definition and Usage
The rewind() function "rewinds" the position of the file pointer to the beginning of the file.

Syntax

rewind(file)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
file
Required. Specifies the open file
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Remove "images" directory:

<?php
$path = "images";
if(!rmdir($path)) {
  echo ("Could not remove $path");
  }
?>



Definition and Usage
The rmdir() function removes an empty directory.

Syntax

rmdir(dir, context)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
dir
Required. Specifies the path to the directory to be removed
  
context
Optional. Specifies the context of the file handle. Context is a set of options that can modify the behavior of a stream
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Create an unbuffered stream:

<?php
$file = fopen("test.txt","w");
if ($file) {
  set_file_buffer($file,0);
  fwrite($file,"Hello World. Testing!");
  fclose($file);
  }
?>



Definition and Usage
The set_file_buffer() function specifies the number of bytes to buffer on the 
given file.
Output using fwrite() is normally buffered at 8K. So, if two processes 
writes to the same file, each will write up to 8K 
before pausing, and allow the other to write. If buffer is 0, write operations are unbuffered 
(meaning that the first write process will be completed before allowing other 
processes to write).
Tip: This function is an alias of stream_set_write_buffer().

Syntax

set_file_buffer(file, buffer)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
file
Required. Specifies a file pointer
  
buffer
Required. Specifies the number of bytes to buffer
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
0 on success, another value if request failed

  
PHP Version:
  
4.3+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Get information about a file:

<?php
  $stat = stat("test.txt");
  echo "Access time: " .$stat["atime"];
echo "<br>Modification time: " .$stat["mtime"];
echo "<br>Device number: " .$stat["dev"];
?> 

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The stat() function returns information about a file.
Note: The results from this function will differ from server to server. The array 
may contain the number index, the name index, or both.
Note: The result of this function is cached. Use
clearstatcache() to clear the cache.

Syntax

stat(filename)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
filename
Required. Specifies the path to the file
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 

An array with the following elements:
[0] or [dev] - Device number
[1] or [ino] - Inode number
[2] or [mode] - Inode protection mode
[3] or [nlink] - Number of links
[4] or [uid] - User ID of owner
[5] or [gid] - Group ID of owner
[6] or [rdev] - Inode device type
[7] or [size] - Size in bytes
[8] or [atime] - Last access (as Unix timestamp)
[9] or [mtime] - Last modified (as Unix timestamp)
[10] or [ctime] - Last inode change (as Unix timestamp)
[11] or [blksize] - Blocksize of filesystem IO (if supported)
[12] or [blocks] - Number of blocks allocated

 It returns an E_WARNING on failure
  

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Create a symbolic link:

<?php
  $target = "downloads.php";$link = "downloads";symlink($target, $link);
  echo readlink($link);
?> 



Definition and Usage
The symlink() function creates a symbolic link from the existing target with the specified name link.
Note: This is not an HTML link, but a link in the filesystem.

Syntax

symlink(target, link)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
target
Required. Specifies the target of the link
  
link
Required. Specifies the link name
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success, FALSE on 
 failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.3: Available on Windows platforms 

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Create a temporary file with a unique name in the specified directory:

<?php
echo tempnam("C:\inetpub\testweb","TMP0");
?> 

The output of the code above could be:

C:\inetpub\testweb\TMP1.tmp

Definition and Usage
The tempnam() function creates a temporary file with a unique name in the specified directory.
Note: If the specified directory does not exist, tempnam() may 
generate a file in the system's temporary directory.
Tip: See also the tmpfile() 
function.

Syntax

tempnam(dir, prefix)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
dir
Required. Specifies the directory of where to create the temp file
  
prefix
Required. Specifies the start of the filename
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The new temporary filename, FALSE on 
 failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
 


PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Create a temporary file with a unique name in read-write (w+) mode:

<?php
$temp = tmpfile();

fwrite($temp, "Testing, testing.");
//Rewind to the start of file
rewind($temp);
//Read 1k from file
echo fread($temp,1024);

//This removes the file
fclose($temp);
?> 

The output of the code above will be:

Testing, testing.

Definition and Usage
The tmpfile() function creates a temporary file with a unique name in read-write (w+) mode.
Note: The file is automatically removed when closed, with fclose() or when the script ends.
Tip: See also the tempnam() 
function.

Syntax

tmpfile()

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
A file handle (similar to the one returned by fopen() for the new file), FALSE on 
 failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Sets the access and modification time of the specified file:

<?php
  filename = "test.txt";if (touch($filename)) {  echo 
  $filename . " modification time has been changed to present time";} else {  
  echo "Sorry, could not change modification time of " . $filename;}
?>



Definition and Usage
The touch() function sets the access and modification time of the specified file.
Note: If the specified file does not exist, it will be created.

Syntax

touch(filename, time, atime)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
filename
Required. Specifies the file to touch
  
time
Optional. Sets the touch time. The current system time is set by default
  
atime
Optional. Sets the access time. Default is the current system time if no parameters are set, or the same as the time parameter if that parameter is set
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success, FALSE on 
 failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.3 - 

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Return the current umask:

<?php
$file = "test.txt";
  echo (umask());
?>



Definition and Usage
The umask() function changes the file permissions for files.
This function sets PHP's umask to mask & 0777 and returns the old 
umask.

Syntax

umask(mask)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
mask
Optional. Specifies the new permissions. Default is 0777
 The mask parameter consists of four numbers:
 
    
The first number is always zero  
    
The second number specifies permissions for the owner  
    
The third number specifies permissions for the owner's user group  
    
The fourth number specifies permissions for everybody else 
 
 Possible values (to set multiple permissions, add up the following numbers):
 
    
1 = execute permissions  
    
2 = write permissions  
    
4 = read permissions 
 
  
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
If you call umask() without any arguments, it returns the current umask, 
 otherwise it returns the old umask

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Filesystem Reference

PHP Filesystem Reference

Example
Delete a file:

<?php
$file = fopen("test.txt","w");
echo fwrite($file,"Hello World. Testing!");
fclose($file);unlink("test.txt");
?>



Definition and Usage
The unlink() function deletes a file.

Syntax

unlink(filename, context)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
filename
Required. Specifies the path to the file to delete
  
context
Optional. Specifies the context of the file handle. Context is a set of options that can modify the behavior of a stream 
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success, FALSE on 
 failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.0 - Added the context parameter

PHP Filesystem Reference

Filter Introduction
This PHP filters is used to validate and filter data coming from insecure sources, 
like user input.

Installation
From PHP 5.2.0, the filter functions are enabled by default. There is no installation 
needed to use these functions.

Runtime Configurations
The behavior of these functions is affected by settings in php.ini:


  
Name
Description
Default
Changeable
    
filter.default
Filter all $_GET, $_POST, $_COOKIE, $_REQUEST and $_SERVER data by this filter. Accepts the name of the filter you like to use by default. See the filter list for the list of the filter names
"unsafe_raw"
PHP_INI_PERDIR
    
  
filter.default_flags
Default flags to apply when the default filter is set. This is set to FILTER_FLAG_NO_ENCODE_QUOTES by default for backwards compatibility reasons
NULL
PHP_INI_PERDIR


Filter Functions

  
Function
Description
  
filter_has_var()
Checks whether a variable of a specified input type exist
  
filter_id()
Returns the filter ID of a specified filter name
  
filter_input()
Gets an external variable (e.g. from form input) and optionally filters it
  
filter_input_array()
Gets external variables (e.g. from form input) and optionally filters them
  
filter_list()
Returns a list of all supported filter names
  
filter_var()
Filters a variable with a specified filter
  
filter_var_array()
Gets multiple variables and filter them
  

Predefined Filter Constants


  
Constant
  
Description
    

  
INPUT_POST
  
POST variables
    
    

  
INPUT_GET
  
GET variables
    
    

  
INPUT_COOKIE
  
COOKIE variables
    
    

  
INPUT_ENV
  
ENV variables
    
  

  
INPUT_SERVER
  
SERVER variables
    
  

  
FILTER_DEFAULT
  
Do nothing, optionally strip/encode special characters. Equivalent to 
  FILTER_UNSAFE_RAW
    
  

  
FILTER_FLAG_NONE
  
Allows no flags
    
  

  
FILTER_FLAG_ALLOW_OCTAL
  
Only for inputs that starts with a zero (0) as octal numbers. This only 
  allows the succeeding digits to be 0-7
    
  

  
FILTER_FLAG_ALLOW_HEX
  
Only for inputs that starts with 0x/0X as hexadecimal numbers. This only 
  allows succeeding characters to be a-fA-F0-9 
    
  

  
FILTER_FLAG_STRIP_LOW
  
Strip characters with ASCII value lower than 32
    
    

  
FILTER_FLAG_STRIP_HIGH
  
Strip characters with ASCII value greater than 127
    
    

  
FILTER_FLAG_ENCODE_LOW
  
Encode characters with ASCII value lower than 32
    
  

  
FILTER_FLAG_ENCODE_HIGH
  
Encode characters with ASCII value greater than 127
    
  

  
FILTER_FLAG_ENCODE_AMP
  
Encode &
    
  

  
FILTER_FLAG_NO_ENCODE_QUOTES
  
Do not encode ' and "
    
    

  
FILTER_FLAG_EMPTY_STRING_NULL
  
Not in use
    
    

  
FILTER_FLAG_ALLOW_FRACTION
  
Allows a period (.) as a fractional separator in numbers
    
    

  
FILTER_FLAG_ALLOW_THOUSAND
  
Allows a comma (,) as a thousands separator in numbers
    
    

  
FILTER_FLAG_ALLOW_SCIENTIFIC
  
Allows an e or E for scientific notation in numbers
    
    

  
FILTER_FLAG_PATH_REQUIRED
  
The URL must contain a path part
    
  

  
FILTER_FLAG_QUERY_REQUIRED
  
The URL must contain a query string
    
  

  
FILTER_FLAG_IPV4
  
Allows the IP address to be in IPv4 format
    
  

  
FILTER_FLAG_IPV6
  
Allows the IP address to be in IPv6 format
    
  

  
FILTER_FLAG_NO_RES_RANGE
  
Fails validation for the reserved IPv4 ranges: 0.0.0.0/8, 169.254.0.0/16, 
  127.0.0.0/8 and 240.0.0.0/4, and for the reserved IPv6 ranges: ::1/128, 
  ::/128, ::ffff:0:0/96 and fe80::/10
    
  

  
FILTER_FLAG_NO_PRIV_RANGE
  
Fails validation for the private IPv4 ranges: 10.0.0.0/8, 172.16.0.0/12 
  and 192.168.0.0/16, and for the IPv6 addresses starting with FD or FC
    
  

  
FILTER_FLAG_EMAIL_UNICODE
  
Allows the local part of the email address to contain Unicode characters
    
    

  
FILTER_REQUIRE_SCALAR
  
The value must be a scalar
    
  

  
FILTER_REQUIRE_ARRAY
  
The value must be an array
    
  

  
FILTER_FORCE_ARRAY
  
Treats a scalar value as array with the scalar value as only element
    
  

  
FILTER_NULL_ON_FAILURE
  
Return NULL on failure for unrecognized boolean values
    
    

  
FILTER_VALIDATE_BOOLEAN
  
Validates a boolean
    
  
FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL
  
Validates value as a valid e-mail address
    
  

  
FILTER_VALIDATE_FLOAT
  
Validates value as float
    
  

  
FILTER_VALIDATE_INT
  
Validates value as integer
    

  
FILTER_VALIDATE_IP
  
Validates value as IP address
    
  

  
FILTER_VALIDATE_MAC
  
Validates value as MAC address
  

  
FILTER_VALIDATE_REGEXP
  
Validates value against a regular expression
  

  
FILTER_VALIDATE_URL
  
Validates value as URL
    

  
FILTER_SANITIZE_EMAIL
  
Removes all illegal characters from an e-mail address
    
  

  
FILTER_SANITIZE_ENCODED
  
Removes/Encodes special characters
    
  

  
FILTER_SANITIZE_MAGIC_QUOTES
  
Apply addslashes()
    
  

  
FILTER_SANITIZE_NUMBER_FLOAT
  
Remove all characters, except digits, +- signs, and optionally .,eE
    
  

  
FILTER_SANITIZE_NUMBER_INT
  
Removes all characters except digits and + - signs
    
  

  
FILTER_SANITIZE_SPECIAL_CHARS
  
Removes special characters
    
  

  
FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING
  
Removes tags/special characters from a string
  

  
FILTER_SANITIZE_STRIPPED
  
Alias of FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING
  

  
FILTER_SANITIZE_URL
  
Removes all illegal character from s URL
  

  
FILTER_UNSAFE_RAW
  
Do nothing, optionally strip/encode special characters
  
FILTER_CALLBACK
  
Call a user-defined function to filter data




PHP Filter Reference

Example
Check if the input variable "email" is sent to the PHP page, 
through the 
"get" method:

 <?phpif (!filter_has_var(INPUT_GET, "email")) {    echo("Email not found");} else {    echo("Email found");}?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The filter_has_var() function checks whether a variable of a specified input type exist.
This function checks the content received by the PHP page, so the variable 
must be sent to the page via e.g a querystring.

Syntax

 filter_has_var(type, variable)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
type
Required. The input type to check for. Can be one of the following:
  
      
INPUT_GET
      
INPUT_POST
      
INPUT_COOKIE
      
INPUT_SERVER
      
INPUT_ENV
  
  
  
variable
Required. The variable name to check

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
 TRUE on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.2+


Complete PHP Filter Reference

PHP Filter Reference

Example
Return the filter ID of the VALIDATE_EMAIL filter:

 <?php$echo(filter_id("validate_email"));?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The filter_id() function returns filter ID of a specified filter name.

Syntax

 filter_id(filter_name)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
filter_name
Required. The filter name to get the id from. Tip: Use 
    
  filter_list() to list all available filters
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The filter ID on success, FALSE if filter does not exist

  
PHP Version:
  
5.2+


More Examples

Example
Here, the filter_id() and the filter_list() functions are used to list the ID 
and filter name of all 
filters:

 <table>  <tr>    <td>Filter Name</td>    <td>Filter ID</td>  </tr>  <?php  foreach (filter_list() as $id =>$filter) {    echo '<tr><td>' . $filter . '</td><td>' . filter_id($filter) . '</td></tr>';  }?>
 </table>

Try it Yourself »

PHP Filter Reference

PHP Filter Reference

Example
Check if the external variable "email" is sent to the PHP page, 
through the 
"get" method, and also check if it is a valid email address:

 <?phpif (!filter_input(INPUT_GET, "email", FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL)) {    echo("Email is not valid");} else {    echo("Email is valid");}?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The filter_input() function gets an external variable (e.g. from form input) and optionally filters it.
This function is used to validate variables from insecure sources, such as user input.

Syntax

 filter_input(type, variable, filter, options)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
type
Required. The input type to check for. Can be one of the following:
  
      
INPUT_GET
      
INPUT_POST
      
INPUT_COOKIE
      
INPUT_SERVER
      
INPUT_ENV
  
  
  
variable
Required. The variable name to check
  
filter
Optional. Specifies the ID or name of the filter to use. Default is FILTER_DEFAULT, which results in no filtering
  
options
Optional. Specifies one or more flags/options to use. Check each filter for possible options and flags

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The value of the variable on success, FALSE on failure, or NULL if the variable is not set  

  
PHP Version:
  
5.2+


Complete PHP Filter Reference

PHP Filter Reference

Example
Use the filter_input_array() function to filter three POST variables. 
The received POST variables is name, age and e-mail:

<?php
$filters = array (
  "name" => array ("filter"=>FILTER_CALLBACK,
                             "flags"=>FILTER_FORCE_ARRAY,
                             "options"=>"ucwords"
                        
   ),
  "age"   => array ( "filter"=>FILTER_VALIDATE_INT,
                         
    "options"=>array("min_range"=>1,"max_range"=>120)
                        
   ),
  "email" => FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL
  );
print_r(filter_input_array(INPUT_POST, $filters));
?>

The output of the code above will be:

Array
  (
  [name] => Peter
  [age] => 41
  [email] => peter@example.com
  )



Definition and Usage
The filter_input_array() function gets external variables (e.g. from form input) and optionally filters them.
This function is useful for retrieving/filtering many values instead of 
calling filter_input() many times.

Syntax

filter_input_array(type, definition, add_empty)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
type
Required. The input type to check for. Can be one of the following:
  
      
INPUT_GET
      
INPUT_POST
      
INPUT_COOKIE
      
INPUT_SERVER
      
INPUT_ENV
  
  
  
definition
Optional. Specifies an array of filter arguments. A valid array key is a variable name, and a valid value is a filter name or ID, or an array specifying the filter, flags and options. This parameter can also be a single filter name/ID; then all values in the input array are filtered by the specified filter
  
add_empty
Optional. A Boolean value. TRUE adds missing keys as NULL to the return value. Default value is TRUE
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
An array with the values of the variables on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.2+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.4 - The add_empty parameter was added


Complete PHP Filter Reference

PHP Filter Reference

Example
List all supported filter names:

 <?phpprint_r(filter_list());?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The filter_list() function returns a list of all the supported filter names.

Syntax

filter_list()

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
An array of all supported filter names, an empty array if there are no filter 
 names

  
PHP Version:
  
5.2+


More Examples

Example
Here, the filter_id() and the filter_list() functions are used to list the ID and filter name of all filters:

 <table>  <tr>    <td>Filter Name</td>    <td>Filter ID</td>  </tr>  <?php  foreach (filter_list() as $id =>$filter) {    echo '<tr><td>' . $filter . '</td><td>' . filter_id($filter) . '</td></tr>';  }?>
 </table>

Try it Yourself »

PHP Filter Reference

PHP Filter Reference

Example
Check if $email is a valid email address:

 <?php$email = "john.doe@example.com";if (filter_var($email, FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL)) {  echo("$email is a valid email address");} else {  echo("$email is not a valid email address");}?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The filter_var() function filters a variable with the specified filter.

Syntax

 filter_var(var, filtername, options)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
var
Required. The variable to filter
  
filtername
Optional. Specifies the ID or name of the filter to use. Default is FILTER_DEFAULT, which results in no filtering 
  
options
Optional. Specifies one or more flags/options to use. Check each filter for possible options and flags
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the filtered data on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.2+


More Examples
The example below both sanitizes and validates an email address:

Example
First remove illegal characters from $email, then check if it is a valid email address:

 <?php$email = "john.doe@example.com";// Remove all illegal characters from email$email = filter_var($email, FILTER_SANITIZE_EMAIL);
 // Validate e-mailif (filter_var($email, FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL)) {    echo("$email is a valid email address");} else {    echo("$email is not a valid email address");
 }?>

Try it Yourself »

PHP Filter Reference

PHP Filter Reference

Example
Use the filter_var_array() function to get multiple variables:

<?php
$data = array(
  'fullname' => 'Peter Griffin',
  'age' => '41',
  'email' => 'peter@example.com',
  );
  $mydata = filter_var_array($data);
  var_dump($mydata);
  ?>

The output of the code should be:

  array(3) {  ["fullname"]=>  string(13) "Peter Griffin"  
  ["age"]=>  string(2) "41"  ["email"]=>  string(17) 
  "peter@example.com"}



Definition and Usage
The filter_var_array() function gets multiple variables and optionally filters them.
This function is useful for filtering many values without calling filter_var() many times.
Tip: Check the PHP Filter 
Reference for possible filters to use with this function.

Syntax

filter_var_array(data_array, args, add_empty)

Parameter Values

  

  
Parameter
  
Description
  
data_array
Required. Specifies an array with string keys  containing the data to filter
  
args
Optional. Specifies an array of filter arguments. A valid array key is a 
    variable name and a valid value is a filter ID, or an array specifying the 
    filter, flags and option. This parameter can also be a single filter ID, if so,
    all values in the input array are filtered by the specified filter.
    A filter ID can be an ID name (like FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL) or an ID number (like 274)
  
add_empty
Optional. A Boolean value. TRUE adds missing keys as NULL to the return value. Default value is TRUE
 
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
An array of values of the requested variables on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.2+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.4 - The add_empty parameter was added

Complete PHP Filter Reference

FTP Introduction
The FTP functions give client access to file servers through the File 
Transfer Protocol (FTP).
The FTP functions are used to open, login and close connections, as well as 
upload, download, rename, delete, and get information on files from file 
servers. Not all of the FTP functions will work with every server or return the 
same results. The FTP functions became available with PHP 3.
If you only 
wish to read from or write to a file on an FTP server, consider using the ftp:// 
wrapper with the Filesystem functions which provide a simpler and more intuitive 
interface.

Installation
For these functions to work, you have to compile PHP with --enable-ftp.
The Windows version of PHP has built-in support for this extension.
FTP Functions

  
Function
Description
  
ftp_alloc()
Allocates space for a file to be uploaded to the FTP server
  
ftp_cdup()
Changes to the parent directory on the FTP server
  
ftp_chdir()
Changes the current directory on the FTP server
  
ftp_chmod()
Sets permissions on a file via FTP
  
ftp_close()
Closes an FTP connection
  
ftp_connect()
Opens an FTP connection
  
ftp_delete()
Deletes a file on the FTP server
  
ftp_exec()
Executes a command on the FTP server
  
ftp_fget()
Downloads a file from the FTP server and saves it into an open local file
  
ftp_fput()
Uploads from an open file and saves it to a file on the FTP server
  
ftp_get()
Downloads a file from the FTP server
  
ftp_get_option()
Returns runtime options of the FTP connection
  
ftp_login()
Logs in to the FTP connection
  
ftp_mdtm()
Returns the last modified time of a specified file
  
ftp_mkdir()
Creates a new directory on the FTP server
  
ftp_mlsd()
Returns the list of files in the specified directory
  
ftp_nb_continue()
Continues retrieving/sending a file (non-blocking)
  
ftp_nb_fget()
Downloads a file from the FTP server and saves it into an open file (non-blocking)
  
ftp_nb_fput()
Uploads from an open file and saves it to a file on the FTP server (non-blocking)
  
ftp_nb_get()
Downloads a file from the FTP server (non-blocking)
  
ftp_nb_put()
Uploads a file to the FTP server (non-blocking)
  
ftp_nlist()
Returns a list of files in the specified directory on the FTP server
  
ftp_pasv()
Turns passive mode on or off
  
ftp_put()
Uploads a file to the FTP server
  
ftp_pwd()
Returns the current directory name
  
ftp_quit()
Alias of ftp_close()
  
ftp_raw()
Sends a raw command to the FTP server
  
ftp_rawlist()
Returns a list of files with file information from a specified directory
  
ftp_rename()
Renames a file or directory on the FTP server
  
ftp_rmdir()
Deletes an empty directory on the FTP server
  
ftp_set_option()
Sets runtime options for the FTP connection
  
ftp_site()
Sends an FTP SITE command to the FTP server
  
ftp_size()
Returns the size of the specified file
  
ftp_ssl_connect()
Opens a secure SSL-FTP connection
  
ftp_systype()
Returns the system type identifier of the FTP server


Predefined FTP Constants

  
Constant
Type
Description
  
FTP_ASCII
Integer
 
  
FTP_AUTOSEEK
Integer
 
  
FTP_AUTORESUME
Integer
 
  
FTP_BINARY
Integer
 
  
FTP_FAILED
Integer
Asynchronous transfer has failed
  
FTP_FINISHED
Integer
Asynchronous transfer is completed
  
FTP_IMAGE
Integer
Alias of FTP_BINARY
  
FTP_MOREDATA
Integer
Asynchronous transfer is in progress
  
FTP_TEXT
Integer
Alias of FTP_ASCII
  
FTP_TIMEOUT_SEC
Integer
The timeout used for network operations
  
FTP_USEPASVADDRESS
Boolean
 
  



PHP FTP Reference

Example
Allocate space for a file and upload the file to the FTP server:

<?php// connect and login to FTP server
 $ftp_server = "ftp.example.com";$ftp_conn = ftp_connect($ftp_server) or die("Could not connect to $ftp_server");$login = ftp_login($ftp_conn, $ftp_username, $ftp_userpass);$file = "/test/myfile";// allocate spaceif (ftp_alloc($ftp_conn, filesize($file), $result))  {  echo "Space allocated on server. Sending $file.";  ftp_put($ftp_conn, "/files/myfile", $file, FTP_BINARY);  }else  {  echo "Error! Server said: $result";  }// close connectionftp_close($ftp_conn);?>

Definition and Usage
The ftp_alloc() function allocates space for a file to be uploaded to the FTP server.
Note: Many FTP servers do not support this command!

Syntax

ftp_alloc(ftp_conn, filesize, result);

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
ftp_conn
Required. Specifies the FTP connection to use
  
filesize
Required. Specifies the number of bytes to allocate
  
result
Optional. Specifies a variable to store the server response in

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


PHP FTP Reference

PHP FTP Reference

Example
Output current directory name, then change to parent directory:

<?php// connect and login to FTP server
 $ftp_server = "ftp.example.com";$ftp_conn = ftp_connect($ftp_server) or die("Could not connect to $ftp_server");$login = ftp_login($ftp_conn, $ftp_username, $ftp_userpass);// change the current directory to php
 ftp_chdir($ftp_conn, "php");
 // change to the parent directoryif (ftp_cdup($ftp_conn))  {   echo "Successfully changed to parent directory.";  }
 else  {  echo "cdup failed.";  }// output current directory nameecho ftp_pwd($ftp_conn);// close connectionftp_close($ftp_conn);?>

Definition and Usage
The ftp_cdup() function changes to the parent directory on the FTP server.

Syntax

ftp_cdup(ftp_conn);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
ftp_conn
Required. Specifies the FTP connection to use
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
 TRUE on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP FTP Reference

PHP FTP Reference

Example
Change directory, then output directory name:

<?php// connect and login to FTP server
 $ftp_server = "ftp.example.com";$ftp_conn = ftp_connect($ftp_server) or die("Could not connect to $ftp_server");$login = ftp_login($ftp_conn, $ftp_username, $ftp_userpass);// change the current directory to phpftp_chdir($ftp_conn, "php");// output current directory name (/php)
 echo ftp_pwd($ftp_conn);
 // close connectionftp_close($ftp_conn);?>

Definition and Usage
The ftp_chdir() function changes the current directory on the FTP server.

Syntax

ftp_chdir(ftp_conn, directory);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
ftp_conn
Required. Specifies the FTP connection to use
  
directory
Required. Specifies the directory to change to
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
 TRUE on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP FTP Reference

PHP FTP Reference

Example
Set file permissions:

<?php// connect and login to FTP server
 $ftp_server = "ftp.example.com";$ftp_conn = ftp_connect($ftp_server) or die("Could not connect to $ftp_server");$login = ftp_login($ftp_conn, $ftp_username, $ftp_userpass);$file = "php/test.txt";
 // Try to set read and write for owner and read for everybody else
 if (ftp_chmod($ftp_conn, 0644, $file) !== false)  {  echo "Successfully chmoded $file to 644.";  }else  {  echo "chmod failed.";  }
 // close connectionftp_close($ftp_conn);?>

Definition and Usage
The ftp_chmod() function sets permissions on the specified file via FTP.

Syntax

ftp_chmod(ftp_conn, mode, file);

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
ftp_conn
Required. Specifies the FTP connection to use
  
mode
Required. Specifies the new permissions.This parameter consists of four numbers:
 
    
The first number is always zero
    
The second number specifies permissions for the OWNER
    
The third number specifies permissions for the OWNER's USER GROUP
    
The fourth number specifies permissions for EVERYBODY ELSE
 
 Possible values (to set multiple permissions, add up the following numbers):
 
    
1 = execute permissions
    
2 = write permissions
    
4 = read permissions
 
  
  
file
Required. Specifies the file to set permissions on
 
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The new file permissions on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


PHP FTP Reference

PHP FTP Reference

Example
Connect, login, and close an FTP connection:

<?php// connect and login to FTP server
 $ftp_server = "ftp.example.com";$ftp_conn = ftp_connect($ftp_server) or die("Could not connect to $ftp_server");$login = ftp_login($ftp_conn, $ftp_username, $ftp_userpass);// then do something...// close connectionftp_close($ftp_conn);?>

Definition and Usage
The ftp_close() function closes an FTP connection.

Syntax

ftp_close(ftp_conn);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
ftp_conn
Required. Specifies the FTP connection to close

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
 TRUE on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.2+


PHP FTP Reference

PHP FTP Reference

Example
Connect, login, and close an FTP connection:

<?php// connect and login to FTP server
 $ftp_server = "ftp.example.com";$ftp_conn = ftp_connect($ftp_server) or die("Could not connect to $ftp_server");$login = ftp_login($ftp_conn, $ftp_username, $ftp_userpass);// then do something...// close connectionftp_close($ftp_conn); ?>

Definition and Usage
The ftp_connect() function opens an FTP connection to the specified host.
When the connection is open, you can run FTP functions against the server. 

Syntax

ftp_connect(host, port, timeout);

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
host
Required. Specifies the FTP server to connect to. Can be a domain address or an IP address. This parameter should not be prefixed with "ftp://" or have any trailing slashes
  
port
Optional. Specifies the port of the FTP server. Default is port 21
  
timeout
Optional. Specifies the timeout for all subsequent network operations. Default is 90 seconds

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
An FTP stream on success or FALSE on error

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
The timeout parameter was added in PHP 4.2.0


PHP FTP Reference

PHP FTP Reference

Example
Delete a file on the FTP server:

<?php// connect and login to FTP server
 $ftp_server = "ftp.example.com";$ftp_conn = ftp_connect($ftp_server) or die("Could not connect to $ftp_server");$login = ftp_login($ftp_conn, $ftp_username, $ftp_userpass);$file = "php/test.txt";// try to delete fileif (ftp_delete($ftp_conn, $file))  {  echo "$file deleted";  }else  {  echo "Could not delete $file";  }// close connectionftp_close($ftp_conn);?>

Definition and Usage
The ftp_delete() function deletes a file on the FTP server.

Syntax

ftp_delete(ftp_conn, file);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
ftp_conn
Required. Specifies the FTP connection to use
  
file
Required. Specifies the path of the file to delete

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP FTP Reference

PHP FTP Reference

Example
Request for execution of a command on the FTP server:

<?php// connect and login to FTP server
 $ftp_server = "ftp.example.com";$ftp_conn = ftp_connect($ftp_server) or die("Could not connect to $ftp_server");$login = ftp_login($ftp_conn, $ftp_username, $ftp_userpass);$command = "ls-al > somefile.txt";
 // execute command
if (ftp_exec($ftp_conn,$command))
  {
  echo "$command executed successfully.";
  }
else
  {
  echo "Execution of $command failed.";
  }
 
 // close connectionftp_close($ftp_conn);?>

Definition and Usage
The ftp_exec() function requests for execution of a command on the FTP server.

Syntax

ftp_exec(ftp_conn, command);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
ftp_conn
Required. Specifies the FTP connection to use
  
command
Required. Specifies the command to execute

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if the command was executed successfully; FALSE otherwise

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0.3+


PHP FTP Reference

PHP FTP Reference

Example
Download a file from the FTP server, and save it to an open local file:

<?php// connect and login to FTP server
 $ftp_server = "ftp.example.com";$ftp_conn = ftp_connect($ftp_server) or die("Could not connect to $ftp_server");$login = ftp_login($ftp_conn, $ftp_username, $ftp_userpass);$server_file = "somefile.txt";// open local file to write to$local_file = "local.txt";$fp = fopen($local_file,"w");// download server file and save it to open local fileif (ftp_fget($ftp_conn, $fp, $server_file, FTP_ASCII, 0))  {  echo "Successfully written to $local_file.";  }else  {  echo "Error downloading $server_file.";  }// close connection and file handlerftp_close($ftp_conn);fclose($fp);?>

Definition and Usage
The ftp_fget() function gets (downloads) a file from the FTP server, and saves it into an open local file.

Syntax

ftp_fget(ftp_conn, open_file, server_file, mode, startpos);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
ftp_conn
Required. Specifies the FTP connection to use
  
open_file
Required. Specifies an open local file in which we store the data
  
server_file
Required. Specifies the server file to download
  
mode
Optional. Specifies the transfer mode. Possible values: FTP_ASCII or FTP_BINARY
  
startpos
Optional. Specifies the position in the remote file to start downloading from

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
 TRUE on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 7.3 - The mode parameter was made optional.PHP 4.3 - The startpos 
  parameter was added.


PHP FTP Reference

PHP FTP Reference

Example
Open local file, and upload it to a file on the FTP server:

<?php
 // connect and login to FTP server
 $ftp_server = "ftp.example.com";$ftp_conn = ftp_connect($ftp_server) or die("Could not connect to $ftp_server");$login = ftp_login($ftp_conn, $ftp_username, $ftp_userpass);// open file for reading$file = "test.txt";$fp = fopen($file,"r");// upload fileif (ftp_fput($ftp_conn, "somefile.txt", $fp, FTP_ASCII))  {  echo "Successfully uploaded $file.";  }else  {  echo "Error uploading $file.";  }// close this connection and file handlerftp_close($ftp_conn);
 fclose($fp);?>

Definition and Usage
The ftp_fput() function uploads from an open file and saves it to a file on the FTP server.

Syntax

ftp_fput(ftp_conn, remote_file, open_file, mode, startpos);

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
ftp_conn
Required. Specifies the FTP connection to use
  
remote_file
Required. Specifies the file path to upload to
  
open_file
Required. Specifies an open local file. Reading stops at end of file
  
mode
Optional. Specifies the transfer mode. Possible values: FTP_ASCII or FTP_BINARY
  
startpos
Optional. Specifies the position in the remote file to start uploading to

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
 TRUE on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 7.3 - The mode parameter was made optional.PHP 4.3 - The startpos 
  parameter was added.


PHP FTP Reference

PHP FTP Reference

Example
Download a file from the FTP server, and save it into a local file: 

<?php// connect and login to FTP server
 $ftp_server = "ftp.example.com";$ftp_conn = ftp_connect($ftp_server) or die("Could not connect to $ftp_server");$login = ftp_login($ftp_conn, $ftp_username, $ftp_userpass);$local_file = "local.zip";$server_file = "server.zip";// download server fileif (ftp_get($ftp_conn, $local_file, $server_file, FTP_ASCII))  {  echo "Successfully written to $local_file.";  }else  {  echo "Error downloading $server_file.";  }// close connectionftp_close($ftp_conn);?>

Definition and Usage
The ftp_get() function gets (downloads) a file from the FTP server, and saves it into a local file.

Syntax

ftp_get(ftp_conn, local_file, server_file, mode, startpos);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
ftp_conn
Required. Specifies the FTP connection to use
  
local_file
Required. Specifies the local file path (will be overwritten if the file already exists)
  
server_file
Required. Specifies the server file to download
  
mode
Optional. Specifies the transfer mode. Possible values: FTP_ASCII or FTP_BINARY
  
startpos
Optional. Specifies the position in the remote file to start downloading from

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
 TRUE on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 7.3 - The mode parameter was made optional.PHP 4.3 - The startpos 
  parameter was added.


PHP FTP Reference

PHP FTP Reference

Example
Return the timeout used for network operations:

<?php// connect and login to FTP server
 $ftp_server = "ftp.example.com";$ftp_conn = ftp_connect($ftp_server) or die("Could not connect to $ftp_server");$login = ftp_login($ftp_conn, $ftp_username, $ftp_userpass);// could return 90echo ftp_get_option($ftp_conn,FTP_TIMEOUT_SEC);
 // close connectionftp_close($ftp_conn);?>

Definition and Usage
The ftp_get_option() function returns runtime options of the current FTP connection.

Syntax

ftp_get_option(ftp_conn, option);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
ftp_conn
Required. Specifies the FTP connection to use
  
option
Required. Specifies the runtime option to return. Possible values:
    
FTP_TIMEOUT_SEC - Returns the timeout used for  network operations
    
FTP_AUTOSEEK - Returns TRUE if this option is on, FALSE otherwise
 
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the value on success, or FALSE (and a warning 
 message) if the given option is not supported

  
PHP Version:
  
4.2+


PHP FTP Reference

PHP FTP Reference

Example
Connect, login, and close an FTP connection:

<?php// connect to FTP server
 $ftp_server = "ftp.example.com";$ftp_conn = ftp_connect($ftp_server) or die("Could not connect to $ftp_server");// loginif (@ftp_login($ftp_conn, $ftp_username, $ftp_userpass))  {  echo "Connection established.";  }else  {  echo "Couldn't establish a connection.";  }// do something...// close connectionftp_close($ftp_conn); ?>

Definition and Usage
The ftp_login() function logs in to the specified FTP connection.

Syntax

ftp_login(ftp_conn, username, password);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
ftp_conn
Required. Specifies the FTP connection to use
  
username
Required. Specifies the username to login with
  
password
Required. Specifies the password to login with

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success, FALSE and a warning on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP FTP Reference

PHP FTP Reference

Example
Get last modified time for a file on the FTP server:

<?php// connect and login to FTP server
 $ftp_server = "ftp.example.com";$ftp_conn = ftp_connect($ftp_server) or die("Could not connect to $ftp_server");$login = ftp_login($ftp_conn, $ftp_username, $ftp_userpass);$file = "somefile.txt";
 // get the last modified time$lastchanged = ftp_mdtm($ftp_conn, $file);if ($lastchanged != -1)  {  echo "$file was last modified on : " . date("F d Y H:i:s.",$lastchanged);  }
 else  {  echo "Could not get last modified";  }
 // close connectionftp_close($ftp_conn);?>

Definition and Usage
The ftp_mdtm() function returns when the specified file was last modified.
Note: Not all servers support this function, and this function does not work with directories.

Syntax

ftp_mdtm(ftp_conn, file);

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
ftp_conn
Required. Specifies the FTP connection to login to
  
file
Required. Specifies the file to check

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The last modified time as a Unix timestamp on success, -1 on 
 failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP FTP Reference

PHP FTP Reference

Example
Create a new directory on the FTP server:

<?php// connect and login to FTP server
 $ftp_server = "ftp.example.com";$ftp_conn = ftp_connect($ftp_server) or die("Could not connect to $ftp_server");$login = ftp_login($ftp_conn, $ftp_username, $ftp_userpass);$dir = "images";
 // try to create directory $dirif (ftp_mkdir($ftp_conn, $dir))  {  echo "Successfully created $dir";  }else  {  echo "Error while creating $dir";  }
 // close connectionftp_close($ftp_conn);?>

Definition and Usage
The ftp_mkdir() function creates a new directory on the FTP server.

Syntax

ftp_mkdir(ftp_conn, dir);

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
ftp_conn
Required. Specifies the FTP connection to use
  
dir
Required. Specifies the name of the directory to create

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The name of the new directory on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP FTP Reference

PHP FTP Reference

Example
Returns the list of files from the "images" directory:

<?php// connect and login to FTP server
 $ftp_server = "ftp.example.com";$ftp_conn = ftp_connect($ftp_server) or die("Could not connect to $ftp_server");$login = ftp_login($ftp_conn, $ftp_username, $ftp_userpass);$dir = "/images";
  $dirlist = ftp_mlsd($ftp_conn, $dir);// output directory listecho($dirlist);
 // close connectionftp_close($ftp_conn);?>

Definition and Usage
The ftp_mlsd() function returns the list of files in the specified directory.

Syntax

ftp_mlsd(ftp_conn, dir);

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
ftp_conn
Required. Specifies the FTP connection to use
  
dir
Required. Specifies the name of the directory to be listed. Use "." to 
    get the current directory

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
An array with file info from the specified directory on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
7.2+


PHP FTP Reference

PHP FTP Reference

Example
Download a file from the server, continue downloading (non-blocking) while 
doing something else: 

<?php// initiate download$d = ftp_nb_get($ftp_conn, "local.txt", "server.txt", FTP_BINARY)while ($d == FTP_MOREDATA)  {  // do whatever you want  // continue downloading  $d = ftp_nb_continue($ftp_conn);  }
 if ($d != FTP_FINISHED)  {  echo "Error downloading file.";  exit(1);  }?>

Definition and Usage
The ftp_nb_continue() function continues to receive/send a file to the FTP server.

Syntax

ftp_nb_continue(ftp_conn);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
ftp_conn
Required. Specifies the FTP connection to use
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
One of the following values:
FTP_FAILED (send/receive failed)
FTP_FINISHED (send/receive completed)
FTP_MOREDATA (send/receive in progress)

  

  
PHP Version:
  
4.3+


PHP FTP Reference

PHP FTP Reference

Example
Download a file from the FTP server, and save it to an open local file 
(non-blocking):

<?php// connect and login to FTP server
 $ftp_server = "ftp.example.com";$ftp_conn = ftp_connect($ftp_server) or die("Could not connect to $ftp_server");$login = ftp_login($ftp_conn, $ftp_username, $ftp_userpass);$server_file = "somefile.txt";// open local file to write to$local_file = "local.txt";$fp = fopen($local_file,"w");// initiate download$d = ftp_nb_fget($ftp_conn, $fp, $server_file, FTP_BINARY)while ($d == FTP_MOREDATA)  {  // do whatever you want  // continue downloading  $d = ftp_nb_continue($ftp_conn);  }
 if ($d != FTP_FINISHED)  {  echo "Error downloading $server_file";  exit(1);  }// close connection and file handlerftp_close($ftp_conn);fclose($fp);?>

Definition and Usage
The ftp_nb_fget() function gets (downloads) a file from the FTP server, and saves it 
into an open local file (non-blocking).
Tip: This function (as opposite to
ftp_fget()) 
retrieves the file asynchronously, so you can perform other operations 
while the file is being downloaded.  

Syntax

ftp_nb_fget(ftp_conn, open_file, server_file, mode, startpos);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
ftp_conn
Required. Specifies the FTP connection to use
  
open_file
Required. Specifies an open local file in which we store the data
  
server_file
Required. Specifies the server file to download
  
mode
Optional. Specifies the transfer mode. Possible values: FTP_ASCII or FTP_BINARY
  
startpos
Optional. Specifies the position in the remote file to start downloading from

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
One of the following values:
FTP_FAILED (send/receive failed)
FTP_FINISHED (send/receive completed)
FTP_MOREDATA (send/receive in progress)

  

  
PHP Version:
  
4.3+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 7.3 - The mode parameter was made optional.


PHP FTP Reference

PHP FTP Reference

Example
Open local file, and upload it (non-blocking) to a file on the FTP server:

<?php// connect and login to FTP server
 $ftp_server = "ftp.example.com";$ftp_conn = ftp_connect($ftp_server) or die("Could not connect to $ftp_server");$login = ftp_login($ftp_conn, $ftp_username, $ftp_userpass);$server_file = "serverfile.txt";// open local file$local_file = "localfile.txt";$fp = fopen($local_file,"r");// initiate upload$d = ftp_nb_fput($ftp_conn, $server_file, $fp, FTP_BINARY)while ($d == FTP_MOREDATA)  {  // do whatever you want  // continue uploading  $d = ftp_nb_continue($ftp_conn);  }
 if ($d != FTP_FINISHED)  {  echo "Error uploading $local_file";  exit(1);  }// close connectionftp_close($ftp_conn);?>

Definition and Usage
The ftp_nb_fput() function uploads an open local file to the FTP server (non-blocking).
Tip: This function (as opposite to
ftp_fput()) 
retrieves the file asynchronously, so you can perform other operations 
while the file is being downloaded.

Syntax

ftp_nb_fput(ftp_conn, remote_file, open_file, mode, startpos);

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
ftp_conn
Required. Specifies the FTP connection to use
  
remote_file
Required. Specifies the file path to upload to
  
open_file
Required. Specifies a pointer to the open local file
  
mode
Optional. Specifies the transfer mode. Possible values: FTP_ASCII or FTP_BINARY
  
startpos
Optional. Specifies the position in the remote file to start uploading to

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
One of the following values:
FTP_FAILED (send/receive failed)
FTP_FINISHED (send/receive completed)
FTP_MOREDATA (send/receive in progress)


  
PHP Version:
  
4.3+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 7.3 - The mode parameter was made optional.


PHP FTP Reference

PHP FTP Reference

Example
Download a file from the FTP server, and save it into a local file (non-blocking): 

<?php// connect and login to FTP server
 $ftp_server = "ftp.example.com";$ftp_conn = ftp_connect($ftp_server) or die("Could not connect to $ftp_server");$login = ftp_login($ftp_conn, $ftp_username, $ftp_userpass);$local_file = "local.zip";$server_file = "server.zip";// initiate download$d = ftp_nb_get($ftp_conn, $local_file, $server_file, FTP_ASCII)while ($d == FTP_MOREDATA)  {  // do whatever you want  // continue downloading  $d = ftp_nb_continue($ftp_conn);  }
 if ($d != FTP_FINISHED)  {  echo "Error downloading $server_file";  exit(1);  }// close connectionftp_close($ftp_conn);?>

Definition and Usage
The ftp_nb_get() function gets (downloads) a file from the FTP server, and saves it 
into a local file (non-blocking).
Tip: This function (as opposite to
ftp_get()) 
retrieves the file asynchronously, so you can perform other operations 
while the file is being downloaded. 

Syntax

ftp_nb_get(ftp_conn, local_file, server_file, mode, startpos);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
ftp_conn
Required. Specifies the FTP connection to use
  
local_file
Required. Specifies the local file path (will be overwritten if the file already exists)
  
server_file
Required. Specifies the server file to download
  
mode
Optional. Specifies the transfer mode. Possible values: FTP_ASCII or FTP_BINARY
  
startpos
Optional. Specifies the position in the remote file to start downloading from

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
One of the following values:
FTP_FAILED (send/receive failed)
FTP_FINISHED (send/receive completed)
FTP_MOREDATA (send/receive in progress)

  

  
PHP Version:
  
4.3+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 7.3 - The mode parameter was made optional.


PHP FTP Reference

PHP FTP Reference

Example
Upload local file (non-blocking) to a file on the FTP server:

<?php// connect and login to FTP server
 $ftp_server = "ftp.example.com";$ftp_conn = ftp_connect($ftp_server) or die("Could not connect to $ftp_server");$login = ftp_login($ftp_conn, $ftp_username, $ftp_userpass);$local_file = "localfile.txt";$server_file = "serverfile.txt";// initiate upload$d = ftp_nb_put($ftp_conn, $server_file, $local_file, FTP_BINARY)while ($d == FTP_MOREDATA)  {  // do whatever you want  // continue uploading  $d = ftp_nb_continue($ftp_conn);  }
 if ($d != FTP_FINISHED)  {  echo "Error uploading $local_file";  exit(1);  }// close connectionftp_close($ftp_conn);?>

Definition and Usage
The ftp_nb_put() function uploads a file to the FTP server (non-blocking).
Tip: This function (as opposite to
ftp_put()) 
retrieves the file asynchronously, so you can perform other operations 
while the file is being downloaded.   

Syntax

ftp_nb_put(ftp_conn, remote_file, local_file, mode, startpos);

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
ftp_conn
Required. Specifies the FTP connection to use
  
remote_file
Required. Specifies the file path to upload to
  
local_file
Required. Specifies the path of the local file to upload
  
mode
Optional. Specifies the transfer mode. Possible values: FTP_ASCII or FTP_BINARY
  
startpos
Optional. Specifies the position in the remote file to start uploading to

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
One of the following values:
FTP_FAILED (send/receive failed)
FTP_FINISHED (send/receive completed)
FTP_MOREDATA (send/receive in progress)


  
PHP Version:
  
4.3+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 7.3 - The mode parameter was made optional.


PHP FTP Reference

PHP FTP Reference

Example
List files in current directory:

<?php// connect and login to FTP server
 $ftp_server = "ftp.example.com";$ftp_conn = ftp_connect($ftp_server) or die("Could not connect to $ftp_server");$login = ftp_login($ftp_conn, $ftp_username, $ftp_userpass);// get file list of current directory$file_list = ftp_nlist($ftp_conn, ".");var_dump($file_list);// close connectionftp_close($ftp_conn);?>

Definition and Usage
The ftp_nlist() function returns a list of files in the specified directory on the FTP server.

Syntax

ftp_nlist(ftp_conn, dir);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
ftp_conn
Required. Specifies the FTP connection to use
  
dir
Required. Specifies the directory to be listed. Use "." to get the current directory

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
An array of file names from the specified directory on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP FTP Reference

PHP FTP Reference

Example
Turn passive mode on and upload a file to the FTP server:

<?php// connect and login to FTP server
 $ftp_server = "ftp.example.com";$ftp_conn = ftp_connect($ftp_server) or die("Could not connect to $ftp_server");$login = ftp_login($ftp_conn, $ftp_username, $ftp_userpass);// turn passive mode onftp_pasv($ftp_conn, true);$file = "localfile.txt";// upload fileif (ftp_put($ftp_conn, "serverfile.txt", $file, FTP_ASCII))  {  echo "Successfully uploaded $file.";  }else  {  echo "Error uploading $file.";  }// close connectionftp_close($ftp_conn);?>

Definition and Usage
The ftp_pasv() function turns passive mode on or off.
In passive mode, data connections are initiated by the client, 
not the server. This is useful if the client is behind a firewall.

Syntax

ftp_pasv(ftp_conn, pasv);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
ftp_conn
Required. Specifies the FTP connection to use
  
pasv
Required. Specifies the passive mode. Possible values:
    
TRUE (passive mode on)
    
FALSE (passive mode off)
 

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP FTP Reference

PHP FTP Reference

Example
Upload local file to a file on the FTP server:

<?php// connect and login to FTP server
 $ftp_server = "ftp.example.com";$ftp_conn = ftp_connect($ftp_server) or die("Could not connect to $ftp_server");$login = ftp_login($ftp_conn, $ftp_username, $ftp_userpass);$file = "localfile.txt";// upload fileif (ftp_put($ftp_conn, "serverfile.txt", $file, FTP_ASCII))  {  echo "Successfully uploaded $file.";  }else  {  echo "Error uploading $file.";  }// close connectionftp_close($ftp_conn);?>

Definition and Usage
The ftp_put() function uploads a file to the FTP server.

Syntax

ftp_put(ftp_conn, remote_file, local_file, mode, startpos);

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
ftp_conn
Required. Specifies the FTP connection to use
  
remote_file
Required. Specifies the file path to upload to
  
local_file
Required. Specifies the path of the file to upload
  
mode
Optional. Specifies the transfer mode. Possible values: FTP_ASCII or FTP_BINARY
  
startpos
Optional. Specifies the position in the remote file to start uploading to

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
 TRUE on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 7.3 - The mode parameter was made optional.PHP 4.3 - The startpos 
  parameter was added.


PHP FTP Reference

PHP FTP Reference

Example
Change directory, then output directory name:

<?php// connect and login to FTP server
 $ftp_server = "ftp.example.com";$ftp_conn = ftp_connect($ftp_server) or die("Could not connect to $ftp_server");$login = ftp_login($ftp_conn, $ftp_username, $ftp_userpass);// change the current directory to phpftp_chdir($ftp_conn, "php");// output current directory name (/php)
 echo ftp_pwd($ftp_conn);
 // close connectionftp_close($ftp_conn);?>

Definition and Usage
The ftp_pwd() function returns the current directory name.

Syntax

ftp_pwd(ftp_conn);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
ftp_conn
Required. Specifies the FTP connection to use

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The current directory name on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP FTP Reference

PHP FTP Reference

Definition and Usage
The ftp_quit() function is an alias of ftp_close().

PHP FTP Reference

PHP FTP Reference

Example
Connect to FTP server and execute commands:

<?php// connect to FTP server
 $ftp_server = "ftp.example.com";$ftp_conn = ftp_connect($ftp_server) or die("Could not connect to $ftp_server");// the two lines below is the same as: ftp_login($ftp_conn,"john","secretpassword");
 ftp_raw($ftp_conn, "USER john");ftp_raw($ftp_conn, "PASS secretpassword");?>

Definition and Usage
The ftp_raw() function sends a raw command to the FTP server.

Syntax

ftp_raw(ftp_conn, command);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
ftp_conn
Required. Specifies the FTP connection to use
  
command
Required. Specifies the command to execute

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The response from the server as an array of strings

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


PHP FTP Reference

PHP FTP Reference

Example
Get list of files with file information:

<?php// connect and login to FTP server
 $ftp_server = "ftp.example.com";$ftp_conn = ftp_connect($ftp_server) or die("Could not connect to $ftp_server");$login = ftp_login($ftp_conn, $ftp_username, $ftp_userpass);// get the file list for /$filelist = ftp_rawlist($ftp_conn, "/");// close connectionftp_close($ftp_conn);
 // output $filelistvar_dump($filelist);?>

The output could look something like this:

array(3) 
{
[0] => string(57) "drw-rw-rw- 1 user group 0 Jan 03 08:33 images"
[1] => string(62) "-rw-rw-rw- 1 user group 160 Feb 16 13:54 php"
[2] => string(75) "-rw-rw-rw- 1 user group 20 Feb 14 12:22 test"
} 

Definition and Usage
The ftp_rawlist() function returns a list of files with file information 
(from a specified directory on the FTP server).

Syntax

ftp_rawlist(ftp_conn, dir, recursive);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
ftp_conn
Required. Specifies the FTP connection to use
  
dir
Required. Specifies the directory path. May include arguments for the LIST command. Tip: Use "." to specify the current directory
  
recursive
Optional. By default, this function sends a "LIST" command to the server. However, if the recursive parameter is set to TRUE, it sends a "LIST -R" command

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
An array where each element corresponds to one line of text 
 (no parsing is performed). Returns FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
The recursive parameter was added in PHP 4.3


PHP FTP Reference

PHP FTP Reference

Example
Rename a file on the FTP server:

<?php// connect and login to FTP server
 $ftp_server = "ftp.example.com";$ftp_conn = ftp_connect($ftp_server) or die("Could not connect to $ftp_server");$login = ftp_login($ftp_conn, $ftp_username, $ftp_userpass);$old_file = "oldfile.txt";
 $new_file = "newfile.txt";// try to rename $old_file to $new_file
 if (ftp_rename($ftp_conn, $old_file, $new_file))  {  echo "Renamed $old_file to $new_file";  }else  {  echo "Problem renaming $old_file to $new_file";  }
 // close connectionftp_close($ftp_conn);?>

Definition and Usage
The ftp_rename() function renames a file or directory on the FTP server.

Syntax

ftp_rename(ftp_conn, oldname, newname);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
ftp_conn
Required. Specifies the FTP connection to use
  
oldname
Required. Specifies the file or directory to rename
  
newname
Required. Specifies the new name of the file or directory

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
 TRUE on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP FTP Reference

PHP FTP Reference

Example
Delete a directory on FTP server:

<?php// connect and login to FTP server
 $ftp_server = "ftp.example.com";$ftp_conn = ftp_connect($ftp_server) or die("Could not connect to $ftp_server");$login = ftp_login($ftp_conn, $ftp_username, $ftp_userpass);$dir = "php/";
 // try to delete $dir
 if (ftp_rmdir($ftp_conn, $dir))  {  echo "Directory $dir deleted";  }else  {  echo "Problem deleting $dir";  }
 // close connectionftp_close($ftp_conn);?>

Definition and Usage
The ftp_rmdir() function deletes a directory on the FTP server.
Note: A directory must be empty before it can be deleted!
Tip: Use the ftp_mkdir() 
function to create a new directory.

Syntax

ftp_rmdir(ftp_conn, dir);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
ftp_conn
Required. Specifies the FTP connection to use
  
dir
Required. Specifies the empty directory to delete

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
 TRUE on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP FTP Reference

PHP FTP Reference

Example
Set timeout for network operations:

<?php// connect and login to FTP server
 $ftp_server = "ftp.example.com";$ftp_conn = ftp_connect($ftp_server) or die("Could not connect to $ftp_server");$login = ftp_login($ftp_conn, $ftp_username, $ftp_userpass);// set network operation timeout to 120 secondsecho ftp_set_option($ftp_conn,FTP_TIMEOUT_SEC,120);
 // close connectionftp_close($ftp_conn);?>

Definition and Usage
The ftp_set_option() function sets runtime options of the current FTP connection.

Syntax

ftp_set_option(ftp_conn, option, value);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
ftp_conn
Required. Specifies the FTP connection to use
  
option
Required. Specifies the runtime option to set. Possible values:
    
FTP_TIMEOUT_SEC
    
FTP_AUTOSEEK
      
FTP_USEPASVADDRESS
 
  
  
value
Required. Specifies the value of the option parameter

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if the option could be set, FALSE if not (a warning message is also thrown)

  
PHP Version:
  
4.2+


PHP FTP Reference

PHP FTP Reference

Example
Send an FTP SITE command:

<?php// connect and login to FTP server
 $ftp_server = "ftp.example.com";$ftp_conn = ftp_connect($ftp_server) or die("Could not connect to $ftp_server");$login = ftp_login($ftp_conn, $ftp_username, $ftp_userpass);// try to send SITE command
 if (ftp_site($ftp_conn, "chmod 777 serverfile.txt"))  {  echo "Command executed successfully";  }else  {  echo "Command failed";  }
 // close connectionftp_close($ftp_conn);?>

Definition and Usage
The ftp_site() function sends a SITE command to the FTP server.
Note: SITE commands vary from server to server. 
They are useful for handling OS specific features such as file permissions and group membership.
Tip: To see what SITE commands are available, send the REMOTEHELP command using 
the ftp_raw() function.

Syntax

ftp_site(ftp_conn, command);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
ftp_conn
Required. Specifies the FTP connection to use
  
command
Required. Specifies the SITE command (this parameter is not escaped)

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
 TRUE on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP FTP Reference

PHP FTP Reference

Example
Get size of a file on the FTP server:

<?php// connect and login to FTP server
 $ftp_server = "ftp.example.com";$ftp_conn = ftp_connect($ftp_server) or die("Could not connect to $ftp_server");$login = ftp_login($ftp_conn, $ftp_username, $ftp_userpass);$file = "serverfile.txt";
 // get size of $file$fsize = ftp_size($ftp_conn, $file);if ($fsize != -1)  {  echo "$file is $fsize bytes.";  }else  {  echo "Error getting file size.";  }
 // close connectionftp_close($ftp_conn);?>

Definition and Usage
The ftp_size() function returns the size of a specified file on the FTP server.
Note: Not all FTP servers support this function!

Syntax

ftp_size(ftp_conn, file);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
ftp_conn
Required. Specifies the FTP connection to use
  
file
Required. Specifies the server file to check

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The size of the file (in bytes) on success, or -1 on error

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP FTP Reference

PHP FTP Reference

Example
Open a secure SSL-FTP connection:

<?php// set up basic SSL connection$ftp_server = "123.123.123.123";
 $ftp_conn = ftp_ssl_connect($ftp_server) or die("Could not connect to $ftp_server");// login$login = ftp_login($ftp_conn, $ftp_username, $ftp_userpass);// then do something...
 // close SSL connectionftp_close($ftp_conn);?>

Definition and Usage
The ftp_ssl_connect() function opens a secure SSL-FTP connection.
When the connection is open, you can run FTP functions against the server.
Note: This function is only available if both the ftp module 
and the OpenSSL support is built statically into PHP. 

Syntax

ftp_ssl_connect(host, port, timeout);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
host
Required. Specifies the FTP server address. Can be a domain address or an IP address. This parameter should not be prefixed with "ftp://" or have any trailing slashes
  
port
Optional. Specifies the port to connect to. Default is 21
  
timeout
Optional. Specifies the timeout for network operations. Default is 90 seconds

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
An SSL-FTP stream on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.3+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.2.2 - This function returns FALSE if it cannot use an SSL connection, instead of falling 
  back to a non-SSL connection


PHP FTP Reference

PHP FTP Reference

Example
Get the system type of the FTP server:

<?php// connect and login to FTP server
 $ftp_server = "ftp.example.com";$ftp_conn = ftp_connect($ftp_server) or die("Could not connect to $ftp_server");$login = ftp_login($ftp_conn, $ftp_username, $ftp_userpass);// get system typeif ($type = ftp_systype($ftp_conn))  {  echo "System type is: $type";  }else  {  echo "Could not get system type.";  }// close connectionftp_close($ftp_conn);?>

The output could look something like this:

 System type is: UNIX

Definition and Usage
The ftp_systype() function returns the system type identifier of the FTP server.

Syntax

ftp_systype(ftp_conn);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
ftp_conn
Required. Specifies the FTP connection to use

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The system type on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP FTP Reference

JSON Introduction
The JSON extension implements the JavaScript Object Notation data-interchange 
format.
In PHP 5, the decoding is handled by a parser based on the JSON_checker by 
Douglas Crockford.
PHP 7 has a new and improved parser specifically written for PHP and licensed 
under the PHP license.

Installation
From PHP 5.2.0, the JSON functions are enabled by default. There is no 
installation needed to use these functions.
JSON Functions

  
Function
Description
  
json_decode()
Decodes a JSON string
  
json_encode()
Encode a value to JSON format
  
json_last_error()
Returns the last error occurred
  
json_last_error_msg()
Returns the error string of the last json_encode() or json_decode() call
  

Predefined JSON Constants

  
Constant
Type
Description
  
JSON_ERROR_NONE
Integer
No error has occurred
  
JSON_ERROR_DEPTH
Integer
Maximum stack depth has been exceeded
  
JSON_ERROR_STATE_MISMATCH
Integer
Invalid/Malformed JSON
  
JSON_ERROR_CTRL_CHAR
Integer
Control character error
  
JSON_ERROR_SYNTAX
Integer
Syntax error
  
JSON_ERROR_UTF8
Integer
Malformed UTF-8 characters. PHP 5.3
  
JSON_ERROR_RECURSION
Integer
Invalid recursive reference values. PHP 5.5
  
JSON_ERROR_INF_OR_NAN
Integer
Invalid NAN or INF values. PHP 5.5
  
JSON_ERROR_UNSUPPORTED_TYPE
Integer
Invalid type. PHP 5.5
  
JSON_ERROR_INVALID_PROPERTY_NAME
Integer
Invalid property name. PHP 7.0
  
JSON_ERROR_UTF16
Integer
Malformed UTF-16 characters. PHP 7.0
  
JSON_BIGINT_AS_STRING
Integer
 
  
JSON_OBJECT_AS_ARRAY
Integer
 
  
JSON_HEX_TAG
Integer
 
  
JSON_HEX_AMP
Integer
 
  
JSON_HEX_APOS
Integer
 
  
JSON_HEX_QUOT
Integer
 
  
JSON_FORCE_OBJECT
Integer
 
  
JSON_NUMERIC_CHECK
Integer
 
  
JSON_PRETTY_PRINT
Integer
 
  
JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES
Integer
 
  
JSON_PARTIAL_OUTPUT_ON_ERROR
Integer
 
  
JSON_PRESERVE_ZERO_FRACTION
Integer
 
  
JSON_UNESCAPED_LINE_TERMINATORS
Integer
 
  
JSON_INVALID_UTF8_IGNORE
Integer
 
  
JSON_INVALID_UTF8_SUBSTITUTE
Integer
 
  
JSON_THROWN_ON_ERROR
Integer
 
  



PHP JSON Reference

Example
Store JSON data in a PHP variable, and then decode it into a PHP object:

  <?php$jsonobj = '{"Peter":35,"Ben":37,"Joe":43}';var_dump(json_decode($jsonobj));?>
Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The json_decode() function is used to decode or convert a JSON object to a PHP object.

Syntax

  json_decode(string, assoc, depth, options)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the value to be encoded
  
assoc
Optional. Specifies a Boolean value. When set to true, the returned 
    object will be converted into an associative array. When set to false, it 
    returns an object. False is default
  
depth
Optional. Specifies the recursion depth. Default recursion depth is 512
  
options
Optional. Specifies a bitmask (JSON_BIGINT_AS_STRING, 
    JSON_INVALID_UTF8_IGNORE, JSON_INVALID_UTF8_SUBSTITUTE, 
    JSON_OBJECT_AS_ARRAY, JSON_THROW_ON_ERROR)
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the value encoded in JSON in appropriate PHP type. 
 If the JSON object cannot be decoded it returns NULL

  
PHP Version:
  
5.2+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 7.3: Added JSON_THROWN_ON_ERROR optionPHP 7.2: Added 
  JSON_INVALID_UTF8_IGNORE, and JSON_INVALID_UTF8_SUBSTITUTE optionsPHP 5.4: Added 
  JSON_BIGINT_AS_STRING, and JSON_OBJECT_AS_ARRAY optionsPHP 5.4: Added options parameterPHP 5.3: Added 
  depth parameter


More Examples

Example
Store JSON data in a PHP variable, and then decode it into a PHP associative array:

  <?php$jsonobj = '{"Peter":35,"Ben":37,"Joe":43}';var_dump(json_decode($jsonobj, 
  true));?>
Run Example »

Example
How to access the values from the PHP object:

  <?php$jsonobj = '{"Peter":35,"Ben":37,"Joe":43}';
  $obj = json_decode($jsonobj);echo $obj->Peter;echo $obj->Ben;
  echo $obj->Joe;?>
Run Example »

Example
How to access the values from the PHP associative array:

  <?php$jsonobj = '{"Peter":35,"Ben":37,"Joe":43}';
  $arr = json_decode($jsonobj, true);echo $arr["Peter"];echo $arr["Ben"];
  echo $arr["Joe"];?>
Run Example »

PHP JSON Reference

PHP JSON Reference

Example
How to encode an associative array into a JSON object:

  <?php$age = array("Peter"=>35, "Ben"=>37, "Joe"=>43);
  echo json_encode($age);?>
Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The json_encode() function is used to encode a value to JSON format.

Syntax

  json_encode(value, options, depth)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
value
Required. Specifies the value to be encoded
  
options
Optional. Specifies a bitmask (JSON_FORCE_OBJECT, JSON_HEX_QUOT, 
    JSON_HEX_TAG, JSON_HEX_AMP, JSON_HEX_APOS, JSON_INVALID_UTF8_IGNORE, 
    JSON_INVALID_UTF8_SUBSTITUTE, JSON_NUMERIC_CHECK, 
    JSON_PARTIAL_OUTPUT_ON_ERROR, JSON_PRESERVE_ZERO_FRACTION, 
    JSON_PRETTY_PRINT, JSON_UNESCAPED_LINE_TERMINATORS, JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES, 
    JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE, JSON_THROW_ON_ERROR)
  
depth
Optional. Specifies the maximum depth
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a JSON encoded string on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.2+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 7.3: Added JSON_THROWN_ON_ERROR optionPHP 7.2: Added 
  JSON_INVALID_UTF8_IGNORE, and JSON_INVALID_UTF8_SUBSTITUTE optionsPHP 7.1: Added 
  JSON_UNESCAPED_LINE_TERMINATORS optionPHP 5.6: Added 
  JSON_PRESERVE_ZERO_FRACTION optionPHP 5.5: Added depth parameter
  PHP 5.5: Added JSON_PARTIAL_OUTPUT_ON_ERROR option PHP 5.5: Changed return 
  value on failure from null to FALSE PHP 5.4: Added JSON_PRETTY_PRINT, 
  JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES, and JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE optionsPHP 5.3: Added 
  JSON_FORCE_OBJECT, JSON_HEX_AMP, JSON_HEX_APOS, JSON_HEX_QUOT,  
  JSON_HEX_TAG, and JSON_NUMERIC_CHECK optionsPHP 5.3: Added options parameter


More Examples

Example
How to encode an indexed array into a JSON array:

  <?php$cars = array("Volvo", "BMW", "Toyota");echo json_encode($cars);?>
Run Example »

PHP JSON Reference

PHP JSON Reference

Example
Return the last error occurred:

  <?php// An invalid json string$string = 
  "{'Peter':35,'Ben':37,'Joe':43}";echo "Decoding: " . $string;
  json_decode($string);echo "<br>Error: ";switch (json_last_error()) 
  {  case JSON_ERROR_NONE:    echo "No errors";    
  break;  case JSON_ERROR_DEPTH:    echo "Maximum 
  stack depth exceeded";    break;  case 
  JSON_ERROR_STATE_MISMATCH:    echo "Invalid or 
  malformed JSON";    break;  case JSON_ERROR_CTRL_CHAR:    
  echo "Control character error";    break;  
  case JSON_ERROR_SYNTAX:    echo "Syntax error";    break;  case JSON_ERROR_UTF8:    
  echo "Malformed UTF-8 characters";    break;  
  default:    echo "Unknown error";    
  break;}?>
Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The json_last_error() function returns the last error occurred.

Syntax

  json_last_error()
Parameter Values
NONE.
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an integer, and the value can be one of the following constants:
 
   
JSON_ERROR_NONE (no error has occurred)
   
JSON_ERROR_DEPTH (maximum stack depth has been exceeded)
   
JSON_ERROR_STATE_MISMATCH (Invalid/Malformed JSON)
   
JSON_ERROR_CTRL_CHAR (Control character error)
   
JSON_ERROR_SYNTAX (Syntax error)
   
JSON_ERROR_UTF8 (Malformed UTF-8 characters. PHP 5.3)
   
JSON_ERROR_RECURSION (Invalid recursive reference values. PHP 5.5)
   
JSON_ERROR_INF_OR_NAN (Invalid nan or inf values. PHP 5.5)
   
JSON_ERROR_UNSUPPORTED_TYPE (Invalid type. PHP 5.5)
   
JSON_ERROR_INVALID_PROPERTY_NAME (Invalid property name. PHP 7.0)
   
JSON_ERROR_UTF16 (Malformed UTF-16 characters. PHP 7.0)
 
  

  
PHP Version:
  
5.3+


PHP JSON Reference

libxml Introduction
The libxml functions and constants are used together with SimpleXML, XSLT and 
DOM functions.

Installation
These functions require the libxml package. 
Download at xmlsoft.org

libxml Functions
PHP: indicates the earliest version of PHP that supports the 
  function.

  
Function
Description
  
libxml_clear_errors()
Clears the libxml error buffer
  
libxml_disable_entity_loader()
Enables the ability to load external entities
  
libxml_get_errors()
Gets the errors from the the libxml error buffer
  
libxml_get_last_error()
Gets the last error from the the libxml error buffer
  
libxml_set_external_entity_loader()
Changes the default external entity loader
  
libxml_set_streams_context()
Sets the streams context for the next libxml document load or write
  
libxml_use_internal_errors()
Disables the standard libxml errors and enables user error handling
   

Predefined libxml Constants

  
Constant
Description
  
LIBXML_BIGLINES
Make line numbers greater than 65535 to be reported correctly
  
LIBXML_COMPACT
Set small nodes allocation optimization. This may improve the application performance
  
LIBXML_DTDATTR
Set default DTD attributes
  
LIBXML_DTDLOAD
Load external subset
  
LIBXML_DTDVALID
Validate with the DTD
  
LIBXML_HTML_NOIMPLIED
Set HTML_PARSE_NOIMPLIED flag. This turns off automatic adding of 
    implied html/body elements 
  
LIBXML_HTML_NODEFDTD
Set HTML_PARSE_NODEFDTD flag. This prevents a default doctype to be 
    added, if no doctype is found
  
LIBXML_NOBLANKS
Remove blank nodes
  
LIBXML_NOCDATA
Set CDATA as text nodes
  
LIBXML_NOEMPTYTAG
Change empty tags (e.g. <br/> to <br></br>),  only available in the DOMDocument->save() and DOMDocument->saveXML()  functions
  
LIBXML_NOENT
Substitute entities
  
LIBXML_NOERROR
Do not show error reports
  
LIBXML_NONET
Stop network access while loading documents
  
LIBXML_NOWARNING
Do not show warning reports
  
LIBXML_NOXMLDECL
Drop the XML declaration when saving a document
  
LIBXML_NSCLEAN
Remove excess namespace declarations
  
LIBXML_PARSEHUGE
Set XML_PARSE_HUGE flag. This relaxes any hardcoded limit from the 
    parser, such as maximum depth of a document or the size of text nodes
  
LIBXML_PEDANTIC
Set XML_PARSE_PEDANTIC flag. This enables pedantic error reporting
  
LIBXML_XINCLUDE
Use XInclude substitution
  
LIBXML_ERR_ERROR
Get recoverable errors
  
LIBXML_ERR_FATAL
Get fatal errors
  
LIBXML_ERR_NONE
Get no errors
  
LIBXML_ERR_WARNING
Get simple warnings
  
LIBXML_VERSION
Get libxml version (e.g. 20605 or 20617)
  
LIBXML_DOTTED_VERSION
Get dotted libxml version (e.g. 2.6.5 or 2.6.17)
  
LIBXML_SCHEMA_CREATE
Create default or fixed value nodes during XSD schema validation 




PHP libxml Reference

Example
Clear the libxml error buffer:

<?php
libxml_clear_errors()
?>

Definition and Usage
The libxml_clear_errors() function clears the libxml error buffer.

Syntax

libxml_clear_errors()

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
No value

  
PHP Version:
  
5.1+


PHP libxml Reference

PHP libxml Reference

Example
Enable the ability to load external entities:

<?php
libxml_disable_entity_loader(false)
?>

Definition and Usage
The libxml_disable_entity_loader() function enables the ability to load external entities.
Syntax

libxml_disable_entity_loader(bool)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
bool
Optional. Disable (TRUE) or enable (FALSE) libxml extensions to load external entities. Default is 
    TRUE
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the previous value of the bool 
 parameter

  
PHP Version:
  
5.2.11+

PHP libxml Reference

PHP libxml Reference

Example
Get the errors from the libxml error buffer:

<?php
libxml_get_errors()
?>

Definition and Usage
The libxml_get_errors() function gets the errors from the the libxml error buffer.

Syntax

libxml_get_errors()

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array of error objects, or an empty array if there are no errors 
in the error buffer

  
PHP Version:
  
5.1+

PHP libxml Reference

PHP libxml Reference

Example
Get the last error from the libxml error buffer:

<?php
libxml_get_last_error()
?>

Definition and Usage
The libxml_get_last_error() function gets the last error from the libxml error buffer.
Syntax

libxml_get_last_error()

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an error object if there is any error in the buffer, FALSE otherwise

  
PHP Version:
  
5.1+

PHP libxml Reference

PHP libxml Reference

Example
Change the default external entity loader:

  <?php$xml = <<<XML<!DOCTYPE foo PUBLIC "-//FOO/BAR" "http://example.com/foobar">
  <foo>bar</foo>XML;$dtd = <<<DTD<!ELEMENT foo (#PCDATA)>
  DTD;libxml_set_external_entity_loader(  function ($public, 
  $system, $context) use($dtd) {    var_dump($public);    
  var_dump($system);    var_dump($context);    
  $f = fopen("php://temp", "r+");    fwrite($f, $dtd);    
  rewind($f);    return $f;  });$dd = 
  new DOMDocument;$r = $dd->loadXML($xml);var_dump($dd->validate());
  ?>

Definition and Usage
The libxml_set_external_entity_loader() function changes the default external entity loader.
Syntax

libxml_set_external_entity_loader(function)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
function
Required. A function that takes three arguments. Two strings, a public 
    id and system id, and a context (an array with four keys) as the third 
    argument. This callback should return a resource, a string from which a 
    resource can be opened, or NULL. 
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns TRUE on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.4+

PHP libxml Reference

PHP libxml Reference

Example
Change the default external entity loader:

  <?php$xml = <<<XML<!DOCTYPE foo PUBLIC "-//FOO/BAR" "http://example.com/foobar">
  <foo>bar</foo>XML;$dtd = <<<DTD<!ELEMENT foo (#PCDATA)>
  DTD;libxml_set_external_entity_loader(  function ($public, 
  $system, $context) use($dtd) {    var_dump($public);    
  var_dump($system);    var_dump($context);    
  $f = fopen("php://temp", "r+");    fwrite($f, $dtd);    
  rewind($f);    return $f;  });$dd = 
  new DOMDocument;$r = $dd->loadXML($xml);var_dump($dd->validate());
  ?>

Definition and Usage
The libxml_set_streams_context() function sets the streams context for the next libxml document load or write.
Syntax

libxml_set_streams_context(function)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
function
Required. A function that takes three arguments. Two strings, a public 
    id and system id, and a context (an array with four keys) as the third 
    argument. This callback should return a resource, a string from which a 
    resource can be opened, or NULL. 
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Nothing

  
PHP Version:
  
5+

PHP libxml Reference

PHP libxml Reference

Example
Enable user error handling:

<?php
libxml_use_internal_errors(true)
?>

Definition and Usage
The libxml_use_internal_errors() function disables the standard libxml errors and 
enables user error handling.
Syntax

libxml_use_internal_errors(user_errors)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
user_errors
Optional. Enable user error handling (TRUE) or disable user error 
    handling (FALSE). Default is FALSE
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the previous value of the user_errors 
 parameter

  
PHP Version:
  
5.1+

PHP libxml Reference

Mail Introduction
The mail() function allows you to send emails directly from a script.

Requirements
For the mail functions to be available, PHP requires an installed and working 
email system. The program to be used is defined by 
the configuration settings in the php.ini file.

Installation
The mail functions are part of the PHP core. There is no installation 
needed to use these functions.

Runtime Configuration
The behavior of the mail functions is affected by settings in php.ini:


  
Name
Default
Description
Changeable
  
mail.add_x_header
"0"
Add X-PHP-Originating-Script that will include UID of the script followed by the filename. For PHP 5.3.0 and above
PHP_INI_PERDIR
  
mail.log
NULL
The path to a log file that will log all mail() calls. Log  include full path of script, line number, To address and headers. For PHP 5.3.0 and above 
PHP_INI_PERDIR
  
SMTP
"localhost"
Windows only: The DNS name or IP address of the SMTP server
PHP_INI_ALL
  
smtp_port
"25"
Windows only: The SMTP port number. For PHP 4.3.0 and above
PHP_INI_ALL
  
sendmail_from
NULL
Windows only: Specifies the "from" address to be used when sending mail from mail()
PHP_INI_ALL
  
sendmail_path
"/usr/sbin/sendmail -t -i"
Specifies where the sendmail program can be found. This directive works also under Windows. If set, SMTP, smtp_port and sendmail_from are ignored 
PHP_INI_SYSTEM


Mail Functions

  
Function
Description
  
ezmlm_hash()
Calculates the hash value needed by EZMLM
  
mail()
Allows you to send emails directly from a script




PHP Mail Reference

Example
Calculate the hash value for an email address:

<?php$user = "someone@example.com";$hash = ezmlm_hash($user);
 echo "The hash value for $user is: $hash.";?>

Definition and Usage
The ezmlm_hash() function calculates the hash value needed when keeping EZMLM 
mailing lists in a MySQL database.
This function accepts an email address, for which it calculates an integer 
hash value. This value is compatible with the EZMLM mailing list manager, and 
can then be used with the EZMLM database for user management. 

Syntax

ezmlm_hash(address);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
address
Required. Specifies the email address being hashed

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the hash value of the address parameter, or FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0.2+


PHP Mail Reference

PHP Mail Reference

Example
Send a simple email:

<?php// the message$msg = "First line of text\nSecond line of text";

// use wordwrap() if lines are longer than 70 characters
$msg = wordwrap($msg,70);

// send email
mail("someone@example.com","My subject",$msg);?>

Definition and Usage
The mail() function allows you to send emails directly from a script.

Syntax

mail(to,subject,message,headers,parameters);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
to
Required. Specifies the receiver / receivers of the email
  
subject
Required. Specifies the subject of the email. Note: This parameter cannot contain any newline characters
  
message
Required. Defines the message to be sent. Each line should be separated with a LF (\n).
    Lines should not exceed 70 characters.
 Windows note: If a full stop is found on the beginning of a line in the message, it might be removed. To solve this problem, replace the full stop with a double dot:
 <?php
 $txt = str_replace("\n.", "\n..", $txt);
 ?>
  
headers
Optional. Specifies additional headers, like From, Cc, and Bcc. The additional headers should be separated with a CRLF (\r\n).
 Note: When sending an email, it must contain a From header.
 This can be set with this parameter or in the php.ini file.
  
parameters
Optional. Specifies an additional parameter to the sendmail program
    (the one defined in the sendmail_path configuration setting).
    (i.e. this can be used to set the envelope sender address when using sendmail
    with the -f sendmail option)

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the hash value of the address parameter, or FALSE on failure. Note: Keep in mind that even if the email was accepted for delivery, it does NOT mean the email is actually sent and received!
  

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 7.2: The headers parameter also accepts an arrayPHP 5.4: Added 
  header injection protection for the headers 
  parameter.PHP 4.3.0: (Windows only) All custom headers (like From, Cc, Bcc and Date) are supported, and are not case-sensitive.PHP 4.2.3: The 
 parameter parameter is disabled in safe modePHP 4.0.5: The 
 parameter parameter was added 


More Examples
Send an email with extra headers:

<?php
$to = "somebody@example.com";
$subject = "My subject";
$txt = "Hello world!";
$headers = "From: webmaster@example.com" . "\r\n" .
"CC: somebodyelse@example.com";

mail($to,$subject,$txt,$headers);
?>

Send an HTML email:

<?php
$to = "somebody@example.com, somebodyelse@example.com";
$subject = "HTML email";

$message = "
<html>
<head>
<title>HTML email</title>
</head>
<body>
<p>This email contains HTML Tags!</p>
<table>
<tr>
<th>Firstname</th>
<th>Lastname</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>John</td>
<td>Doe</td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>
";

// Always set content-type when sending HTML email
$headers = "MIME-Version: 1.0" . "\r\n";
$headers .= "Content-type:text/html;charset=UTF-8" . "\r\n";

// More headers
$headers .= 'From: <webmaster@example.com>' . "\r\n";
$headers .= 'Cc: myboss@example.com' . "\r\n";

mail($to,$subject,$message,$headers);
?>

Complete PHP Mail Reference

Math Introduction
The math functions can handle values within the range of integer and float types.

Installation
The PHP math functions are part of the PHP core. No installation is required to use these functions.

Math Functions

  
Function
Description
  
abs()
Returns the absolute (positive) value of a number
  
acos()
Returns the arc cosine of a number
  
acosh()
Returns the inverse hyperbolic cosine of a number 
  
asin()
Returns the arc sine of a number
  
asinh()
Returns the inverse hyperbolic sine of a number
  
atan()
Returns the arc tangent of a number in radians
  
atan2()
Returns the arc tangent of two variables x and y
  
atanh()
Returns the inverse hyperbolic tangent of a number
  
base_convert()
Converts a number from one number base to another
  
bindec()
Converts a binary number to a decimal number
  
ceil()
Rounds a number up to the nearest integer
  
cos()
Returns the cosine of a number
  
cosh()
Returns the hyperbolic cosine of a number
  
decbin()
Converts a decimal number to a binary number
  
dechex()
Converts a decimal number to a hexadecimal number
  
decoct()
Converts a decimal number to an octal number
  
deg2rad()
Converts a degree value to a radian value
  
exp()
Calculates the exponent of e
  
expm1()
Returns exp(x) - 1
  
floor()
Rounds a number down to the nearest integer
  
fmod()
Returns the remainder of x/y
  
getrandmax()
Returns the largest possible value returned by rand()
  
hexdec()
Converts a hexadecimal number to a decimal number
  
hypot()
Calculates the hypotenuse of a right-angle triangle
  
intdiv()
Performs integer division
  
is_finite()
Checks whether a value is finite or not
  
is_infinite()
Checks whether a value is infinite or not
  
is_nan()
Checks whether a value is 'not-a-number'
  
lcg_value()
Returns a pseudo random number in a range between 0 and 1
  
log()
Returns the natural logarithm of a number
  
log10()
Returns the base-10 logarithm of a number
  
log1p()
Returns log(1+number)
  
max()
Returns the highest value in an array, or the highest value of several specified values
  
min()
Returns the lowest value in an array, or the lowest value of several specified values
  
mt_getrandmax()
Returns the largest possible value returned by mt_rand()
  
mt_rand()
Generates a random integer using Mersenne Twister algorithm
  
mt_srand()
Seeds the Mersenne Twister random number generator
  
octdec()
Converts an octal number to a decimal number
  
pi()
Returns the value of PI
  
pow()
Returns x raised to the power of y
  
rad2deg()
Converts a radian value to a degree value
  
rand()
Generates a random integer
  
round()
Rounds a floating-point number
  
sin()
Returns the sine of a number
  
sinh()
Returns the hyperbolic sine of a number
  
sqrt()
Returns the square root of a number
  
srand()
Seeds the random number generator
  
tan()
Returns the tangent of a number
  
tanh()
Returns the hyperbolic tangent of a number


Predefined Math Constants


  
Constant
Value
Description
  
INF
INF
The infinite
  
M_E
2.7182818284590452354
Returns e
  
M_EULER
0.57721566490153286061
Returns Euler constant
  
M_LNPI
1.14472988584940017414
Returns the natural logarithm of PI: log_e(pi)
  
M_LN2
0.69314718055994530942
Returns the natural logarithm of 2: log_e 2
  
M_LN10
2.30258509299404568402
Returns the natural logarithm of 10: log_e 10
  
M_LOG2E
1.4426950408889634074
Returns the base-2 logarithm of E: log_2 e
  
M_LOG10E
0.43429448190325182765
Returns the base-10 logarithm of E: log_10 e
  
M_PI
3.14159265358979323846
Returns Pi
  
M_PI_2
1.57079632679489661923
Returns Pi/2
  
M_PI_4
0.78539816339744830962
Returns Pi/4
  
M_1_PI
0.31830988618379067154
Returns 1/Pi
  
M_2_PI
0.63661977236758134308
Returns 2/Pi
  
M_SQRTPI
1.77245385090551602729
Returns the square root of PI: sqrt(pi)
  
M_2_SQRTPI
1.12837916709551257390
Returns 2/square root of PI: 2/sqrt(pi)
  
M_SQRT1_2
0.70710678118654752440
Returns the square root of 1/2: 1/sqrt(2)
  
M_SQRT2
1.41421356237309504880
Returns the square root of 2: sqrt(2)
  
M_SQRT3
1.73205080756887729352
Returns the square root of 3: sqrt(3)
  
NAN
NAN
Not A Number
  
PHP_ROUND_HALF_UP
1
Round halves up
  
PHP_ROUND_HALF_DOWN
2
Round halves down
  
PHP_ROUND_HALF_EVEN
3
Round halves to even numbers
  
PHP_ROUND_HALF_ODD
4
Round halves to odd numbers




PHP Math Reference

Example
Return the absolute value of different numbers:

<?php
echo(abs(6.7) . "<br>");echo(abs(-6.7) . "<br>");
echo(abs(-3) . "<br>");
echo(abs(3));
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The abs() function returns the absolute (positive) value of a number.

Syntax

abs(number);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
number
Required. Specifies a number. If the number is of type float, the return type is also float, otherwise it is integer
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The absolute value of the number 

  
Return Type:
  
Float / Integer

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Return the arc cosine of different numbers:

<?php
echo(acos(0.64) . "<br>");echo(acos(-0.4) . "<br>");
echo(acos(0) . "<br>");
echo(acos(-1) . "<br>");
echo(acos(1) . "<br>");
echo(acos(2));
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The acos() function returns the arc cosine of a number.
Tip: acos(-1) returns the value of Pi.

Syntax

acos(number);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
number
Required. Specifies a number in range -1 to 1
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The arc cosine of a number. Returns NAN if number is not in the range -1 to 1 
  

  
Return Type:
  
Float

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Return the inverse hyperbolic cosine of different numbers:

<?php
echo(acosh(7) . "<br>");echo(acosh(56) . "<br>");
echo(acosh(2.45));
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The acosh() function returns the inverse hyperbolic cosine of a number.

Syntax

acosh(number);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
number
Required. Specifies a number
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The inverse hyperbolik cosine of number
  

  
Return Type:
  
Float

  
PHP Version:
  
4.1+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.3 - acosh() is now available on all platforms


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Return the arc sine of different numbers:

<?php
echo(asin(0.64) . "<br>");echo(asin(-0.4) . "<br>");
echo(asin(0) . "<br>");
echo(asin(-1) . "<br>");
echo(asin(1) . "<br>");
echo(asin(2));
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The asin() function returns the arc sine of a number.
Tip: asin(1) returns the value of Pi/2.

Syntax

asin(number);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
number
Required. Specifies a number in range -1 to 1
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The arc sine of a number. Returns NAN if number is not in the range -1 to 1 
  

  
Return Type:
  
Float

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Return the inverse hyperbolic sine of different numbers:

<?php
echo(asinh(7) . "<br>");echo(asinh(56) . "<br>");
echo(asinh(2.45));
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The asinh() function returns the inverse hyperbolic sine of a number.

Syntax

asinh(number);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
number
Required. Specifies a number
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The inverse hyperbolic sine of number
  

  
Return Type:
  
Float

  
PHP Version:
  
4.1+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.3 - asinh() is now available on all platforms


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Return the arc tangent of different numbers with the atan() function:

<?php
echo(atan(0.50) . "<br>");
echo(atan(-0.50) . "<br>");
echo(atan(5) . "<br>");
echo(atan(-5) . "<br>");
echo(atan(100) . "<br>");
echo(atan(-100));
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The atan() function returns the arc tangent of arg as a numeric value between -Pi/2 and Pi/2 radians.

Syntax

atan(arg);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
arg
Required. Specifies an argument to process
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The arc tangent of arg in radians
  

  
Return Type:
  
Float

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Return the arc tangent of two variables with the atan2() function:

<?php
echo(atan2(0.50,0.50) . "<br>");
echo(atan2(-0.50,-0.50) . "<br>");
echo(atan2(5,5) . "<br>");
echo(atan2(10,20) . "<br>");
echo(atan2(-5,-5) . "<br>");
echo(atan2(-10,10));
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The atan2() function returns the arc tangent of two variables x and y.

Syntax

atan2(y,x);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
y
Required. Specifies the dividend
  
x
Required. Specifies the divisor
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The arc tangent of y/x in radians, which is between -Pi and Pi
  

  
Return Type:
  
Float

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Return the inverse hyperbolic tangent of different numbers:

<?php
 echo(atanh(M_PI_4) . "<br>");echo(atanh(0.50) . "<br>");
 echo(atanh(-0.50) . "<br>");echo(atanh(1) . "<br>");echo(atanh(-1));
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The atanh() function returns the inverse hyperbolic tangent of a number.

Syntax

atanh(number);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
number
Required. Specifies a number
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The hyperbolic tangent of number
  

  
Return Type:
  
Float

  
PHP Version:
  
4.1+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.3 - atanh() is now available on all platforms


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Convert a hexadecimal number to octal number:

<?php
 $hex = "E196"; echo base_convert($hex,16,8); ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The base_convert() function converts a number from one number base to another.

Syntax

base_convert(number,frombase,tobase);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
number
Required. Specifies the number to convert
  
frombase
Required. Specifies the original base of number. Has to be between 2 and 36, inclusive. Digits in numbers with a base higher than 10 will be represented with the letters a-z, with a meaning 10, b meaning 11 and z meaning 35
  
tobase
Required. Specifies the base to convert to. Has to be between 2 and 36, inclusive. Digits in numbers with a base higher than 10 will be represented with the letters a-z, with a meaning 10, b meaning 11 and z meaning 35
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The number converted to the specified base
  

  
Return Type:
  
String

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


More Examples

Example
Convert an octal number to a decimal number:

<?php
$oct = "0031";
 echo base_convert($oct,8,10);
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Example
Convert an octal number to a hexadecimal number:

<?php
$oct = "364";
 echo base_convert($oct,8,16);
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Convert binary to decimal:

<?php
echo bindec("0011") . "<br>";
echo bindec("01") . "<br>";
echo bindec("11000110011") . "<br>";
echo bindec("111");
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The bindec() function converts a binary number to a decimal number.
Tip: To convert decimal to binary, look at the decbin() function.

Syntax

bindec(binary_string);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
binary_string
Required. Specifies the binary string to convert.Note: 
    Must be a string!
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The decimal value of binary_string
  

  
Return Type:
  
Float / Integer

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Round numbers up to the nearest integer:

<?php
echo(ceil(0.60) . "<br>");
echo(ceil(0.40) . "<br>");
echo(ceil(5) . "<br>");
echo(ceil(5.1) . "<br>");
echo(ceil(-5.1) . "<br>");
echo(ceil(-5.9));
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The ceil() function rounds a number UP to the nearest integer, if necessary.
Tip: To round a number DOWN to the nearest integer, look at the
floor() function.
Tip: To round a floating-point number, look at the
round() function.

Syntax

ceil(number);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
number
Required. Specifies the value to round up
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The value rounded up to the nearest integer

  
Return Type:
  
Float

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Return the cosine of different numbers:

<?php
echo(cos(3) . "<br>");
echo(cos(-3) . "<br>");
echo(cos(0) . "<br>");
echo(cos(M_PI) . "<br>");
 echo(cos(2*M_PI));
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The cos() function returns the cosine of a number.
Note: The cos() 
function returns a numeric value between -1 and 1, which represents the cosine of the angle.

Syntax

cos(number);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
number
Required. Specifies a number
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The cosine of number

  
Return Type:
  
Float

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Return the hyperbolic cosine of different numbers:

<?php
echo(cosh(3) . "<br>");
echo(cosh(-3) . "<br>");
echo(cosh(0) . "<br>");
echo(cosh(M_PI) . "<br>");
 echo(cosh(2*M_PI));
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The cosh() function returns the  hyperbolic cosine of a number (equivalent to (exp(number) + exp(-number)) / 2).

Syntax

cosh(number);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
number
Required. Specifies a number
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The hyperbolic cosine of number

  
Return Type:
  
Float

  
PHP Version:
  
4.1+


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Convert decimal to binary:

<?php
echo decbin("3") . "<br>";
echo decbin("1") . "<br>";
echo decbin("1587") . "<br>";
echo decbin("7");
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The decbin() function converts a decimal number to a binary number.
Tip: To convert binary to decimal, look at the bindec() function.

Syntax

decbin(number);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
number
Required. Specifies the decimal value to convert
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
A string that contains the binary number of the decimal value
  

  
Return Type:
  
String

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Convert decimal to hexadecimal:

<?php
echo dechex("30") . "<br>";
echo dechex("10") . "<br>";
echo dechex("1587") . "<br>";
echo dechex("70");
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The dechex() function converts a decimal number to a hexadecimal number.
Tip: To convert hexadecimal to decimal, look at the hexdec() function.

Syntax

dechex(number);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
number
Required. Specifies the decimal value to convert
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
A string that contains the hexadecimal number of the decimal value
  

  
Return Type:
  
String

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Convert decimal to octal:

<?php
echo decoct("30") . "<br>";
echo decoct("10") . "<br>";
echo decoct("1587") . "<br>";
echo decoct("70");
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The decoct() function converts a decimal number to an octal number.
Tip: To convert octal to decimal, look at the octdec() function.

Syntax

decoct(number);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
number
Required. Specifies the decimal value to convert
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
A string that contains the octal number of the decimal value
  

  
Return Type:
  
String

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Convert degrees to radians:

<?php
echo deg2rad("45") . "<br>";
echo deg2rad("90") . "<br>";
echo deg2rad("360");
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The deg2rad() function converts a degree value to a radian value.
Tip: To convert a radian value to a degree value, look at the
rad2deg() function.

Syntax

deg2rad(number);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
number
Required. Specifies the degree to convert
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The radian equivalent of number
  

  
Return Type:
  
Float

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


More Examples

Example
 Convert a degree into its radian equivalent:

<?php
$deg = 180;
$rad = deg2rad($deg);
echo "$deg degrees is equal to $rad radians.";
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Return 'e' raised to the power of different numbers:

<?php
echo(exp(0) . "<br>");echo(exp(1) . "<br>");
echo(exp(10) . "<br>");
echo(exp(4.8));
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The exp() function returns e raised to the power of x (ex).
'e' is the base of the natural system of logarithms (approximately 2.718282) and x is the number passed to it.

Syntax

exp(x);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
x
Required. Specifies the exponent
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
'e' raised to the power of x

  
Return Type:
  
Float

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Return exp() - 1:

<?php
echo(expm1(0) . "<br>");echo(expm1(1) . "<br>");
echo(expm1(10) . "<br>");
echo(expm1(4.8));
 ?>

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Definition and Usage
The expm1() function returns exp(x) - 1.

Syntax

expm1(x);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
x
Required. Specifies the exponent
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
'e' raised to the power of x minus 1

  
Return Type:
  
Float

  
PHP Version:
  
4.1+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.3 - expm1() is now available on all platforms


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Round numbers down to the nearest integer:

<?php
echo(floor(0.60) . "<br>");
echo(floor(0.40) . "<br>");
echo(floor(5) . "<br>");
echo(floor(5.1) . "<br>");
echo(floor(-5.1) . "<br>");
echo(floor(-5.9));
 ?>

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Definition and Usage
The floor() function rounds a number DOWN to the nearest integer, if necessary.
Tip: To round a number UP to the nearest integer, look at the
ceil() function.
Tip: To round a floating-point number, look at the
round() function.

Syntax

floor(number);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
number
Required. Specifies the value to round down
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The value rounded down to the nearest integer

  
Return Type:
  
Float

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Return the remainder of x/y:

<?php
$x = 7;$y = 2;$result = fmod($x,$y);
echo $result;// $result equals 1, because 2 * 3 + 1 = 7 
 ?>

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Definition and Usage
The fmod() function returns the remainder (modulo) of x/y.

Syntax

fmod(x,y);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
x
Required. Specifies the dividend
  
y
Required. Specifies the divisor
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The floating point remainder of x/y
  

  
Return Type:
  
Float

  
PHP Version:
  
4.2+


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Return largest possible random value that can be returned by rand():

<?php
echo(getrandmax()); 
 ?>

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Definition and Usage
The getrandmax() function returns the largest possible value that can be 
returned by rand().

Syntax

getrandmax();

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The largest possible value returned by rand()
  

  
Return Type:
  
Integer

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Convert hexadecimal to decimal:

<?php
echo hexdec("1e") . "<br>";
echo hexdec("a") . "<br>";
echo hexdec("11ff") . "<br>";
echo hexdec("cceeff");
 ?>

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Definition and Usage
The hexdec() function converts a hexadecimal number to a decimal number.
Tip: To convert decimal to hexadecimal, look at the
dechex() function.

Syntax

hexdec(hex_string);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
hex_string
Required. Specifies the hexadecimal string to convert
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The decimal value of hex_string
  

  
Return Type:
  
Float / Integer

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Calculate the hypotenuse of different right-angle triangles:

<?php
echo hypot(3,4) . "<br>";
echo hypot(4,6) . "<br>";
 echo hypot(1,3) . "<br>";echo sqrt(3*3+4*4);
 ?>

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Definition and Usage
The hypot() function calculates the hypotenuse of a right-angle triangle.
Tip: This function is equivalent to sqrt(x*x + y*y).

Syntax

hypot(x,y);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
x
Required. Specifies the length of first side
  
y
Required. Specifies the length of second side
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The length of the hypotenuse
  

  
Return Type:
  
Float

  
PHP Version:
  
4.1+


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Perform some integer divisions:

<?php
echo 
  intdiv(8, 4) . "<br>";
echo intdiv(5, 2) . "<br>";
echo intdiv(-5, -2);
 ?>

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Definition and Usage
The intdiv() function is used for integer division.

Syntax

intdiv(dividend, divisor);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
dividend
Required. Specifies a number that will be divided
  
divisor
Required. Specifies the number to divide the dividend by
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The integer part of the division
  

  
Return Type:
  
Integer

  
PHP Version:
  
7+


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Check whether a value is finite or not:

<?php
echo is_finite(2) . "<br>";
echo is_finite(log(0)) . "<br>";
echo is_finite(2000);
 ?>

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Definition and Usage
The is_finite() function checks whether a value is finite or not.
This function returns true (1) if the specified value is a finite number, otherwise it returns false/nothing.
The value is finite if it is within the allowed range for a PHP float on this platform.

Syntax

is_finite(value);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
value
Required. Specifies the value to check
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if value is a finite number, FALSE otherwise
  

  
Return Type:
  
Boolean

  
PHP Version:
  
4.2+


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Check whether a value is infinite or not:

<?php
echo is_infinite(2) . "<br>";
echo is_infinite(log(0)) . "<br>";
echo is_infinite(2000);
 ?>

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Definition and Usage
The is_infinite() function checks whether a value is infinite or not.
This function returns true (1) if the specified value is an infinite number, otherwise it returns false/nothing.
The value is infinite if it is outside the allowed range for a PHP float on this platform.

Syntax

is_infinite(value);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
value
Required. Specifies the value to check
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if value is an infinite number, FALSE otherwise
  

  
Return Type:
  
Boolean

  
PHP Version:
  
4.2+


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Check whether a value is 'not-a-number':

<?php
 echo is_nan(200) . "<br>";echo is_nan(acos(1.01));
 ?>

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Definition and Usage
The is_nan() function checks whether a value is 'not a number'.
This function returns true (1) if the specified value is 'not-a-number', otherwise it returns false/nothing.

Syntax

 is_nan(value);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
value
Required. Specifies the value to check
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if value is 'not a number', FALSE otherwise
  

  
Return Type:
  
Boolean

  
PHP Version:
  
4.2+


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Return a pseudo random number in a range between 0 and 1:

<?php
echo lcg_value();?>

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Definition and Usage
The lcg_value() function returns a pseudo random number in a range between 0 and 1.

Syntax

lcg_value();
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
A pseudo random float value in a range between 0 and 1
  

  
Return Type:
  
Float

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Return the natural logarithm of different numbers:

<?php
echo(log(2.7183) . "<br>");
echo(log(2) . "<br>");
echo(log(1) . "<br>");
echo(log(0);
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The log() function returns the natural logarithm of a number, or the 
logarithm of number to base.

Syntax

log(number,base);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
number
Required. Specifies the value to calculate the logarithm for
  
base
Optional. The logarithmic base to use. Default is 'e'
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The natural logarithm of a number, or the logarithm of 
 number to base

  
Return Type:
  
Float

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 4.3: The base parameter were added


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Return the base-10 logarithm of different numbers:

<?php
echo(log10(2.7183) . "<br>");
echo(log10(2) . "<br>");
echo(log10(1) . "<br>");
echo(log10(0));
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The log10() function returns the base-10 logarithm of a number.

Syntax

log10(number);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
number
Required. Specifies the value to calculate the logarithm for
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The base-10 logarithm of 
 number

  
Return Type:
  
Float

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Return log(1+number) for different numbers:

<?php
echo(log1p(2.7183) . "<br>");
echo(log1p(2) . "<br>");
echo(log1p(1) . "<br>");
echo(log1p(0));
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The log1p() function returns log(1+number), computed in a way that is 
accurate even when the value of number is close to zero.

Syntax

 log1p(number);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
number
Required. Specifies the number to process
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
log(1+number)

  
Return Type:
  
Float

  
PHP Version:
  
4.1+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.3: The log1p() function is now available on all platforms


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Find highest value with the max() function:

<?php
 echo(max(2,4,6,8,10) . "<br>");echo(max(22,14,68,18,15) . "<br>");
 echo(max(array(4,6,8,10)) . "<br>");echo(max(array(44,16,81,12)));?>

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Definition and Usage
The max() function returns the highest value in an array, or the highest value of several specified values.

Syntax

 max(array_values);ormax(value1,value2,...);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array_values
Required. Specifies an array containing the values
  
value1,value2,...
Required. Specifies the values to compare (must be at least two values)
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The numerically highest value

  
Return Type:
  
Mixed

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Find lowest value with the min() function:

<?php
 echo(min(2,4,6,8,10) . "<br>");echo(min(22,14,68,18,15) . "<br>");
 echo(min(array(4,6,8,10)) . "<br>");echo(min(array(44,16,81,12)));?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The min() function returns the lowest value in an array, or the lowest value of several specified values.

Syntax

 min(array_values);ormin(value1,value2,...);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
array_values
Required. Specifies an array containing the values
  
value1,value2,...
Required. Specifies the values to compare (must be at least two values)
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The numerically lowest value

  
Return Type:
  
Mixed

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Return largest possible random value that can be returned by mt_rand():

<?php
echo(mt_getrandmax()); 
 ?>

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Definition and Usage
The mt_getrandmax() function returns the largest possible value that can be returned by
mt_rand().

Syntax

 mt_getrandmax();

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The largest possible value returned by mt_rand()
  

  
Return Type:
  
Integer

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Generate random numbers:

<?php
echo(mt_rand() . "<br>");
echo(mt_rand() . "<br>");
echo(mt_rand(10,100));?>

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Definition and Usage
The mt_rand() function generates a random integer using the Mersenne Twister algorithm.
Tip: This function produces a better random value, and is 4 times faster than
rand().
Tip: If you want a random integer between 10 and 100 (inclusive), use mt_rand (10,100).

Syntax

mt_rand();ormt_rand(min,max);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
min
Optional. Specifies the lowest number to be returned. Default is 0
  
max
Optional. Specifies the highest number to be returned. Default is
 mt_getrandmax()
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
A random integer between min (or 0) and max (or mt_getrandmax() inclusive). Returns FALSE if max < min

  
Return Type:
  
Integer

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 7.1: rand() has been an alias of mt_rand()PHP 5.3.4: Issues an E_WARNING and returns FALSE if max < min.PHP 4.2.0: Random number generator is seeded automatically.


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Seed the random number generator:

<?php
mt_srand(mktime());
echo(mt_rand());?>

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Definition and Usage
The mt_srand() function seeds the Mersenne Twister random number generator.

Syntax

mt_srand(seed, mode);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
seed
Optional. Specifies the seed value
  
mode
Optional. Specifies the algorithm to use. Can be one of the following constants:
    
      
MT_RAND_MT19937
      - uses the fixed, correct Mersenne Twister implementation (which is used 
      from PHP 7.1)
      
MT_RAND_PHP - uses the incorrect Mersenne Twister implementation 
      (which was used up to PHP 7.1)
    
    
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
None

  
Return Type:
  
-

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 4.2.0: Random number generator is now seeded automatically


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Convert octal to decimal:

<?php
echo octdec("36") . "<br>";
echo octdec("12") . "<br>";
echo octdec("3063") . "<br>";
echo octdec("106");
 ?>

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Definition and Usage
The octdec() function converts an octal number to a decimal number.
Tip: To convert decimal to octal, look at the decoct() function.

Syntax

octdec(octal_string);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
octal_string
Required. Specifies the octal string to convert
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The decimal value of octal_string
  

  
Return Type:
  
Float / Integer

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Return the value of PI:

<?php
echo(pi());?>

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Definition and Usage
The pi() function returns the value of PI.
Tip: The named constant M_PI is identical to pi().

Syntax

pi();

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
3.1415926535898

  
Return Type:
  
Float

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Examples of pow():

<?php
 echo(pow(2,4) . "<br>");echo(pow(-2,4) . "<br>");echo(pow(-2,-4) . "<br>");echo(pow(-2,-3.2));?>

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Definition and Usage
The pow() function returns x raised to the power of y.

Syntax

pow(x,y);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
x
Required. Specifies the base to use
  
y
Required. Specifies the exponent
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
x raised to the power of y

  
Return Type:
  
 Integer if possible, Float otherwise

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 4.0.6: Will now return integer if possible. Earlier it only returned floatPHP 4.2.0: No warning is issued on errors


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Convert radians to degrees:

<?php
echo rad2deg(pi()) . "<br>";
echo rad2deg(pi()/4);
 ?>

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Definition and Usage
The rad2deg() function converts a radian value to a degree value.
Tip: To convert a degree value to a radian value, look at the
deg2rad() function.

Syntax

rad2deg(number);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
number
Required. Specifies a radian value to convert
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The equivalent of number in degrees
  

  
Return Type:
  
Float

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Generate random numbers:

<?php
echo(rand() . "<br>");
echo(rand() . "<br>");
echo(rand(10,100));?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The rand() function generates a random integer.
Tip: If you want a random integer between 10 and 100 (inclusive), use rand (10,100).
Tip: The mt_rand() function produces a better random value, and is 4 times 
faster than rand().

Syntax

rand();orrand(min,max);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
min
Optional. Specifies the lowest number to be returned. Default is 0
  
max
Optional. Specifies the highest number to be returned. Default is
 getrandmax()
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
A random integer between min (or 0) and max (or getrandmax() inclusive)

  
Return Type:
  
Integer

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 7.1: The rand() function is an alias of
  mt_rand().PHP 4.2.0: The random number generator is seeded automatically.


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Round numbers:

<?php
echo(round(0.60) . "<br>");
echo(round(0.50) . "<br>");
echo(round(0.49) . "<br>");
echo(round(-4.40) . "<br>");
echo(round(-4.60));
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The round() function rounds a floating-point number.
Tip: To round a number UP to the nearest integer, look at the
ceil() function.
Tip: To round a number DOWN to the nearest integer, look at the
floor() function.

Syntax

round(number,precision,mode);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
number
Required. Specifies the value to round
  
precision
Optional. Specifies the number of decimal digits to round to. Default is 0
  
mode
Optional. Specifies a constant to specify the rounding mode:
 
    
PHP_ROUND_HALF_UP - Default. Rounds number up to precision  decimal, when it is half way there. Rounds 1.5 to 2 and -1.5 to -2
    
PHP_ROUND_HALF_DOWN - Round number down to precision  decimal places, when it is half way there. Rounds 1.5 to 1 and -1.5 to -1
    
PHP_ROUND_HALF_EVEN - Round number to precision decimal  places towards the next even value
    
PHP_ROUND_HALF_ODD - Round number to precision  decimal places towards the next odd value
 
   
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The rounded value

  
Return Type:
  
Float

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.3: The mode parameter was added


More Examples

Example
Round numbers to two decimals:

<?php
 echo(round(4.96754,2) . "<br>");echo(round(7.045,2) . "<br>");
 echo(round(7.055,2));
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Example
Round numbers using the constants:

<?php
 echo(round(1.5,0,PHP_ROUND_HALF_UP) . "<br>");
 echo(round(-1.5,0,PHP_ROUND_HALF_UP) . "<br>");
 echo(round(1.5,0,PHP_ROUND_HALF_DOWN) . "<br>");
 echo(round(-1.5,0,PHP_ROUND_HALF_DOWN) . "<br>");
 echo(round(1.5,0,PHP_ROUND_HALF_EVEN) . "<br>");
 echo(round(-1.5,0,PHP_ROUND_HALF_EVEN) . "<br>");
 echo(round(1.5,0,PHP_ROUND_HALF_ODD) . "<br>");
 echo(round(-1.5,0,PHP_ROUND_HALF_ODD));
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Return the sine of different numbers:

<?php
echo(sin(3) . "<br>");
echo(sin(-3) . "<br>");
echo(sin(0) . "<br>");
echo(sin(M_PI) . "<br>");
echo(sin(M_PI_2));
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The sin() function returns the sine of a number.

Syntax

sin(number);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
number
Required. Specifies a value in radians
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The sine of number
  

  
Return Type:
  
Float

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Return the hyperbolic sine of different numbers:

<?php
echo(sinh(3) . "<br>");
echo(sinh(-3) . "<br>");
echo(sinh(0) . "<br>");
echo(sinh(M_PI) . "<br>");
echo(sinh(M_PI_2));
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The sinh() function returns the hyperbolic sine of a number, which is equal to (exp(number) - exp(-number))/2).

Syntax

sinh(number);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
number
Required. Specifies a number
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The hyperbolic sine of number
  

  
Return Type:
  
Float

  
PHP Version:
  
4.1+


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Return the square root of different numbers:

<?php
echo(sqrt(0) . "<br>");
echo(sqrt(1) . "<br>");
echo(sqrt(9) . "<br>");
echo(sqrt(0.64) . "<br>");
echo(sqrt(-9));
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The sqrt() function returns the square root of a number.

Syntax

 sqrt(number);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
number
Required. Specifies a number
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The square root of number, or NAN for negative numbers
  

  
Return Type:
  
Float

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Seed the random number generator:

<?php
 srand(mktime());
echo(rand());?>

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Definition and Usage
The srand() function seeds the random number generator (rand()).
Tip: From PHP 4.2.0, the random number generator is seeded automatically 
and there is no need to use this function. 

Syntax

srand(seed);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
seed
Optional. Specifies the seed value
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
None

  
Return Type:
  
-

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 7.1.0: srand() has been an alias of 
  mt_srand().PHP 4.2.0: Random number generator is now seeded automatically.


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Return the tangent of different numbers:

<?php
echo(tan(M_PI_4) . "<br>");
echo(tan(0.50) . "<br>");
echo(tan(-0.50) . "<br>");
echo(tan(5) . "<br>");
echo(tan(10) . "<br>");
echo(tan(-5) . "<br>");
echo(tan(-10));
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The tan() function returns the tangent of a number.

Syntax

tan(number);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
number
Required. Specifies a value in radians
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The tangent of number
  

  
Return Type:
  
Float

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Math Reference

PHP Math Reference

Example
Return the hyperbolic tangent of different numbers:

<?php
echo(tanh(M_PI_4) . "<br>");
echo(tanh(0.50) . "<br>");
echo(tanh(-0.50) . "<br>");
echo(tanh(5) . "<br>");
echo(tanh(10) . "<br>");
echo(tanh(-5) . "<br>");
echo(tanh(-10));
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The tanh() function returns the hyperbolic tangent of a number, which is equal to sinh(x)/cosh(x).

Syntax

tanh(number);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
number
Required. Specifies a number
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The hyperbolic tangent of number
  

  
Return Type:
  
Float

  
PHP Version:
  
4.1+


PHP Math Reference

Miscellaneous Introduction
The misc. functions were only placed here because none of the other 
categories seemed to fit.

Installation
The misc. functions are part of the PHP core. No installation is required to 
use these functions.

Runtime Configuration
The behavior of the misc. functions is affected by settings in the php.ini file.
Misc. configuration options:


  
Name
Description
Default
Changeable
  
ignore_user_abort
FALSE indicates that scripts will be terminated as soon as they try to output something after a client has aborted their connection
"0"
PHP_INI_ALL
  
highlight.string
Color for highlighting a string in PHP syntax
"#DD0000"
 
PHP_INI_ALL
  
highlight.comment
Color for highlighting PHP comments
"#FF8000"
PHP_INI_ALL
  
highlight.keyword
     
Color for syntax highlighting PHP keywords (e.g. parenthesis and semicolon) 
"#007700"
PHP_INI_ALL
  
highlight.default
       
Default color for PHP syntax
"#0000BB"
PHP_INI_ALL
  
highlight.html
Color for HTML code
"#000000"
 
PHP_INI_ALL
  
browscap
Name and location of browser-capabilities file (e.g. browscap.ini) 
NULL
PHP_INI_SYSTEM
  

Miscellaneous Functions

  
Function
Description
  

 connection_aborted()
Checks whether the client has disconnected
  

 connection_status()
Returns the current connection status
  
connection_timeout()
Deprecated from PHP 4.0.5. Checks whether the script has timed out
  
constant()
Returns the value of a constant
  
define()
Defines a constant
  
defined()
Checks whether a constant exists
  
die()
Alias of exit()
     
  
eval()
Evaluates a string as PHP code
  
exit()
Prints a message and exits the current script
  
get_browser()
Returns the capabilities of the user's browser
  
__halt_compiler()
Halts the compiler execution
  
highlight_file()
Outputs a file with the PHP syntax highlighted
  
highlight_string()
Outputs a string with the PHP syntax highlighted
  
hrtime()
Returns the system's high resolution time
  

 ignore_user_abort()
Sets whether a remote client can abort the running of a script
  
pack()
Packs data into a binary string
  

 php_strip_whitespace()
Returns the source code of a file with PHP comments and whitespace removed
  
show_source()
Alias of highlight_file()
  
sleep()
Delays code execution for a number of seconds
  
sys_getloadavg()
Returns the system load average
  
time_nanosleep()
Delays code execution for a number of seconds and nanoseconds
  
time_sleep_until()
Makes a script sleep until the specified time
  
uniqid()
Generates a unique ID
  
unpack()
Unpacks data from a binary string
  
usleep()
Delays code execution for a number of microseconds
  

Predefined Misc. Constants


  
Constant
Description
  
CONNECTION_ABORTED
Connection is aborted by user or network error
  
CONNECTION_NORMAL
Connection is running normally
  
CONNECTION_TIMEOUT
Connection timed out
  
__COMPILER_HALT_OFFSET__
 




PHP Misc Reference

Example
Create a function (check_abort()) that writes a log message if a client 
aborts the script:

<?phpfunction check_abort()
  {
  if (connection_aborted())
  error_log ("Script $GLOBALS[SCRIPT_NAME]" .
  "$GLOBALS[SERVER_NAME] was aborted by the user.");
  }

// Some script to be executed here

// Call the check_abort function when the script ends
register_shutdown_function("check_abort");
?>


Definition and Usage
The connection_aborted() function checks whether the client has disconnected.

Syntax

connection_aborted()

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns 1 if the connection has been aborted, otherwise it returns 0

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Misc Reference

PHP Misc Reference

Example
Return the connection satus:

<?phpswitch (connection_status())
{
case CONNECTION_NORMAL:
  $txt = 'Connection is in a normal state';
  break;
case CONNECTION_ABORTED:
  $txt = 'Connection aborted';
  break;
case CONNECTION_TIMEOUT:
  $txt = 'Connection timed out';
  break;
case (CONNECTION_ABORTED & CONNECTION_TIMEOUT):
  $txt = 'Connection aborted and timed out';
  break;
default:
  $txt = 'Unknown';
  break;
}

echo $txt;
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The connection_status() function returns the current connection status.
Possible values that can be returned are: 
0 - CONNECTION_NORMAL - connection is running normally
1 - CONNECTION_ABORTED - connection is aborted by user or network error
2 - CONNECTION_TIMEOUT -  connection timed out
3 - CONNECTION_ABORTED & CONNECTION_TIMEOUT

Syntax

connection_status()
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the connection status bitfield

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Misc Reference

PHP Misc Reference

Definition and Usage
The connection_timeout() function was deprecated and removed in PHP version 4.0.5. 
The connection_timeout() function checks whether the script has timed out.

Syntax

connection_timeout()

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns 1 if the script has timed out, otherwise it returns 0

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Misc Reference

PHP Misc Reference

Example
Return the value of a constant:

<?php//define a constant
define("GREETING","Hello you! How are you today?");

echo constant("GREETING");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The constant() function returns the value of a constant.
Note:
This function also works with class constants. 

Syntax

constant(constant)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
constant
Required. Specifies the name of the constant to check
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the value of a constant, or NULL if the constant is not defined

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Misc Reference

PHP Misc Reference

Example
Define a case-sensitive constant:

<?phpdefine("GREETING","Hello you! How are you today?");
echo constant("GREETING");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The define() function defines a constant.
Constants are much like variables, except for the following differences: 
A constant's value cannot be changed after it is set
Constant names do not need a leading dollar sign ($)
Constants can be accessed regardless of scope
Constant values can only be strings and numbers

Syntax

define(name,value,case_insensitive)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
name
Required. Specifies the name of the constant
  
value
Required. Specifies the value of the constant.
  
case_insensitive
Optional. Specifies whether the constant name should be case-insensitive. Possible values:
TRUE - Case-insensitive (deprecated in PHP 7.3)
FALSE - Case-sensitive (this is default)

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns TRUE on success or FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
PHP 7.3: Defining case-insensitive constants is deprecated.PHP 7: The 
  value parameter can also be an array.PHP 5: The value parameter must be a 
  string, integer, float, boolean or NULL.

PHP Misc Reference

PHP Misc Reference

Example
Check if a constant exists:

<?phpdefine("GREETING","Hello you! How are you today?");
echo defined("GREETING");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The defined() function checks whether a constant exists.

Syntax

defined(name)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
name
Required. Specifies the name of the constant to check
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns TRUE if the constant exists, or FALSE otherwise

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Misc Reference

PHP Misc Reference

Example
Print a message and terminate the current script:

<?php$site = "https://www.w3schools.com/";
fopen($site,"r")
or die("Unable to connect to $site");
?>


Definition and Usage
The die() function is an alias of the exit() function.

Syntax

die(message)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
message
Required. A message or status number to print before terminating the script.
    A status number will not be written to the output, just used as the exit 
    status.
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Nothing

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Misc Reference

PHP Misc Reference

Example
Evaluate a string as PHP code:

<?php$string = "beautiful";
$time = "winter";

$str = 'This is a $string $time morning!';
echo $str. "<br>";

eval("\$str = \"$str\";");
echo $str;
?>
The output of the code above will be:

This is a $string $time morning!
This is a beautiful winter morning! 



Definition and Usage
The eval() function evaluates a string as PHP code.
The string must be valid PHP code and must end with semicolon.
Note: A return statement will terminate the evaluation of the string immediately.
Tip: This function can be useful for storing PHP code in a database.

Syntax

eval(phpcode)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
phpcode
Required. Specifies the PHP code to be evaluated
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns NULL unless a return statement is called in the code 
string. Then the value passed to return is returned. If there is a parse error 
in the code string, eval() returns FALSE. 

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Misc Reference

PHP Misc Reference

Example
Print a message and exit the current script:

<?php$site = "https://www.w3schools.com/";
fopen($site,"r")
or exit("Unable to connect to $site");
?>


Definition and Usage
The exit() function prints a message and terminates the current script.

Syntax

exit(message)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
message
Required. A message or status number to print before terminating the script.
    A status number will not be written to the output, just used as the exit 
    status.
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Nothing

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

PHP Misc Reference

PHP Misc Reference

Example
Look up the browscap.ini file and return the capabilities of the browser:

<?phpecho $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'];$browser = get_browser();
 print_r($browser);
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The get_browser() function looks up the user's browscap.ini file and returns 
the capabilities of the user's browser.

Syntax

get_browser(user_agent,return_array)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
user_agent
Optional. Specifies the name of an HTTP user agent. Default is the value of $HTTP_USER_AGENT. You can bypass this parameter with NULL
  
return_array
Optional. If this parameter is set to TRUE, the function will return an array instead of an object
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an object or an array with information about the user's browser on success, or FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
The return_array parameter was added in PHP 4.3.2


PHP Misc Reference

PHP Misc Reference

Definition and Usage
The __halt_compiler() function halts the compiler execution.

Syntax

  __halt_compiler()

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Nothing

  
PHP Version:
  
5.1+


PHP Misc Reference

PHP Misc Reference

Example
Using a test file ("test.php") to output the file with the PHP syntax highlighted:

<html>
<body>
<?php
highlight_file("test.php");
?>
</body>
</html>
The browser output of the code above could be (depending on the content in your file):

<html>
<body>
<?php
echo ("test.php");
?>
</body></html>
The HTML output of the code above could be (View Source):

 <html><body><code><span style="color: #000000">&lt;html&gt;<br />&lt;body&gt;<br /><span style="color: #0000BB">&lt;?php<br /></span><span style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"test.php"</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;
 <br /></span>&lt;/body&gt;<br />&lt;/html&gt;</span></code></body></html>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The highlight_file() function outputs a file with the PHP syntax 
highlighted. The syntax is highlighted by using HTML tags.
Tip: The colors used for syntax highlighting can be set in the php.ini file or with the ini_set() function.
Note: When using this function, the entire file will be displayed - including passwords and any other 
sensitive information!

Syntax

highlight_file(filename,return)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
filename
Required. Specifies the file to be highlighted
  
return
Optional. If set to TRUE, this function will return the highlighted code as a string, instead of printing it out. Default is FALSE

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
If the return parameter is set to TRUE, this function returns the highlighted code as a string instead of printing it out. Otherwise, it returns TRUE on success, or FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
PHP 4.2.1 - This function is now also affected by safe_mode and open_basedir. However, safe_mode was 
  deprecated and removed in PHP 5.4.PHP 4.2 - The return parameter was added.


PHP Misc Reference

PHP Misc Reference

Example
Output a string with the PHP syntax highlighted:

<html>
<body>
<?php
highlight_string("Hello world! <?php phpinfo(); ?>");
?>
</body>
</html>
The browser output of the code above will be:

Hello world! <?php phpinfo(); ?>
The HTML output of the code above will be (View Source):

<html>
<body>
<code>
<span style="color: #000000">Hello&nbsp;world!&nbsp;
<span style="color: #0000BB">&lt;?php&nbsp;phpinfo</span>
<span style="color: #007700">();&nbsp;</span>
<span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;</span>
</span>
</code>
</body></html>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The highlight_string() function outputs a string with the PHP syntax 
highlighted. The string is highlighted by using HTML tags.
The colors used for syntax highlighting can be set in the php.ini file or with the ini_set() function.

Syntax

highlight_string(string,return)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to be highlighted
  
return
Optional. If set to TRUE, this function will return the highlighted code as a string, instead of printing it out. Default is FALSE

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns TRUE on success, or FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
The return parameter was added in PHP 4.2.0


PHP Misc Reference

PHP Misc Reference

Example
Return the system's high resolution time:

<html>
<body>
<?php
  echo hrtime();
?>
</body>
</html>
The output of the code above could be something like this:

233568471904329635


Definition and Usage
The hrtime() function returns the system's high resolution time.

Syntax

  hrtime(return_as_num)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
return_as_num
Optional. If set to TRUE, this function will return the high resolution 
    time as array or number. Default is FALSE
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns nanoseconds or an array of integers

  
PHP Version:
  
7.3+


PHP Misc Reference

PHP Misc Reference

Example
Set to false (default) - client aborts will cause the script to stop running:

<?phpignore_user_abort();
?>
The output of the code above could be:

0


Definition and Usage
The ignore_user_abort() function sets whether a user should abort a script 
execution when he/she disconnects.

Syntax

ignore_user_abort(setting)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
setting
Optional. TRUE ignores user aborts in a script (the script will continue to run). This is FALSE by default, meaning that client aborts will cause the script to stop running 
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the previous value of the user-abort setting

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP Misc Reference

PHP Misc Reference

Example
Pack data into a binary string:

 <?phpecho pack("C3",80,72,80);
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The pack() function packs data into a binary string.

Syntax

pack(format,args+)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
format
Required. Specifies the format to use when packing data.
 Possible values:
 
    
a - NUL-padded string
    
A - SPACE-padded string
    
h - Hex string, low nibble first
    
H - Hex string, high nibble first
    
c - signed char
    
C - unsigned char
    
s - signed short (always 16 bit, machine byte order)
    
S - unsigned short (always 16 bit, machine byte order)
    
n - unsigned short (always 16 bit, big endian byte order)
    
v - unsigned short (always 16 bit, little endian byte order)
    
i - signed integer (machine dependent size and byte order)
    
I - unsigned integer (machine dependent size and byte order)
    
l - signed long (always 32 bit, machine byte order)
    
L - unsigned long (always 32 bit, machine byte order)
    
N - unsigned long (always 32 bit, big endian byte order)
    
V - unsigned long (always 32 bit, little endian byte order)
    
q - signed long long (always 64 bit, machine byte order)
    
Q - unsigned long long (always 64 bit, machine byte order)
    
J - unsigned long long (always 64 bit, big endian byte order)
    
P - unsigned long long (always 64 bit, little endian byte order)
    
f - float (machine dependent size and representation)
    
g - float (machine dependent size, little endian byte order)
    
G - float (machine dependent size, big endian byte order)
    
d - double (machine dependent size and representation)
    
e - double (machine dependent size, little endian byte order)
    
E - double (machine dependent size, big endian byte order)
    
x - NUL byte
    
X - Back up one byte
    
Z - NUL-padded string
    
@ - NUL-fill to absolute position 
 
  
  
args+
Optional. Specifies one or more arguments to be packed
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns data in a binary string

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
PHP 7.2 - float and double now supports both big and small endian.PHP 
  7.0.15 - The "E", "e", "G", "g" code was added.PHP 5.6.3 - The "Q", 
  "q", "J", "P" code was added.PHP 5.5 - The "Z" code was added 
  (holds the same functionality as "a" for Perl compatibility).


More Examples

Example
Pack data into a binary string:

 <?phpecho pack("C*",80,72,80);
 ?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP Misc Reference

PHP Misc Reference

Example
Return the source code of the "test.php" file with PHP comments and 
whitespace removed:

<?php// PHP comment

/*
*  Another PHP comment
*/

echo php_strip_whitespace       ("test.php");
?>
If you select "View source" in the browser window, it will look 
like this:

<?php
echo php_strip_whitespace ("test.php"); ?>


Definition and Usage
The php_strip_whitespace() function returns the source code of the specified file 
with PHP comments and whitespace removed.

Syntax

php_strip_whitespace(filename)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
filename
Required. Specifies the file to strip


Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the stripped source code on success, or an empty string on failure. Note: This function only returns an empty string on versions before PHP 5.0.1.

  
PHP Version:
  
5+

PHP Misc Reference

PHP Misc Reference

Example
Using a test file ("test.php") to output the file with the PHP syntax highlighted:

<html>
<body>
<?php
 show_source("test.php");
?>
</body>
</html>
The browser output of the code above could be (depending on the content in your file):

<html>
<body>
<?php
echo ("test.php");
?>
</body></html>

The HTML output of the code above could be (View Source):

 <html><body><code><span style="color: #000000">&lt;html&gt;<br />&lt;body&gt;<br /><span style="color: #0000BB">&lt;?php<br /></span><span style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"test.php"</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;
 <br /></span>&lt;/body&gt;<br />&lt;/html&gt;</span></code></body></html>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The show_source() function outputs a file with the PHP syntax 
highlighted. The syntax is highlighted by using HTML tags.
The colors used for highlighting can be set in the php.ini file or with the ini_set() function.
show_source() is an alias of highlight_file().
Note: When using this function, the entire file will be displayed - including passwords and any other 
sensitive information!

Syntax

show_source(filename,return)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
filename
Required. Specifies the file to display
  
return
Optional. If set to TRUE, this function will return the highlighted code as a string, instead of printing it out. Default is FALSE
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
If the return parameter is set to TRUE, this function returns the highlighted code as a string instead of printing it out. Otherwise, it returns TRUE on success, or FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
As of PHP 4.2.1, this function is now also affected by safe_mode and open_basedir. However, safe_mode was removed in PHP 5.4.PHP 4.2 - The return parameter was added.

PHP Misc Reference

PHP Misc Reference

Example
Delay execution of the current script for 3 seconds:

<?phpecho date('h:i:s') . "<br>";

//sleep for 3 seconds
sleep(3);

//start again
echo date('h:i:s');
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The sleep() function delays execution of the current script for a specified number of 
seconds.
Note: This function throws an error if the 
specified number of seconds is negative.

Syntax

sleep(seconds)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
seconds
Required. Specifies the number of seconds to delay the script

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns 0 on success, or FALSE on error.This function returns a non-zero value if the call was interrupted by a signal. On Windows, this value will always be 192, which is the value of the WAIT_IO_COMPLETION constant within the Windows API. On other platforms, the return value will be the number of seconds left to sleep.

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
Before PHP 5.3.4, this function always returns NULL when sleep has occurred on Windows.


PHP Misc Reference

PHP Misc Reference

Example
Check the system load average. If it is over 0.8, stop script and display a 
message:

<?php$loadtime = sys_getloadavg();if ($loadtime[0] > 0.80) {  
  die('Sorry, server is busy.');}?>


Definition and Usage
The sys_getloadavg() function returns the system load average.
This function returns an array with three numbers that represents the average 
system load over the last 1, 5 and 15 minutes.
Note: This function does not work on Windows platforms.

Syntax

sys_getloadavg()

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array with three samples (last 1, 5 and 15 
 minutes)

  
PHP Version:
  
5.1.3+


PHP Misc Reference

PHP Misc Reference

Example
Delay execution of the current script for 2,5 seconds:

<?phpif (time_nanosleep(2,500000000) === true)
  {
  echo "Slept for 2,5 seconds";
  }
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The time_nanosleep() function delays execution of the current script for a 
specified number of seconds and nanoseconds.

Syntax

time_nanosleep(seconds,nanoseconds)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
seconds
Required. Specifies the number of seconds to delay the script
  
nanoseconds
Required. Specifies the number of  nanoseconds to delay the script (must be less than 1,000,000,000)
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 

 Returns TRUE on success, or FALSE on failure.If the call was interrupted by a signal, an associative array will be returned with the number of seconds or nanoseconds remaining in the delay.
  

  
PHP Version:
  
5+

  
Changelog:
  
This function did not work on Windows platforms prior PHP 5.3.0

PHP Misc Reference

PHP Misc Reference

Example
Let the script sleep for 3 seconds:

<?phptime_sleep_until(time()+3);echo "Hello";
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The time_sleep_until() function is used to make a script sleep until the specified time.

Syntax

time_sleep_until(timestamp)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
timestamp
Required. Specifies when the script should wake

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns TRUE on success, or FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.1.0+

  
Changelog:
  
This function did not work on Windows platforms until PHP 5.3.0


PHP Misc Reference

PHP Misc Reference

Example
Generate a unique ID:

 <?phpecho uniqid();
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The uniqid() function generates a unique ID based on the microtime (the current time in microseconds).
Note: The generated ID from this function does not guarantee 
uniqueness of the return value! To generate an extremely difficult to predict ID, 
use the md5() function.

Syntax

uniqid(prefix,more_entropy)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
prefix
Optional. Specifies a prefix to the unique ID (useful if two scripts generate ids at exactly the same microsecond)
  
more_entropy
Optional. Specifies more entropy at the end of the return value. This will make the result more unique. When set to TRUE, the return string will be 23 characters. Default is FALSE, and the return string will be 13 characters long 
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the unique identifier, as a string

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
The prefix parameter became optional in PHP 5.0.The limit of 114 characters long for prefix was raised in PHP 4.3.1.


PHP Misc Reference

PHP Misc Reference

Example
Unpack data from a binary string:

 <?php$data = "PHP";
print_r(unpack("C*",$data));
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The unpack() function unpacks data from a binary string.

Syntax

unpack(format,data)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
format
Required. Specifies the format to use when unpacking data.
 Possible values:
 
    
a - NUL-padded string
    
A - SPACE-padded string
    
h - Hex string, low nibble first
    
H - Hex string, high nibble first
    
c - signed char
    
C - unsigned char
    
s - signed short (always 16 bit, machine byte order)
    
S - unsigned short (always 16 bit, machine byte order)
    
n - unsigned short (always 16 bit, big endian byte order)
    
v - unsigned short (always 16 bit, little endian byte order)
    
i - signed integer (machine dependent size and byte order)
    
I - unsigned integer (machine dependent size and byte order)
    
l - signed long (always 32 bit, machine byte order)
    
L - unsigned long (always 32 bit, machine byte order)
    
N - unsigned long (always 32 bit, big endian byte order)
    
V - unsigned long (always 32 bit, little endian byte order)
    
q - signed long long (always 64 bit, machine byte order)
    
Q - unsigned long long (always 64 bit, machine byte order)
    
J - unsigned long long (always 64 bit, big endian byte order)
    
P - unsigned long long (always 64 bit, little endian byte order)
    
f - float (machine dependent size and representation)
    
g - float (machine dependent size, little endian byte order)
    
G - float (machine dependent size, big endian byte order)
    
d - double (machine dependent size and representation)
    
e - double (machine dependent size, little endian byte order)
    
E - double (machine dependent size, big endian byte order)
    
x - NUL byte
    
X - Back up one byte
    
Z - NUL-padded string
    
@ - NUL-fill to absolute 
 
  
  
data
Required. Specifies the binary data to be unpacked
  
offset
Optional. Specifies where to start unpacking from. Default is 0.

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array on success, or FALSE on failure.

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
PHP 7.2 - float and double now supports both big and small endian.PHP 
  7.1 - Added the optional offset parameter.PHP 5.5.0 - The following changes were made for Perl compatibility:
  The "a" code now retains trailing NULL bytes.The "A" code now strips all trailing ASCII whitespace.The "Z" code was added for NULL-padded strings, and removes trailing NULL bytes.


More Examples

Example
Unpack data:

 <?php$data = "PHP";
print_r(unpack("C*myint",$data));
 ?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
Unpack data:

 <?php$bin = pack("c2n2",0x1234,0x5678,65,66);
print_r(unpack("c2chars/n2int",$bin));
 ?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP Misc Reference

PHP Misc Reference

Example
Delay execution of the current script for 3 seconds (3000000 microseconds):

<?phpecho date('h:i:s') . "<br>";//sleep for 3 seconds
 usleep(3000000);//start againecho date('h:i:s');
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The usleep() function delays execution of the current script for a specified number of 
microseconds (a microsecond equals one millionth of a second).

Syntax

usleep(microseconds)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
microseconds
Required. Specifies the number of microseconds to delay the script
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
No value is returned

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
This function did not work on Windows platforms until PHP 5


PHP Misc Reference

MySQLi Introduction
The MySQLi functions allows you to access MySQL database servers.
Note: The MySQLi extension is designed to work with MySQL version 4.1.13 or newer.

Installation / Runtime Configuration
For the MySQLi functions to be available, you must compile PHP with support for the 
MySQLi extension.
The MySQLi extension was introduced with PHP version 5.0.0. The MySQL Native Driver was included in PHP version 5.3.0.
For installation details, go to:

http://php.net/manual/en/mysqli.installation.php
For runtime configuration details, go to:

http://php.net/manual/en/mysqli.configuration.php

MySQLi Functions


  
Function
Description
  
affected_rows()
Returns the number of affected rows in the previous MySQL operation
  
autocommit()
Turns on or off auto-committing database modifications
  
begin_transaction()
Starts a transaction
  
change_user()
Changes the user of the specified database connection
  
character_set_name()
Returns the default character set for the database connection
  
close()
Closes a previously opened database connection
  
commit()
Commits the current transaction
  
connect()
Opens a new connection to the MySQL server
  
connect_errno()
Returns the error code from the last connection error
  
connect_error()
Returns the error description from the last connection error
  
data_seek()
Adjusts the result pointer to an arbitrary row in the result-set
  
debug()
Performs debugging operations
  
dump_debug_info()
Dumps debugging info into the log
  
errno()
Returns the last error code for the most recent function call
  
error()
Returns the last error description for the most recent function call
  
error_list()
Returns a list of errors for the most recent function call
  
fetch_all()
Fetches all result rows as an associative array, a numeric array, or both
  
fetch_array()
Fetches a result row as an associative, a numeric array, or both
  
fetch_assoc()
Fetches a result row as an associative array
  
fetch_field()
Returns the next field in the result-set, as an object
    
  
fetch_field_direct()
Returns meta-data for a single field in the result-set, as an object
  
fetch_fields()
Returns an array of objects that represent the fields in a 
result-set
    
    
fetch_lengths()
Returns the lengths of the columns of the current row in the result-set
    
  
fetch_object()
Returns the current row of a result-set, as an object
  
fetch_row()
Fetches one row from a result-set and returns it as an enumerated array
  
field_count()
Returns the number of columns for the most recent query
  
field_seek()
Sets the field cursor to the given field offset
  
get_charset()
Returns a character set object
  
get_client_info()
Returns the MySQL client library version
  
get_client_stats()
Returns statistics about client per-process
  
get_client_version()
Returns the MySQL client library version as an integer
  
get_connection_stats()
Returns statistics about the client connection
  
get_host_info()
Returns the MySQL server hostname and the connection type
  
get_proto_info()
Returns the MySQL protocol version
  
get_server_info()
Returns the MySQL server version
  
get_server_version()
Returns the MySQL server version as an integer
  
info()
Returns information about the last executed query
  
init()
Initializes MySQLi and returns a resource for use with real_connect()
  
insert_id()
Returns the auto-generated id from the last query
  
kill()
Asks the server to kill a MySQL thread
  
more_results()
Checks if there are more results from a multi query
  
multi_query()
Performs one or more queries on the database
  
next_result()
Prepares the next result-set from multi_query()
  
options()
Sets extra connect options and affect behavior for a connection
  
ping()
Pings a server connection, or tries to reconnect if the connection has gone down
  
poll()
Polls connections
  
prepare()
Prepares an SQL statement for execution
  
query()
Performs a query against a database
  
real_connect()
Opens a new connection to the MySQL server
  
real_escape_string()
Escapes special characters in a string for use in an SQL statement
  
real_query()
Executes a single SQL query
  
reap_async_query()
Returns result from an async SQL query
  
refresh()
Refreshes/flushes tables or caches, or resets the replication server information
  
rollback()
Rolls back the current transaction for the database
  
select_db()
Select the default database for database queries
  
set_charset()
Sets the default client character set
  
set_local_infile_default()
Unsets user defined handler for load local infile command
  
set_local_infile_handler()
Set callback function for LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE command
  
sqlstate()
Returns the SQLSTATE error code for the error
  
ssl_set()
Used to establish secure connections using SSL
  
stat()
Returns the current system status
  
stmt_init()
Initializes a statement and returns an object for use with stmt_prepare()
  
store_result()
Transfers a result-set from the last query
  
thread_id()
Returns the thread ID for the current connection
  
thread_safe()
Returns whether the client library is compiled as thread-safe
  
use_result()
Initiates the retrieval of a result-set from the last query executed
  
warning_count()
Returns the number of warnings from the last query in the connection




PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Return the number of affected rows from different queries:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }// Perform queries and print out affected rows$mysqli -> query("SELECT * FROM Persons");echo "Affected rows: " . 
$mysqli -> affected_rows;
$mysqli -> query("DELETE FROM Persons WHERE Age>32");echo "Affected rows: " . 
$mysqli -> affected_rows;
 $mysqli -> close();
?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The affected_rows / mysqli_affected_rows() function returns the number of affected rows in the previous 
SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, REPLACE, or DELETE query.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

  $mysqli -> affected_rows
Procedural style:

mysqli_affected_rows(connection)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The number of rows affected. -1 indicates that the query returned an error

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural style
Return the number of affected rows from different queries:

<?php
$con = mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();  
  exit();
  }// Perform queries and print out affected rowsmysqli_query($con, "SELECT * FROM Persons");echo "Affected rows: " . mysqli_affected_rows($con);
mysqli_query($con, "DELETE FROM Persons WHERE Age>32");echo "Affected rows: " . mysqli_affected_rows($con);
 mysqli_close($con);
?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Turn off auto-committing, make some queries, then commit the queries:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }// Turn autocommit off$mysqli -> autocommit(FALSE);
  // Insert some values $mysqli -> query("INSERT INTO Persons (FirstName,LastName,Age)
VALUES ('Peter','Griffin',35)");
  $mysqli -> query("INSERT INTO Persons (FirstName,LastName,Age) 
VALUES ('Glenn','Quagmire',33)");
 // Commit transactionif (!$mysqli -> commit()) {  echo "Commit 
  transaction failed";  exit();}$mysqli -> close();
?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The autocommit() / mysqli_autocommit() function turns on or off auto-committing database modifications.
Tip: Also look at the commit() 
function, which commits the current transaction for the specified database 
connection, and the rollback() 
function, which rolls back the current transaction.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> autocommit(mode)
Procedural style:

mysqli_autocommit(connection, mode)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use
  
mode
Required. FALSE turns auto-commit off. TRUE turns auto-commit on (and commits any waiting queries)
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural style
Turn off auto-committing, make some queries, then commit the queries:

<?php
$con=mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();  
  exit;
  }// Turn autocommit offmysqli_autocommit($con,FALSE);
 // Insert some values mysqli_query($con,"INSERT INTO Persons (FirstName,LastName,Age)
VALUES ('Peter','Griffin',35)");
mysqli_query($con,"INSERT INTO Persons (FirstName,LastName,Age) 
VALUES ('Glenn','Quagmire',33)");
 // Commit transactionif (!$mysqli_commit($con)) {  echo 
  "Commit transaction failed";  exit();}// Close connection
 mysqli_close($con);?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Change the user of the specified database connection:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }// Reset all and select a new database
$mysqli -> change_user("my_user", "my_password", "test");
  $mysqli -> close();
?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The change_user() / mysqli_change_user() function changes the user of the specified database connection, and sets the current database.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> change_user(username, password, dbname)
Procedural style:

mysqli_change_user(connection, username, password, dbname)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use
  
username
Required. Specifies the MySQL user name
  
password
Required. Specifies the MySQL password
  
dbname
Required. Specifies the database to change to
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural style
Change the user of the specified database connection:

<?php
$con=mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
 // Check connection
 if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();  
  exit();
  }// Reset all and select a new database
 mysqli_change_user($con, "my_user", "my_password", "test");
 mysqli_close($con);
?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Return the default character set for the database connection:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }$charset = $mysqli -> character_set_name();echo "Default character set is: " . $charset;
  $mysqli -> close();
?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The character_set_name() / mysqli_character_set_name() function returns the default character set for the database connection.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> character_set_name()
Procedural style:

mysqli_character_set_name(connection)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The default character set for the specified connection

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural style
Return the default character set for the database connection:

<?php
$con=mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();  
  exit();
  }$charset=mysqli_character_set_name($con);echo "Default character set is: " . $charset;mysqli_close($con);
?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Close a previously opened database connection:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }// ....some PHP code...$mysqli -> close();
?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The close() / mysqli_close() function closes a previously opened database connection.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> close()
Procedural style:

mysqli_close(connection)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to close


Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural style
Close a previously opened database connection:

<?php
$con=mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();  
  exit;
  }
 // ....some PHP code...

mysqli_close($con);
?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Turn off auto-committing, make some queries, then commit the queries:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }// Turn autocommit off$mysqli -> autocommit(FALSE);
  // Insert some values $mysqli -> query("INSERT INTO Persons (FirstName,LastName,Age)
VALUES ('Peter','Griffin',35)");
  $mysqli -> query("INSERT INTO Persons (FirstName,LastName,Age) 
VALUES ('Glenn','Quagmire',33)");
 // Commit transactionif (!$mysqli -> commit()) {  echo "Commit 
  transaction failed";  exit();}$mysqli -> close();
?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The commit() / mysqli_commit() function commits the current transaction for the specified database connection.
Tip: Also look at the autocommit() function,
which turns on or off auto-committing database modifications, and the
rollback() function, which rolls back the current transaction.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> commit(flags, name)
Procedural style:

mysqli_commit(connection, flags, name)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use
  
flags
Optional. A constant:
    
      
MYSQLI_TRANS_COR_AND_CHAIN - Appends "AND CHAIN"
      
MYSQLI_TRANS_COR_AND_NO_CHAIN - Appends "AND NO CHAIN"
      
MYSQLI_TRANS_COR_RELEASE - Appends "RELEASE"
      
MYSQLI_TRANS_COR_NO_RELEASE - Appends "NO RELEASE"
    
    
  
name
Optional. COMMIT/*name*/ is executed if this parameter is 
    specified
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.5: Added the flags and name parameters


Example - Procedural style
Turn off auto-committing, make some queries, then commit the queries:

<?php
$con=mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();  
  exit;
  }// Turn autocommit offmysqli_autocommit($con,FALSE);
 // Insert some values mysqli_query($con,"INSERT INTO Persons (FirstName,LastName,Age)
VALUES ('Peter','Griffin',35)");
mysqli_query($con,"INSERT INTO Persons (FirstName,LastName,Age) 
VALUES ('Glenn','Quagmire',33)");
 // Commit transactionif (!$mysqli_commit($con)) {  echo 
  "Commit transaction failed";  exit();}// Close connection
 mysqli_close($con);?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Open a new connection to the MySQL server:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  // Check connectionif ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The connect() / mysqli_connect() function opens a new connection to the MySQL server.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> new mysqli(host, username, password, dbname, port, socket)
Procedural style:

mysqli_connect(host, username, password, dbname, port, socket)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
host
Optional. Specifies a host name or an IP address
  
username
Optional. Specifies the MySQL username
  
password
Optional. Specifies the MySQL password
  
dbname
Optional. Specifies the default database to be used
  
port
Optional. Specifies the port number to attempt to connect to the MySQL server
  
socket
Optional. Specifies the socket or named pipe to be used
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an object representing the connection to the MySQL server

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural style
Open a new connection to the MySQL server:

<?php
$con = mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
 // Check connection
 if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();
    
  exit();}
?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Return an error code from the last connection error, if any:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  // Check connectionif ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The connect_errno / mysqli_connect_errno() function returns the error code from the last connection error, if any.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> connect_errno
Procedural style:

mysqli_connect_errno()
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an error code value. Zero if no error occurred

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural style
Return an error code from the last connection error, if any:

<?php
$con = mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
 // Check connection
 if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();
    
  exit();}
?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Return the error description from the last connection error, if any:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  // Check connectionif ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . 
  $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The connect_error / mysqli_connect_error() function returns the error description from the last connection error, if any.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> connect_error
Procedural style:

mysqli_connect_error();
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a string that describes the error. NULL if no error occurred

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural style
Return the error description from the last connection error, if any:

<?php
$con = mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
 // Check connection
 if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();
    
  exit();}
?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example
Seek to row number 15 in the result-set:

<?php
$con=mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
 // Check connection
 if (mysqli_connect_errno())
  {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();
  }$sql="SELECT Lastname,Age FROM Persons ORDER BY Lastname";
 if ($result=mysqli_query($con,$sql))  {  // Seek to row number 15  mysqli_data_seek($result,14);  // Fetch row  $row=mysqli_fetch_row($result);  printf ("Lastname: %s Age: %s\n", $row[0], $row[1]);  // Free result set  mysqli_free_result($result);}
 mysqli_close($con);
?>

Definition and Usage
The mysqli_data_seek() function adjusts the result pointer to an arbitrary row in the result-set.

Syntax

mysqli_data_seek(result,offset);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
result
Required. Specifies a result set identifier returned by mysqli_query(), mysqli_store_result() or mysqli_use_result()
  
offset
Required. Specifies the field offset. Must be between 0 and the total number of rows - 1
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example
Create a trace file in "/temp/client.trace" on the local machine:

<?php
 mysqli_debug("d:t:o,/temp/client.trace");?>

Definition and Usage
The mysqli_debug() function is used to perform debugging operations.
Note: In order to use this function, you must compile the 
MySQL client library to support debugging.

Syntax

mysqli_debug(message);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
message
Required. A string that represents the debugging operation to perform
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Dump debug info into the log:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  $mysqli -> dump_debug_info();?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The dump_debug_info() / mysqli_dump_debug_info() function dumps debugging info into the log.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> dump_debug_info()
Procedural style:

mysqli_dump_debug_info(link);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
link
Required. A link identifier returned by
    connect() or
    init()
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural style
Dump debug info into the log:

<?php$con = mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
 mysqli_dump_debug_info($con);?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Return the last error code for the most recent function call, if any:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . 
  $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }// Perform a query, check for errorif (!$mysqli -> query("INSERT INTO Persons (FirstName)
VALUES ('Glenn')")) {  echo("Errorcode: " . $mysqli -> errno);
  }
 $mysqli -> close();?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The errno / mysqli_errno() function returns the last error code for the most recent function call, if any.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> errno
Procedural style:

mysqli_errno(connection)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an error code value. Zero if no error occurred

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural style
Return the last error code for the most recent function call, if any:

<?php
$con=mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();
  exit();}// Perform a query, check for errorif (!mysqli_query($con,"INSERT INTO Persons (FirstName)
VALUES ('Glenn')")) {  echo("Errorcode: " . mysqli_errno($con));
  }  
 mysqli_close($con);
?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Return the last error description for the most recent function call, if any:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . 
  $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }// Perform a query, check for errorif (!$mysqli -> query("INSERT INTO Persons (FirstName)
VALUES ('Glenn')")) {  echo("Error description: " . $mysqli -> error);
  }
 $mysqli -> close();?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The error / mysqli_error() function returns the last error description for the most recent function call, if any.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> error
Procedural style:

mysqli_error(connection)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use


Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a string with the error description. " if no error occurred

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural Oriented style
Return the last error description for the most recent function call, if any:

<?php
$con=mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();
  exit();}// Perform a query, check for errorif (!mysqli_query($con,"INSERT INTO Persons (FirstName)
VALUES ('Glenn')")) {  echo("Error description: " . mysqli_error($con));}
 mysqli_close($con);
?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Return a list of errors from the last executed command, if any:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . 
  $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }// Perform a query, check for errorif (!$mysqli -> query("INSERT INTO Persons (FirstName)
VALUES ('Glenn')")) {  print_r($mysqli -> error_list);
  }
 $mysqli -> close();?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The error_list / mysqli_error_list() function returns a list of errors from 
the last executed command, if any.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> error_list
Procedural style:

mysqli_error_list(connection)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use


Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a list of errors as an associative array; with errno (error code), error (error text), and sqlstate

  
PHP Version:
  
5.4+


Example - Procedural style
Return a list of errors from the last executed command, if any:

<?php
$con=mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();  
  exit();
  }// Perform a query, check for errorif (!mysqli_query($con,"INSERT INTO Persons (FirstName)
VALUES ('Glenn')")) {  print_r(mysqli_error_list($con));}
 mysqli_close($con);
?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Fetch all rows and return the result-set as an associative array:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . 
  $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }$sql = "SELECT Lastname, Age FROM Persons ORDER BY Lastname";$result -> 
  $mysqli -> query($sql);
  // Fetch all$result -> fetch_all(MYSQLI_ASSOC);// Free result set$result 
  -> free_result();
 $mysqli -> close();?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The fetch_all() / mysqli_fetch_all() function fetches all result rows and returns the 
result-set as an associative array, a numeric array, or both.
Note: This function is available only with MySQL Native Driver.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli_result -> 
  fetch_all(resulttype)
Procedural style:

mysqli_fetch_all(result, resulttype)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
result
Required. Specifies a result set identifier returned by mysqli_query(), mysqli_store_result() or mysqli_use_result()
  
resulttype
Optional. Specifies what type of array that should be produced. Can be one of the following values:
    
MYSQLI_ASSOC
    
MYSQLI_NUM (this is default)
    
MYSQLI_BOTH
 
   
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array of associative or numeric arrays holding the result rows

  
PHP Version:
  
5.3+


Example - Procedural style
Fetch all rows and return the result-set as an associative array:

<?php
$con = mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  
 if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();  
  exit();
  } $sql = "SELECT Lastname, Age FROM Persons ORDER BY Lastname";
 $result = mysqli_query($con, $sql);// Fetch allmysqli_fetch_all($result, MYSQLI_ASSOC);
 // Free result setmysqli_free_result($result);
 mysqli_close($con);
?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Fetch a result row as a numeric array and as an associative array:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . 
  $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }$sql = "SELECT Lastname, Age FROM Persons ORDER BY Lastname";$result -> 
  $mysqli -> query($sql);
  // Numeric array
 $row = $result 
  -> fetch_array(MYSQLI_NUM);printf ("%s (%s)\n", $row[0], $row[1]);// Associative array
 $row = $result 
  -> fetch_array(MYSQLI_ASSOC);printf ("%s (%s)\n", $row["Lastname"], $row["Age"]);
  // Free result set$result 
  -> free_result();
 $mysqli -> close();?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The fetch_array() / mysqli_fetch_array() function fetches a result row as an associative array, a numeric array, or both.
Note: Fieldnames returned from this function are case-sensitive.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli_result -> 
  fetch_array(resulttype)
Procedural style:

mysqli_fetch_array(result,resulttype)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
result
Required. Specifies a result set identifier returned by mysqli_query(), mysqli_store_result() or mysqli_use_result()
  
resulttype
Optional. Specifies what type of array that should be produced. Can be one of the following values:
    
MYSQLI_ASSOC
    
MYSQLI_NUM
    
MYSQLI_BOTH (this is default)
 
   
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array of strings that corresponds to the fetched row. NULL if there are no more rows in result-set

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural style
Fetch a result row as a numeric array and as an associative array:

<?php
$con=mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();  
  exit();
  }$sql = "SELECT Lastname, Age FROM Persons ORDER BY Lastname";
 $result = mysqli_query($con,$sql);// Numeric array
 $row = mysqli_fetch_array($result, MYSQLI_NUM);printf ("%s (%s)\n", $row[0], $row[1]);// Associative array
 $row = mysqli_fetch_array($result, MYSQLI_ASSOC);printf ("%s (%s)\n", $row["Lastname"], $row["Age"]);
 // Free result setmysqli_free_result($result);
 mysqli_close($con);
?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Fetch a result row as an associative array:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . 
  $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }$sql = "SELECT Lastname, Age FROM Persons ORDER BY Lastname";
  $result = $mysqli -> query($sql);
  // Associative array
 $row = $result 
  -> fetch_assoc();printf ("%s (%s)\n", $row["Lastname"], $row["Age"]);
  // Free result set$result 
  -> free_result();
 $mysqli -> close();?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The fetch_assoc() / mysqli_fetch_assoc() function fetches a result row as an associative array.
Note: Fieldnames returned from this function are case-sensitive.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli_result -> fetch_assoc()
Procedural style:

mysqli_fetch_assoc(result)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
result
Required. Specifies a result set identifier returned by mysqli_query(), mysqli_store_result() or mysqli_use_result()
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an associative array of strings representing the fetched row. NULL if there are no more rows in result-set

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural style
Fetch a result row as an associative array:

<?php
$con = mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
 if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();
  exit();}$sql = "SELECT Lastname, Age FROM Persons ORDER BY Lastname";
 $result = mysqli_query($con, $sql);// Associative array
 $row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result);printf ("%s (%s)\n", $row["Lastname"], $row["Age"]);
 // Free result setmysqli_free_result($result);
 mysqli_close($con);
?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Return the next field (column) in the result-set, then print each field's 
name, table, and max length:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . 
  $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }$sql = "SELECT Lastname, Age FROM Persons ORDER BY Lastname";
  if ($result = $mysqli -> query($sql)) {
    // Get field information for all fields  while ($fieldinfo = 
  $result -> fetch_field()) {    printf("Name: %s\n", $fieldinfo -> name);    printf("Table: %s\n", $fieldinfo -> table);    printf("Max. Len: %d\n", $fieldinfo -> max_length);
    }  $result 
  -> free_result();}
  $mysqli -> close();?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The fetch_field() / mysqli_fetch_field() function returns the next field (column) in the result-set, as an object.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli_result -> fetch_field()
Procedural style:

mysqli_fetch_field(result)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
result
Required. Specifies a result set identifier returned by mysqli_query(), mysqli_store_result() or mysqli_use_result()
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an object containing field definition information. FALSE if no info is available. The object has the following properties:
 
    
name - name of the column
    
orgname - original column name (if an alias is specified)
    
table - name of table
    
orgtable - original table name (if an alias is specified)
    
def - reserved for default values, currently always "
    
db - database (new in PHP 5.3.6) 
    
catalog - catalog name, always "def" (since PHP 5.3.6)
    
max_length - maximum width of field
    
length - width of field as specified in table definition
    
charsetnr - character set number for the field
    
flags - bit-flags for the field
    
type - data type used for the field
    
decimals - for integer fields; the number of decimals used
 
  

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural style
Return the next field (column) in the result-set, then print each field's 
name, table, and max length:

<?php
$con = mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();  
  exit();
  }$sql = "SELECT Lastname, Age FROM Persons ORDER BY Lastname";
 if ($result = mysqli_query($con, $sql)) {  // Get field information for all fields  while ($fieldinfo = mysqli_fetch_field($result)) {    printf("Name: %s\n", $fieldinfo -> name);    printf("Table: %s\n", $fieldinfo -> table);    printf("max. Len: %d\n", $fieldinfo -> max_length);
    }  mysqli_free_result($result);}
 mysqli_close($con);
?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Return meta-data for a single field in the result-set, then print 
the field's 
name, table, and max length:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . 
  $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }$sql = "SELECT Lastname, Age FROM Persons ORDER BY Lastname";
  if ($result = $mysqli -> query($sql)) {
    // Get field information for 
  column "Age"  $fieldinfo = $result -> fetch_field_direct(1);
    printf("Name: %s\n", $fieldinfo -> name);  printf("Table: %s\n", $fieldinfo -> table);
    printf("Max. Len: %d\n", $fieldinfo -> max_length);
    $result 
  -> free_result();}
  $mysqli -> close();?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The fetch_field_direct() / mysqli_fetch_field_direct() function returns meta-data for a single field in 
a result-set, as an object.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli_result -> fetch_field_direct(fieldnr)
Procedural style:

mysqli_fetch_field_direct(result, fieldnr)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
result
Required. Specifies a result set identifier returned by mysqli_query(), mysqli_store_result() or mysqli_use_result()
  
fieldnr
Required. Specifies the field number. Must be an integer from 0 to number of fields-1
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an object containing field definition information. FALSE if no info is available. The object has the following properties:
 
    
name - name of the column
    
orgname - original column name (if an alias is specified)
    
table - name of table
    
orgtable - original table name (if an alias is specified)
    
def - default value for this field
    
max_length - maximum width of field
    
length - width of field as specified in table definition
    
charsetnr - character set number for the field
    
flags - bit-flags for the field
    
type - data type used for the field
    
decimals - for integer fields; the number of decimals used
 
  

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural style
Return meta-data for a single field in the result-set, then print the field's name, table, and max length:

<?php
$con = mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();  
  exit();
  }$sql = "SELECT Lastname, Age FROM Persons ORDER BY Lastname";
 if ($result = mysqli_query($con, $sql)) {  // Get field information for 
  column "Age"  $fieldinfo = mysqli_fetch_field_direct($result, 1);
    printf("Name: %s\n", $fieldinfo -> name);  printf("Table: %s\n", $fieldinfo -> table);  printf("Max. Len: %d\n", $fieldinfo -> max_length);
    mysqli_free_result($result);}
 mysqli_close($con);
?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Return an array of objects that represent the fields in a result-set, then print 
each field's 
name, table, and max length:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . 
  $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }$sql = "SELECT Lastname, Age FROM Persons ORDER BY Lastname";
  if ($result = $mysqli -> query($sql)) {
    // Get field information for all fields  $fieldinfo = 
  $result -> fetch_fields();  foreach ($fieldinfo as 
  $val) {    printf("Name: %s\n", $val -> name);    printf("Table: %s\n", $val -> table);    printf("Max. Len: %d\n", $val -> max_length);
    }  $result 
  -> free_result();}
  $mysqli -> close();?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The fetch_fields() / mysqli_fetch_fields() function returns an array of objects that represent the fields in a result-set.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli_result -> fetch_fields()
Procedural style:

mysqli_fetch_fields(result)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
result
Required. Specifies a result set identifier returned by mysqli_query(), mysqli_store_result() or mysqli_use_result()
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array of objects containing field definition information. FALSE if no info is available. The objects have the following properties:
 
    
name - name of the column
    
orgname - original column name (if an alias is specified)
    
table - name of table
    
orgtable - original table name (if an alias is specified)
    
max_length - maximum width of field
    
length - width of field as specified in table definition
    
charsetnr - character set number for the field
    
flags - bit-flags for the field
    
type - data type used for the field
    
decimals - for integer fields; the number of decimals used
 
  

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural style
Return an array of objects that represent the fields in a result-set, then print 
each field's 
name, table, and max length:

<?php
$con = mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  
 if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();  
  exit();
  }$sql = "SELECT Lastname, Age FROM Persons ORDER BY Lastname";
 if ($result = mysqli_query($con , $sql)) {  // Get field information for all fields  $fieldinfo = mysqli_fetch_fields($result);  foreach ($fieldinfo as $val) {    printf("Name: %s\n", $val->name);    printf("Table: %s\n", $val->table);    printf("Max. Len: %d\n", $val->max_length);
    }  mysqli_free_result($result);}
 mysqli_close($con);
?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Return the length of the fields of the current row in the result-set:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . 
  $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }$sql = "SELECT * FROM Persons ORDER BY Lastname";
  if ($result = $mysqli -> query($sql)) {
    $row = 
  $result -> fetch_row();  // Display field lengths  foreach ($result 
  -> lengths as $i => $val) {    printf("Field %2d has length: %2d\n", $i + 1, $val);  }
    $result 
  -> free_result();}
  $mysqli -> close();?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The lengths / mysqli_fetch_lengths() function returns the length of the fields of the current row in the result-set.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli_result -> lengths
Procedural style:

mysqli_fetch_lengths(result)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
result
Required. Specifies a result set identifier returned by mysqli_query(), mysqli_store_result() or mysqli_use_result()
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array of integers that represents the size of each field (column). FALSE if an error occurs

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural style
Return the length of the fields of the current row in the result-set:

<?php
$con = mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();  
  exit();
  }$sql = "SELECT * FROM Persons ORDER BY Lastname";
 if ($result = mysqli_query($con, $sql)) {  $row = mysqli_fetch_row($result);
    // Display field lengths  foreach (mysqli_fetch_lengths($result) as $i => $val) {    printf("Field %2d has length: %2d\n", $i+1, $val);  }
    mysqli_free_result($result);}
 mysqli_close($con);
?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Return the current row of a result set, then print each field's value:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . 
  $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }$sql = "SELECT Lastname, Age FROM Persons ORDER BY Lastname";
  if ($result = $mysqli -> query($sql)) {
    while ($obj = $result -> fetch_object()) {    printf("%s (%s)\n", $obj->Lastname, $obj->Age);  }  $result 
  -> free_result();}
  $mysqli -> close();?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The fetch_object() / mysqli_fetch_object() function returns the current row of a result-set, as an object.
Note: Fieldnames returned from this function are case-sensitive.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli_result -> fetch_object(classname, params)
Procedural style:

mysqli_fetch_object(result, classname, params)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
result
Required. Specifies a result set identifier returned by mysqli_query(), mysqli_store_result() or mysqli_use_result()
  
classname
Optional. Specifies the name of the class to instantiate, set the properties of, and return
  
params
Optional. Specifies an array of parameters to pass to the constructor for classname objects
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an object with string properties for the fetched row. NULL if there are no more rows in the result set

  
PHP Version:
  
5+

  
Changelog:
  
The ability to return as a different object was added in PHP 5.0.0


Example - Procedural style
Return the current row of a result set, then print each field's value:

<?php
$con = mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();
  exit();  }$sql = "SELECT Lastname, Age FROM Persons ORDER BY Lastname";
 if ($result = mysqli_query($con, $sql)) {  while ($obj = mysqli_fetch_object($result)) {    printf("%s (%s)\n", $obj->Lastname, $obj->Age);  }  mysqli_free_result($result);}
 mysqli_close($con);
?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Fetch rows from a result-set:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . 
  $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }$sql = "SELECT Lastname, Age FROM Persons ORDER BY Lastname";
  if ($result = $mysqli -> query($sql)) {  while ($row = $result -> fetch_row()) {    printf ("%s (%s)\n", $row[0], $row[1]);  }  $result 
  -> free_result();}
  $mysqli -> close();?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The fetch_row() / mysqli_fetch_row() function fetches one row from a result-set and returns it as an enumerated array.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli_result -> fetch_row()
Procedural style:

mysqli_fetch_row(result)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
result
Required. Specifies a result set identifier returned by mysqli_query(), mysqli_store_result() or mysqli_use_result()
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array of strings that corresponds to the fetched row. NULL if there are no more rows in result set

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural style
Fetch rows from a result-set:

<?php
$con = mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();  
  exit();
  }$sql = "SELECT Lastname, Age FROM Persons ORDER BY Lastname";
 if ($result = mysqli_query($con, $sql)) {  // Fetch one and one row  while ($row = mysqli_fetch_row($result)) {    printf ("%s (%s)\n", $row[0], $row[1]);  }  mysqli_free_result($result);}
 mysqli_close($con);
?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Assume we have a table named "Friends" (with 3 columns and 20 rows).
  This example returns the number of columns for the most recent query:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . 
  $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }$mysqli -> query("SELECT * FROM Friends");// Get number of columns - will return 3
  $mysqli -> field_count();
  $mysqli -> close();?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The field_count() / mysqli_field_count() function returns the number of columns for the most recent query.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> field_count()
Procedural style:

mysqli_field_count(connection)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use


Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an integer that represents the number of columns in the result set

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural style
Assume we have a table named "Friends" (with 3 columns and 20 rows).
  This example returns the number of columns for the most recent query: 

<?php
$con = mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();
  exit();}mysqli_query($con, "SELECT * FROM Friends");// Get number of columns - will return 3mysqli_field_count($con);
 mysqli_close($con);
?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Set the field cursor to the second column ("Age") in the result-set, get field info with fetch_field(), then print 
the field's 
name, table, and max length:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . 
  $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }$sql = "SELECT Lastname, Age FROM Persons ORDER BY Lastname";
  if ($result = $mysqli -> query($sql)) {
    // Get field information for 
  second column  $result = field_seek(1);  $fieldinfo = $result -> fetch_field();
    printf("Name: %s\n", $fieldinfo -> name);  printf("Table: %s\n", $fieldinfo -> table);
    printf("Max. Len: %d\n", $fieldinfo -> max_length);
    $result 
  -> free_result();}
  $mysqli -> close();?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The field_seek() / mysqli_field_seek() function sets the field cursor to the given field offset.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli_result -> field_seek(fieldnr)
Procedural style:

mysqli_field_seek(result, fieldnr)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
result
Required. Specifies a result set identifier returned by mysqli_query(), mysqli_store_result() or mysqli_use_result()
  
fieldnr
Required. Specifies the field number. Must be an integer from 0 to number of fields-1
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural style
Set the field cursor to the second column ("Age") in the result-set, get field info with 
mysqli_fetch_field(), then print 
the field's 
name, table, and max length:

<?php
$con = mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();
  exit();}$sql="SELECT Lastname, Age FROM Persons ORDER BY Lastname";
 if ($result = mysqli_query($con,$sql)) {  // Get field information for 
  second column  mysqli_field_seek($result, 1);  $fieldinfo = mysqli_fetch_field($result);  printf("Name: %s\n", $fieldinfo -> name);  printf("Table: %s\n", $fieldinfo -> table);  printf("max. Len: %d\n", $fieldinfo -> max_length);  mysqli_free_result($result);}
 mysqli_close($con);
?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
  Return a character set object, with several properties:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . 
  $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }var_dump($mysqli 
  -> get_charset());
  $mysqli -> close();?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The get_charset() / mysqli_get_charset() function returns a character set object 
with several properties for the current character set.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> 
  get_charset()
Procedural style:

mysqli_get_charset(connection);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use


Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a character set object with the following properties:
 
    
charset - character set name
    
collation - collation name
    
dir - directory the charset was fetched from or "
    
min_length - min character length in bytes
    
max_length - max character length in bytes
    
number - internal character set number
    
state - character set status
 
  

  
PHP Version:
  
5.1+


Example - Procedural style
Return a character set object, with several properties:

<?php
$con = mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();  
  exit();
  }var_dump(mysqli_get_charset($con));
 mysqli_close($con);
?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example
Return the MySQL client library version:

<?php
  echo mysqli_get_client_info();?>



Definition and Usage
The get_client_info() / mysqli_get_client_info() function returns the MySQL client library version.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> get_client_info()
Procedural style:

mysqli_get_client_info(connection)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Optional. Specifies the MySQL connection to use


Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a string that represents the MySQL client library version
  

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example
Return stats about client per-process:

<?php
$con = mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  print_r(mysqli_get_client_stats());
 ?>



Definition and Usage
The mysqli_get_client_stats() function returns client per-process statistics.

Syntax

mysqli_get_client_stats()
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
An array with client stats on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.3+


PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example
Return the MySQL client version as an integer:

<?php
  echo mysqli_get_client_version();
  ?>



Definition and Usage
The client_version / mysqli_get_client_version() function returns the MySQL client version as an integer.
The MySQL client version is returned in the following format: main_version*10000 + 
minor_version*100 + sub_version. So, version 6.3.0 is returned as 
60300.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> client_version
Procedural style:

mysqli_get_client_version(connection)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Optional. Specifies the MySQL connection to use


Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an integer that represents the MySQL client version
  

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example
Return stats about the client connection:

<?php
$con = mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  print_r(mysqli_get_connection_stats($con));
 ?>



Definition and Usage
The mysqli_get_connection_stats() function returns statistics about the client connection.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> 
  get_connection_stats()
Procedural style:

mysqli_get_connection_stats(connection)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use


Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array with connection stats on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.3+


PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Return the server hostname and connection type:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . 
  $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }echo $mysqli -> host_info();
  $mysqli -> close();?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The host_info() / mysqli_get_host_info() function returns the MySQL server hostname and the connection type.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> host_info
Procedural style:

mysqli_get_host_info(connection)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use


Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a string that represents the MySQL server hostname and the connection type

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural style
Return the server hostname and connection type:

<?php
$con = mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();
  exit();}echo mysqli_get_host_info($con);
 mysqli_close($con);
 ?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Return the MySQL protocol version:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . 
  $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }echo $mysqli -> protocol_version;
  $mysqli -> close();?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The mysqli_get_proto_info() function returns the MySQL protocol version.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> 
  protocol_version
Procedural style:

mysqli_get_proto_info(connection)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use


Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an integer that represents the MySQL protocol version

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural style
Return the MySQL protocol version:

<?php
$con = mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();
  exit();}echo mysqli_get_proto_info($con);
 mysqli_close($con);
 ?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Return the MySQL protocol version:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . 
  $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }echo $mysqli -> server_info;
  $mysqli -> close();?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The server_info / mysqli_get_server_info() function returns the MySQL server version.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> 
  server_info
Procedural style:

mysqli_get_server_info(connection)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use


Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
A string that represents the MySQL server version
  

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural style
Return the MySQL server version:

<?php
$con = mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();
  exit();}echo mysqli_get_server_info($con);
 mysqli_close($con);
 ?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Return the MySQL server version as an integer:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . 
  $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }echo $mysqli -> server_version;
  $mysqli -> close();?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The server_version / mysqli_get_server_version() function returns the MySQL server version as an integer.
The server version is returned in the following format: main_version*10000 + 
minor_version*100 + sub_version.  So, version 6.3.0 is 
returned as 60300.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> 
  server_version
Procedural style:

mysqli_get_server_version(connection)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use


Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an integer that represents the MySQL server version
  

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural style
Return the MySQL server version as an integer:

<?php
$con = mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();  
  exit();
  }echo mysqli_get_server_version($con);
 mysqli_close($con);
 ?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Return information about the last executed query:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }// Perform some queries$mysqli -> query("CREATE TABLE testPersons LIKE Persons");$mysqli -> query("INSERT 
  INTO testPersons SELECT * FROM Persons ORDER BY LastName");echo  
$mysqli -> info;
  $mysqli -> close();
?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The info / mysqli_info() function returns information about the last executed query.
This function works with the following query types:
INSERT INTO...SELECT...
INSERT INTO...VALUES (...),(...),(...)
LOAD DATA INFILE ...
ALTER TABLE ...
UPDATE ...

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> 
  info
Procedural style:

mysqli_info(connection)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use


Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
A string that contains additional info about the last executed query

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural style
Return information about the last executed query:

<?php
$con = mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();
  exit();}// Perform som queriesmysqli_query($con, "CREATE 
  TABLE testPersons LIKE Persons");mysqli_query($con, "INSERT INTO testPersons SELECT * FROM Persons ORDER BY LastName");echo mysqli_info($con); 
 mysqli_close($con);
 ?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example
Use of the mysqli_init() function:

 <?php$con = mysqli_init();if (!$con) {  die("mysqli_init failed");}
 if (!mysqli_real_connect($con,"localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db")) {
   die("Connect Error: " . mysqli_connect_error());}
 mysqli_close($con);?>  



Definition and Usage
The init / mysqli_init() function initializes MySQLi and returns an object to use 
with the mysqli_real_connect() function.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> 
  init
Procedural style:

  mysqli_init()
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
An object to use with the mysqli_real_connect() 
 function

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Assume that the "Persons" table has an auto-generated id field. Return the id 
from the last query:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }$mysqli -> query("INSERT INTO Persons (FirstName, LastName, Age) 
  VALUES ('Glenn', 'Quagmire', 33)");// Print auto-generated idecho  
  "New record has id: " . $mysqli -> insert_id;
  $mysqli -> close();
?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The mysqli_insert_id() function returns the id (generated with AUTO_INCREMENT) 
from the last query.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> 
  insert_id
Procedural style:

mysqli_insert_id(connection)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use


Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
An integer that represents the value of the AUTO_INCREMENT field updated by the last query. Returns zero if there were no update or no AUTO_INCREMENT field

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural style
Assume that the "Persons" table has an auto-generated id field. Return the id 
from the last query:

<?php
$con = mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();  
  exit();
  }mysqli_query($con, "INSERT INTO Persons (FirstName, LastName, Age)
VALUES ('Glenn', 'Quagmire', 33)");// Print auto-generated idecho "New record has id: " . mysqli_insert_id($con); 
 mysqli_close($con);
 ?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Return the thread ID for the current connection, then kill the connection:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }// Get thread id$t_id = $mysqli -> thread_id;// Kill 
  connection$mysqli -> kill($t_id);$mysqli -> close();
?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The kill() / mysqli_kill() function asks the server to kill a MySQL thread specified by the processid parameter.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> 
  kill(processid)
Procedural style:

mysqli_kill(connection, processid)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use
  
processid
Required. The thread ID returned from
    thread_id()


Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example
Return the thread ID for the current connection, then kill the connection:

<?php
$con = mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();
  exit();}// Get thread id$t_id=mysqli_thread_id($con);// Kill connectionmysqli_kill($con, $t_id);
  mysqli_close($con);?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Perform multiple queries against the database:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }$sql = "SELECT Lastname FROM Persons ORDER BY LastName;";
 $sql .= "SELECT Country FROM Customers";// Execute multi queryif ($mysqli 
  -> multi_query($sql)) {  do {    // Store first result set    if ($result = 
  $mysqli -> store_result()) {      while ($row = 
  $result -> fetch_row()) {        printf("%s\n", $row[0]);      }     $result 
  -> free_result();
      }    // if there are more result-sets, the print a 
  divider    if ($mysqli -> more_results()) {      
  printf("-------------\n");    }     
  //Prepare next result set  } while ($mysqli 
  -> next_result());}$mysqli -> close();
?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The more_results() / mysqli_more_results() function checks if there are any more 
query results from a multi query.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> 
  more_results()
Procedural style:

mysqli_more_results(connection)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if there is one or more result sets available from 
 multi_query(). FALSE otherwise

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural style
Perform multiple queries against the database:

<?php
$con = mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();  
  exit();
  }$sql = "SELECT Lastname FROM Persons ORDER BY LastName;";
 $sql .= "SELECT Country FROM Customers";// Execute multi queryif (mysqli_multi_query($con, $sql)) {  do {    // Store first result set    if ($result = mysqli_store_result($con)) {      while ($row = mysqli_fetch_row($result)) {        printf("%s\n", $row[0]);      }      mysqli_free_result($result);
      }    // if there are more result-sets, the print a 
  divider    if (mysqli_more_results($con)) {      
  printf("-------------\n");    }     
  //Prepare next result set  } while (mysqli_next_result($con));}mysqli_close($con);
?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Perform multiple queries against the database:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }$sql = "SELECT Lastname FROM Persons ORDER BY LastName;";
 $sql .= "SELECT Country FROM Customers";// Execute multi queryif ($mysqli 
  -> multi_query($sql)) {  do {    // Store first result set    if ($result = 
  $mysqli -> store_result()) {      while ($row = 
  $result -> fetch_row()) {        printf("%s\n", $row[0]);      }     $result 
  -> free_result();
      }    // if there are more result-sets, the print a 
  divider    if ($mysqli -> more_results()) {      
  printf("-------------\n");    }     
  //Prepare next result set  } while ($mysqli 
  -> next_result());}$mysqli -> close();
?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The multi_query() / mysqli_multi_query() function performs one or more queries against the database. 
The queries are separated with a semicolon.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> 
  multi_query(query)
Procedural style:

mysqli_multi_query(connection, query)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use
  
query
Required. Specifies one or more queries, separated with semicolon
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
FALSE if the first query fails

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural style
Perform multiple queries against the database:

<?php
$con = mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();  
  exit();
  }$sql = "SELECT Lastname FROM Persons ORDER BY LastName;";
 $sql .= "SELECT Country FROM Customers";// Execute multi queryif (mysqli_multi_query($con, $sql)) {  do {    // Store first result set    if ($result = mysqli_store_result($con)) {      while ($row = mysqli_fetch_row($result)) {        printf("%s\n", $row[0]);      }      mysqli_free_result($result);
      }    // if there are more result-sets, the print a 
  divider    if (mysqli_more_results($con)) {      
  printf("-------------\n");    }     
  //Prepare next result set  } while (mysqli_next_result($con));}mysqli_close($con);
?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Perform multiple queries against the database:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }$sql = "SELECT Lastname FROM Persons ORDER BY LastName;";
 $sql .= "SELECT Country FROM Customers";// Execute multi queryif ($mysqli 
  -> multi_query($sql)) {  do {    // Store first result set    if ($result = 
  $mysqli -> store_result()) {      while ($row = 
  $result -> fetch_row()) {        printf("%s\n", $row[0]);      }     $result 
  -> free_result();
      }    // if there are more result-sets, the print a 
  divider    if ($mysqli -> more_results()) {      
  printf("-------------\n");    }     
  //Prepare next result set  } while ($mysqli 
  -> next_result());}$mysqli -> close();
?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The next_result() / mysqli_next_result() function prepares the next result-set from
multi_query().

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> 
  next_result()
Procedural style:

mysqli_next_result(connection);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural style
Perform multiple queries against the database:

<?php
$con = mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();  
  exit();
  }$sql = "SELECT Lastname FROM Persons ORDER BY LastName;";
 $sql .= "SELECT Country FROM Customers";// Execute multi queryif (mysqli_multi_query($con, $sql)) {  do {    // Store first result set    if ($result = mysqli_store_result($con)) {      while ($row = mysqli_fetch_row($result)) {        printf("%s\n", $row[0]);      }      mysqli_free_result($result);
      }    // if there are more result-sets, the print a 
  divider    if (mysqli_more_results($con)) {      
  printf("-------------\n");    }     
  //Prepare next result set  } while (mysqli_next_result($con));}mysqli_close($con);
?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Set extra connect options:

 <?php$mysqli = mysqli_init();if (!$mysqli) {  die("mysqli_init failed");}
  // Specify connection timeout$con -> options(MYSQLI_OPT_CONNECT_TIMEOUT, 10);// Specify read options from named file instead of my.cnf$con -> 
  options(MYSQLI_READ_DEFAULT_FILE, "myfile.cnf");$con -> real_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");?>  



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The options() / mysqli_options() function is used to set extra connect options and affect behavior for a connection.
Note: This function should be called after
init() and before
real_connect().

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> 
  options(option, value)
Procedural style:

mysqli_options(connection, option, value)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use
  
option
Required. Specifies the option to set. Can be one of the following values:
    
MYSQLI_OPT_CONNECT_TIMEOUT - Set connection timeout in seconds
    
MYSQLI_OPT_LOCAL_INFILE - Enable/Disable use of LOAD LOCAL INFILE
    
MYSQLI_INIT_COMMAND - Set a command to execute after connecting to MySQL  server
    
MYSQLI_READ_DEFAULT_FILE - Set read options from named file instead of my.cnf
    
MYSQLI_READ_DEFAULT_GROUP - Set read options from named group from my.cnf or the file specified in MYSQLI_READ_DEFAULT_FILE
    
MYSQLI_SERVER_PUBLIC_KEY - Set RSA public key file used with SHA-256  based authentication
      
MYSQLI_OPT_NET_CMD_BUFFER_SIZE - only for mysqlnd
      
MYSQLI_OPT_NET_READ_BUFFER_SIZE - only for mysqlnd
      
MYSQLI_OPT_INT_AND_FLOAT_NATIVE - only for mysqlnd
      
MYSQLI_OPT_SSL_VERIFY_SERVER_CERT - only for mysqlnd
 
   
  
value
Required. Specifies the value for the option
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.5: Added MYSQLI_SERVER_PUBLIC_KEY optionPHP 5.3: Added 
  MYSQLI_OPT_INT_AND_FLOAT_NATIVE, MYSQLI_OPT_NET_CMD_BUFFER_SIZE, 
  MYSQLI_OPT_NET_READ_BUFFER_SIZE, and MYSQLI_OPT_SSL_VERIFY_SERVER_CERT options


Example - Procedural style
Set extra connect options:

 <?php$con = mysqli_init();if (!$con) {  die("mysqli_init failed");}
  // Specify connection timeoutmysqli_options($con, 
  MYSQLI_OPT_CONNECT_TIMEOUT, 10);// Specify read options from named file instead of my.cnf
  mysqli_options($con, MYSQLI_READ_DEFAULT_FILE, "myfile.cnf");
  mysqli_real_connect($con,"localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");?>  



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Ping a server connection:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  // Check connectionif ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }// Check if server is aliveif ($mysqli -> ping()) {  echo "Connection is ok!";} else {  echo "Error: ". 
  $mysqli -> error);}$mysqli -> close();
?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The ping() / mysqli_ping() function pings a server connection, to check if 
the server is alive. It also tries to reconnect - if the connection has gone down.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> ping()
Procedural style:

mysqli_ping(connection)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural style
Ping a server connection:

<?php
$con=mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
 // Check connectionif (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();
  exit();}// Check if server is aliveif (mysqli_ping($con)) {  echo "Connection is ok!";} else {  echo "Error: ". mysqli_error($con);}mysqli_close($con);
?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Definition and Usage
The poll() / mysqli_poll() function is used to poll connections.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> poll(read, error, reject, seconds, microseconds)
Procedural style:

mysqli_poll(read, error, reject, seconds, microseconds)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
read
Required. Specifies a list of connections to check for outstanding 
    results that can be read
  
error
Required. Specifies a list of connections on which an error occurred, 
    like query failure or lost connection
  
reject
Required. Specifies a list of connections rejected because no 
    asynchronous query has been run on for which the function could poll results
  
seconds
Required. Specifies the maximum number of seconds to wait
  
microseconds
Optional. Specifies the maximum number of microseconds to wait. Default 
    is 0
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The number of ready connections on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.3+


PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Prepare an SQL statement for execution:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  // Check connectionif ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }// prepare and bind$stmt = $mysqli -> prepare("INSERT INTO 
  MyGuests (firstname, lastname, email) VALUES (?, ?, ?)");$stmt -> 
  bind_param("sss", $firstname, $lastname, $email);// set parameters and 
  execute$firstname 
  = "John";$lastname = "Doe";$email = "john@example.com";$stmt -> execute();
  $firstname = "Mary";$lastname = "Moe";$email = "mary@example.com";
  $stmt -> execute();echo "New records created successfully";$stmt -> close();$mysqli -> close();
?>



Definition and Usage
The prepare() / mysqli_prepare() function is used to prepare an SQL statement for execution.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> prepare(query)
Procedural style:

mysqli_prepare(connection, query)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use
  
query
Required. Specifies an SQL query. Note: Do not add 
    semicolon to the end of the query!
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
A statement object on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Perform query against a database:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  // Check connectionif ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }// Perform query if ($result = $mysqli -> query("SELECT * FROM Persons")) 
  {  echo "Returned rows are: " . $result -> num_rows;  
  // Free result set  $result -> free_result();}$mysqli -> close();
?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The query() / mysqli_query() function performs a query against a database.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> query(query, 
  resultmode)
Procedural style:

mysqli_query(connection, query, resultmode)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use
  
query
Required. Specifies the SQL query string
  
resultmode

 Optional. A constant. Can be one of the following:
 
    
MYSQLI_USE_RESULT (Use this to retrieve large amount of  data)
    
MYSQLI_STORE_RESULT (This is default)
 
   
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
For successful SELECT, SHOW, DESCRIBE, or EXPLAIN queries it will return a mysqli_result object. For other successful queries it will return TRUE. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.3.0 added the ability for async queries


Example - Procedural style
Perform query against a database:

<?php
$con = mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();  
  exit();
  }// Perform query if ($result = mysqli_query($con, "SELECT * FROM Persons")) 
  {  echo "Returned rows are: " . mysqli_num_rows($result);  
  // Free result set  mysqli_free_result($result);}
  mysqli_close($con);
?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Open a new connection to the MySQL server, with extra connect options:

 <?php$mysqli = mysqli_init();if (!$mysqli) {  die("mysqli_init failed");}
  // Specify connection timeout$con -> options(MYSQLI_OPT_CONNECT_TIMEOUT, 10);// Specify read options from named file instead of my.cnf$con -> 
  options(MYSQLI_READ_DEFAULT_FILE, "myfile.cnf");$con -> real_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");?>  



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The real_connect() / mysqli_real_connect() function opens a new connection to the MySQL server.
This function differs from connect() in the 
following ways:
real_connect() requires a valid object created by
  init()
real_connect() can be used with options() to set different options for the connection
real_connect() has a flag parameter

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> 
  real_connect(host, username, password, dbname, port, socket, flag)
Procedural style:

mysqli_real_connect(connection, host, username, password, dbname, port, socket, flag)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use
  
host
Optional. Specifies a host name or an IP address
  
username
Optional. Specifies the MySQL username
  
password
Optional. Specifies the MySQL password
  
dbname
Optional. Specifies the default database to be used
  
port
Optional. Specifies the port number to attempt to connect to the MySQL server
  
socket
Optional. Specifies the socket or named pipe to be used
  
flag
Optional. Specifies different connection options. Possible values:
    
      
MYSQLI_CLIENT_COMPRESS - Use compression protocol
      
MYSQLI_CLIENT_FOUND_ROWS - Return number of matched rows (not affected rows)
      
MYSQLI_CLIENT_IGNORE_SPACE - Allow spaces after function names. Make function names reserved words
      
MYSQLI_CLIENT_INTERACTIVE - Allow interactive_timeout seconds of inactivity before closing connection
      
MYSQLI_CLIENT_SSL - Use SSL encryption
      
MYSQLI_CLIENT_SSL_DONT_VERIFY_SERVER_CERT
    
    
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.6: Added MYSQLI_CLIENT_SSL_DONT_VERIFY_SERVER_CERT flag


Example - Procedural style
Open a new connection to the MySQL server, with extra connect options:

 <?php$con = mysqli_init();if (!$con) {  die("mysqli_init failed");}
  // Specify connection timeoutmysqli_options($con, 
  MYSQLI_OPT_CONNECT_TIMEOUT, 10);// Specify read options from named file instead of my.cnf
  mysqli_options($con, MYSQLI_READ_DEFAULT_FILE, "myfile.cnf");
  mysqli_real_connect($con,"localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");?>  



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Escape special characters in strings:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . 
  $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }// Escape special characters, if any$firstname = $mysqli -> real_escape_string($_POST['firstname']);
 $lastname = $mysqli -> real_escape_string($_POST['lastname']);$age = 
  $mysqli -> real_escape_string($_POST['age']);$sql="INSERT INTO Persons (FirstName, LastName, Age) VALUES ('$firstname', '$lastname', '$age')";
  if (!$mysqli -> query($sql)) {  printf("%d Row inserted.\n", $mysqli->affected_rows);}
  $mysqli -> close();?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The real_escape_string() / mysqli_real_escape_string() function escapes special characters in a 
string for use in an SQL query, taking into account the current character set of 
the connection.
This function is used to create a legal SQL string that can be used in an SQL 
statement. Assume we have the following code:

<?php
 $lastname = "D'Ore";$sql="INSERT INTO Persons (LastName) VALUES ('$lastname')";
  // This query will fail, cause we didn't escape $lastnameif (!$mysqli -> query($sql)) {  printf("%d Row inserted.\n", $mysqli->affected_rows);}
  ?>

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> 
  real_escape_string(escapestring)
Procedural style:

mysqli_real_escape_string(connection, escapestring)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use
  
escapestring
Required. The string to be escaped. Characters encoded are NUL (ASCII 0), \n, \r, \, ', ", and Control-Z.
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the escaped string

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural style
Escape special characters in strings:

<?php
$con = mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
 if (mysqli_connect_errno())
 {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();  
  exit();
 }
  // Escape special characters, if any$firstname = mysqli_real_escape_string($con, $_POST['firstname']);
 $lastname = mysqli_real_escape_string($con, $_POST['lastname']);$age = mysqli_real_escape_string($con, $_POST['age']);$sql="INSERT INTO Persons (FirstName, LastName, Age) VALUES ('$firstname', '$lastname', '$age')";if (!mysqli_query($con, $sql))
 {  printf("%d Row inserted.\n", mysqli_affected_rows($con));}mysqli_close($con);
?>

PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Execute a single SQL query. Store the result with store_result():

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  // Check connectionif ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }$mysqli -> real_query("SELECT * FROM Persons");
  if ($mysqli -> field_count) {  $result = $mysqli -> store_result();  
  $row = $result -> fetch_row();  
  // Free result set  $result -> free_result();}$mysqli -> close();
?>



Definition and Usage
The real_query() / mysqli_real_query() function executes a single SQL query. The result can 
be retrieved or stored with the store_result() or use_result() functions.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> real_query(query)
Procedural style:

mysqli_real_query(connection, query)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use
  
query
Required. The query to be executed
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Definition and Usage
The reap_async_query() / mysqli_reap_async_query() function returns result 
from an async SQL query.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> reap_async_query()
Procedural style:

mysqli_reap_async_query(connection)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
mysqli_result on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.3+


PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP mysqli Reference

Definition and Usage
The refresh() / mysqli_refresh() function refreshes/flushes tables or caches, or resets the replication server information.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> refresh(options)
Procedural style:

mysqli_refresh(connection, options)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use
  
options
The options to refresh. Can be one of more of the following (separated by OR):
 
    
MYSQLI_REFRESH_GRANT - Refreshes the grant tables
    
MYSQLI_REFRESH_LOG - Flushes the logs
    
MYSQLI_REFRESH_TABLES - Flushes the table cache
    
MYSQLI_REFRESH_HOSTS - Flushes the host cache
    
MYSQLI_REFRESH_STATUS - Resets the status variables
    
MYSQLI_REFRESH_THREADS - Flushes the thread cache
    
MYSQLI_REFRESH_SLAVE - Resets the master server info, and restarts  the slave
    
MYSQLI_REFRESH_MASTER - Removes the binary log files in the binary  log index, and truncates the index file
 
   
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.3+


PHP mysqli Reference

PHP mysqli Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Turn off auto-committing, make some queries, commit the queries, then roll 
back the current transaction:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }// Turn autocommit off$mysqli -> autocommit(FALSE);
  // Insert some values $mysqli -> query("INSERT INTO Persons (FirstName,LastName,Age)
VALUES ('Peter','Griffin',35)");
  $mysqli -> query("INSERT INTO Persons (FirstName,LastName,Age) 
VALUES ('Glenn','Quagmire',33)");
 // Commit transactionif (!$mysqli -> commit()) {  echo "Commit 
  transaction failed";  exit();}// Rollback transaction
  $mysqli -> rollback();$mysqli -> close();
?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The rollback() / mysqli_rollback() function rolls back the current transaction for the specified database connection.
Tip: Also look at the commit() 
function, which commits the current transaction, and the 
autocommit() function, which turns on or off auto-committing database modifications.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> 
  rollback(flags, name)
Procedural style:

mysqli_rollback(connection, flags, name)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use
  
flags
Optional. A constant:
    
      
MYSQLI_TRANS_COR_AND_CHAIN - Appends "AND CHAIN"
      
MYSQLI_TRANS_COR_AND_NO_CHAIN - Appends "AND NO CHAIN"
      
MYSQLI_TRANS_COR_RELEASE - Appends "RELEASE"
      
MYSQLI_TRANS_COR_NO_RELEASE - Appends "NO RELEASE"
    
    
  
name
Optional. ROLLBACK/*name*/ is executed if this parameter is 
    specified
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.5: Added the flags and name parameters


Example - Procedural style
Turn off auto-committing, make some queries, commit the queries, then roll 
back the current transaction:

<?php
$con=mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();  
  exit;
  }// Turn autocommit offmysqli_autocommit($con,FALSE);
 // Insert some values mysqli_query($con,"INSERT INTO Persons (FirstName,LastName,Age)
VALUES ('Peter','Griffin',35)");
mysqli_query($con,"INSERT INTO Persons (FirstName,LastName,Age) 
VALUES ('Glenn','Quagmire',33)");
 // Commit transactionif (!$mysqli_commit($con)) {  echo 
  "Commit transaction failed";  exit();}// Rollback transactionmysqli_rollback($con);// Close connection
 mysqli_close($con);?>



PHP mysqli Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Change the default database for the connection:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }// Return name of current default databaseif ($result = $mysqli 
  -> query("SELECT DATABASE()")) {  $row = $result -> fetch_row();  
  echo "Default database is " . $row[0];  $result -> close();}// Change db 
  to "test" db$mysqli -> select_db("test");// Return name of current 
  default databaseif ($result = $mysqli -> query("SELECT DATABASE()")) {  
  $row = $result -> fetch_row();  echo "Default database is " . 
  $row[0];  $result -> close();}$mysqli -> close();
?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The select_db() / mysqli_select_db() function is used to change the default database for the connection.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> 
  select_db(name)
Procedural style:

mysqli_select_db(connection, name)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use
  
name
Required. Specifies the database name
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural style
Change the default database for the connection:

<?php
$con=mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();  
  exit;
  }// Return name of current default databaseif ($result = mysqli_query($con, "SELECT DATABASE()")) {  $row = mysqli_fetch_row($result);  
  echo "Default database is " . $row[0];  mysqli_free_result($result);}// Change db 
  to "test" dbmysqli_select_db($con, "test");// Return name of current default database
  if ($result = mysqli_query($con, "SELECT DATABASE()")) {  $row = mysqli_fetch_row($result);  
  echo "Default database is " . $row[0];  mysqli_free_result($result);}// Close connection
 mysqli_close($con);?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Change the default client character set:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }echo "Initial character set is: " . $mysqli 
  -> character_set_name();// Change character set to utf8$mysqli -> set_charset("utf8");
  echo "Current character set is: " . $mysqli -> character_set_name();$mysqli -> close();
?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The set_charset() / mysqli_set_charset() function specifies the default character set to be 
used when sending data to and from the database server.
Note: For this function to work on a Windows platform, you 
need MySQL client library 4.1.11 or above (for MySQL 5.0, you need 5.0.6 or above). 

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> 
  set_charset(charset)
Procedural style:

mysqli_set_charset(connection, charset)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use
  
charset
Required. Specifies the default character set
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.0.5+


Example - Procedural style
Change the default client character set:

<?php
$con=mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  // Check connection
 if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();  
  exit;
  }echo "Initial character set is: " . mysqli_character_set_name($con);// Change character set to utf8
 mysqli_set_charset($con,"utf8");echo "Current character set 
  is: " . mysqli_character_set_name($con);mysqli_close($con);
?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Definition and Usage
The set_local_infile_handler() / mysqli_set_local_infile_handler() function 
sets a callback function for LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE command.
The callback functions tasks are to read input from the file specified in  
LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE, and to reformat it into the format understood by LOAD 
DATA INFILE.
The returned data must match the format specified in the LOAD DATA.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> 
  set_local_infile_handler(read_file)
Procedural style:

mysqli_set_local_infile_handler(read_file)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use
  
read_func
Required. Specifies a callback function or objext that can take the 
    following params:stream - A PHP stream associated with the SQL commands 
    INFILE&buffer - A string buffer to store the rewritten input into
    buflen - The maximum number of characters to be stored in the buffer&erromsg 
    - If an error occurs you can store an error message in here
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP mysqli Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Return the SQLSTATE error code for the last error:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }// Table Persons already exists, so we should get an error
 $sql = "CREATE TABLE Persons (Firstname VARCHAR(30), Lastname VARCHAR(30), Age INT)"if (!$mysqli 
  -> query($sql)) {  echo "SQLSTATE error: ". $mysqli -> sqlstate;}
  $mysqli -> close();
?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The sqlstate / mysqli_sqlstate() function returns the SQLSTATE error code for the last error.
The error code consists of five characters. "00000" indicates no error. The 
values are specified by ANSI SQL and ODBC.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> sqlstate
Procedural style:

mysqli_sqlstate(connection)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
A string containing the SQLSTATE error code for the last error

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural state
Return the SQLSTATE error code for the last error:

<?php
$con=mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  // Check connection
 if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();  
  exit;
  }// Table Persons already exists, so we should get an error
 $sql = "CREATE TABLE Persons (Firstname VARCHAR(30), Lastname VARCHAR(30), Age INT)"if (!mysqli_query($con, $sql)) {  echo "SQLSTATE error: ". mysqli_sqlstate($con);}
 // Close connection
 mysqli_close($con);?>



PHP mysqli Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Create an SSL connection:

 <?php$mysqli = mysqli_init();if (!$mysqli) {  die("mysqli_init failed");}
  $mysqli -> ssl_set("key.pem", "cert.pem", "cacert.pem", NULL, NULL); 
  if (!$mysqli -> real_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db")) 
  {  die("Connect Error: " . mysqli_connect_error());}
  // Some queries...
  $mysqli -> close();?>  



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The ssl_set() / mysqli_ssl_set() function is used to establish secure connections using 
SSL. However, this function does nothing unless OpenSSL support is enabled.
Note: This function must be called before
real_connect().
Note: MySQL Native Driver does not support SSL before PHP 
5.3.3. MySQL Native Driver is enabled by default on Microsoft Windows from PHP 5.3+.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> ssl_set(key, cert, ca, capath, cipher)
Procedural style:

mysqli_ssl_set(connection, key, cert, ca, capath, cipher)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use
  
key
Required. Specifies the path name to the key file
  
cert
Required. Specifies the path name to the certificate file
  
ca
Required. Specifies the path name to the certificate authority file
  
capath
Required. Specifies the pathname to a directory that contains trusted SSL CA certificates in PEM format
  
cipher
Required. Specifies a list of allowable ciphers to use for SSL encryption
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Always TRUE. If SSL setup is incorrect,
 real_connect() will return an error when you try to connect

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural style
Create an SSL connection:

<?php
 $con = mysqli_init();if (!$con) {  die("mysqli_init failed");}
 mysqli_ssl_set($con, "key.pem", "cert.pem", "cacert.pem", NULL, NULL); if (!mysqli_real_connect($con, "localhost", "my_user", "my_password", "my_db")) {  die("Connect Error: " . mysqli_connect_error());}
 // Some queries...
 mysqli_close($con);
?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Return the current system status:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }echo "System status: ". $mysqli -> stat(); 
  $mysqli -> close();
?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The stat() / mysqli_stat() function returns the current system status.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> 
  stat()
Procedural style:

mysqli_stat(connection)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
A string that describes the server status. FALSE on error

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural style
Return the current system status:

<?php
$con=mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();  
  exit;
  }echo "System status: ". mysqli_stat($con); 
 mysqli_close($con);
 ?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Initialize a statement and return an object to use with 
stmt_prepare():

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }$city="Sandnes";// Create a prepared statement
 $stmt = $mysqli -> stmt_init();if ($stmt 
  -> prepare("SELECT District FROM City WHERE Name=?")) {  // Bind parameters  
  $stmt -> bind_param("s", $city);  // Execute query  
  $stmt -> execute();  // Bind result variables  $stmt -> bind_result($district);  // Fetch value  
  $stmt -> fetch();  printf("%s is in district %s", $city, $district);  // Close statement  
  $stmt -> close();}
  $mysqli -> close();
?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The stmt_init() / mysqli_stmt_init() function initializes a statement and returns an object suitable for mysqli_stmt_prepare().

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> stmt_init()
Procedural style:

mysqli_stmt_init(connection)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an object

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural style
Initialize a statement and return an object to use with 
mysqli_stmt_prepare():

<?php
$con=mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
 if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();  
  exit;
  }$city="Sandnes";// Create a prepared statement
 $stmt = mysqli_stmt_init($con);if (mysqli_stmt_prepare($stmt, "SELECT District FROM City WHERE Name=?")) {  // Bind parameters  mysqli_stmt_bind_param($stmt, "s", $city);  // Execute query  mysqli_stmt_execute($stmt);  // Bind result variables  mysqli_stmt_bind_result($stmt, $district);  // Fetch value  mysqli_stmt_fetch($stmt);  printf("%s is in district %s", $city, $district);  // Close statement  mysqli_stmt_close($stmt);}
 mysqli_close($con);
 ?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Return the thread ID for the current connection, then kill the connection:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }// Get thread id$thread_id = $mysqli -> thread_id;// Kill connection
  $mysqli -> kill($thread_id);?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The thread_id() / mysqli_thread_id() function returns the thread ID for the current 
connection. The connection can then be killed with the
kill() function.
Note: If the connection is broken and you reconnect, the 
thread ID will be changed. Therefore; get the thread ID only when you need it. 

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> thread_id()
Procedural style:

mysqli_thread_id(connection)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the thread ID for the current connection

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural style
Return the thread ID for the current connection, then kill the connection:

<?php
$con=mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();  
  exit;}// Get thread id$thread_id = mysqli_thread_id($con);// Kill connectionmysqli_kill($con, $thread_id);?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Definition and Usage
The mysqli_thread_safe() function returns whether the client library is compiled as thread-safe.

Syntax

mysqli_thread_safe()

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if the client library is thread-safe. FALSE otherwise

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Initiates the retrieval of a result-set from the last query executed:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }$sql = "SELECT Lastname FROM Persons ORDER BY LastName;";
 $sql .= "SELECT Country FROM Customers";// Execute multi queryif ($mysqli 
  -> multi_query($sql)) {  do {    // Store first result set    if ($result = 
  $mysqli -> use_result()) {      while ($row = 
  $result -> fetch_row()) {        printf("%s\n", $row[0]);      }     $result 
  -> close();
      }    // if there are more result-sets, the print a 
  divider    if ($mysqli -> more_results()) {      
  printf("-------------\n");    }     
  //Prepare next result set  } while ($mysqli 
  -> next_result());}$mysqli -> close();
?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The use_result() / mysqli_use_result() function initiates the retrieval of a 
result-set from the last query executed.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> use_result()
Procedural style:

mysqli_use_result(connection)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an unbuffered result object. FALSE on error

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural style
Initiates the retrieval of a result-set from the last query executed:

<?php
$con = mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();  
  exit();
  }$sql = "SELECT Lastname FROM Persons ORDER BY LastName;";
 $sql .= "SELECT Country FROM Customers";// Execute multi queryif (mysqli_multi_query($con, $sql)) {  do {    // Store first result set    if ($result = mysqli_use_result($con)) {      while ($row = mysqli_fetch_row($result)) {        printf("%s\n", $row[0]);      }      mysqli_free_result($result);
      }    // if there are more result-sets, the print a 
  divider    if (mysqli_more_results($con)) {      
  printf("-------------\n");    }     
  //Prepare next result set  } while (mysqli_next_result($con));}mysqli_close($con);
 ?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

PHP MySQLi Reference

Example - Object Oriented style
Return the number of warnings from the last query:

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  // Check connectionif ($mysqli -> connect_errno) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . $mysqli -> connect_error;  
  exit();
  }$mysqli -> query("CREATE TABLE myPersons LIKE Persons");$sql 
  = "INSERT INTO myPersons (FirstName) VALUES(
  'Hdghfhjgjtjyjn.,,øæløjkghfjbmbngfgffdhfhjgjgkjhlkhlkjljljlkjkljlkjkljkljlkj')";
  $mysqli -> query($sql);if ($mysqli -> warning_count) {  
  if ($result = $mysqli -> query("SHOW WARNINGS")) {    $row 
  = $result -> fetch_row();    printf("%s (%d): %s\n", 
  $row[0], $row[1], $row[2]);    $result -> close();  
  }}$mysqli -> close();
?>



Look at example of procedural style at the bottom.

Definition and Usage
The warning_count / mysqli_warning_count() function returns the number of 
warnings from the last query.

Syntax
Object oriented style:

$mysqli -> warning_count
Procedural style:

mysqli_warning_count(connection)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
connection
Required. Specifies the MySQL connection to use
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The number of warnings from the last query. 0 if no 
 warnings

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


Example - Procedural style
Return the number of warnings from the last query:

<?php
$con = mysqli_connect("localhost","my_user","my_password","my_db");
  if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();  
  exit();
  }mysqli_query($con, "CREATE TABLE myPersons LIKE Persons");$sql 
  = "INSERT INTO myPersons (FirstName) VALUES('Hdghfhjgjtjyjn.,,øæløjkghfjbmbngfgffdhfhjgjgkjhlkhlkjljljlkjkljlkjkljkljlkj')";
  mysqli_query($con, $sql);if (mysqli_warning_count($con)) {  
  if ($result = mysqli_query($con, "SHOW WARNINGS")) {    
  $row = mysql_fetch_row($result);    printf("%s (%d): %s\n", 
  $row[0], $row[1], $row[2]);    mysqli_free_result($result);  
  }}
  mysqli_close($con);
?>



PHP MySQLi Reference

Network Introduction
The Network functions contains various network function and let you manipulate information sent to the browser by the 
Web server, before any other output has been sent.

Installation
The Network functions are part of the PHP core. There is no installation needed to use these functions.

Network Functions

  
Function
Description
  
checkdnsrr()
Checks DNS records for type corresponding to 
host
  
closelog()
Closes the connection of system logger
  
define_syslog_variables()
Deprecated and removed in PHP 5.4. 
    Initializes the variables used in syslog functions
  
dns_check_record()
Alias of checkdnsrr()
  
dns_get_mx()
Alias of getmxrr()
  
dns_get_record()
Gets the DNS resource records associated with the specified hostname
  
fsockopen()
Opens an Internet or Unix domain socket connection
  
gethostbyaddr()
Returns the domain name for a given IP address
  
gethostbyname()
Returns the IPv4 address for a given domain/host name
  
gethostbynamel()
Returns a list of IPv4 address for a given domain/host name
  
gethostname()
Returns the host name
  
getmxrr()
Returns the MX records for the specified internet host name
  
getprotobyname()
Returns the protocol number for a given protocol name
  
getprotobynumber()      
Returns the protocol name for a given protocol number
  
getservbyname()
Returns the port number for a given Internet service and protocol
  
getservbyport()
Returns the Internet service for a given port and protocol
  
header_register_callback()
Calls a header function
  
header_remove()
Removes an HTTP header previously set with the
    header() function
  
header()
Sends a raw HTTP header to a client
  
headers_list()
Returns a list of response headers to be sent to the browser
  
headers_sent()
Checks if/where headers have been sent
  
http_response_code()
Sets or returns the HTTP response status code
  
inet_ntop()
Converts a 32bit IPv4 or 128bit IPv6 address into a readable format
  
inet_pton()
Converts a readable IP address into a packed 32bit IPv4 or 128bit IPv6 
    format
  
ip2long()
Converts an IPv4 address into a long integer
  
long2ip()
Converts a long integer address into a string in IPv4 format
  
openlog()
Opens the connection of system logger
  
pfsockopen()
Opens a persistent Internet or Unix domain socket connection
  
setcookie()
Defines a cookie to be sent along with the rest of the HTTP headers
  
setrawcookie()
Defines a cookie (without URL encoding) to be sent along with the rest of the HTTP headers
  
socket_get_status()
Alias of stream_get_meta_data()
  
socket_set_blocking()
Alias of stream_set_blocking()
  
socket_set_timeout()
Alias of stream_set_timeout()
  
syslog()
Generates a system log message




PHP Network Reference

Example
Check DNS records:

<?php
  $domain="w3schools.com";if(checkdnsrr($domain,"MX")) {  echo 
  "Passed";} else {  echo "Failed";}?>



Definition and Usage
The checkdnsrr() function checks DNS records for type corresponding to host.
We can use the checkdnsrr() function to check our DNS record to verify the existence of a domain name or not.

Syntax

  checkdnsrr(host, type)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
host
Required. Specifies an IP address or host name to check
  
type
Optional. Specifies the type. Can be one of the following:
    
      
A
      
MX (default)
      
NS
      
SOA
      
PTR
      
CNAME
      
AAAA
      
A6
      
SRV
      
NAPTR
      
TXT
      
ANY
    
    
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if any records are found, FALSE otherwise

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.3: Now available on Windows platformsPHP 5.2.4: Added the TXT 
  value of type

PHP Network Reference

PHP Network Reference

Example
Open and close connection of system logger:

<?php
  function _log($text) {openlog("phperrors", LOG_PID | LOG_PERROR);
  syslog(LOG_ERR, $text);closelog();........}?>



Definition and Usage
The closelog() function closes the connection of system logger.
Syntax

  closelog()

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Network Reference

PHP Network Reference

Example
Check DNS records:

<?php
  $domain="w3schools.com";if(dns_check_record($domain,"MX")) {  echo 
  "Passed";} else {  echo "Failed";}?>



Definition and Usage
The dns_check_record() function is an alias of the checkdnsrr() function.

Syntax

dns_check_record(host, type)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
host
Required. Specifies an IP address or host name to check
  
type
Optional. Specifies the type. Can be one of the following:
    
      
A
      
MX (default)
      
NS
      
SOA
      
PTR
      
CNAME
      
AAAA
      
A6
      
SRV
      
NAPTR
      
TXT
      
ANY
    
    
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if any records are found, FALSE otherwise

  
PHP Version:
  
5.0+

PHP Network Reference

PHP Network Reference

Example
Return details of mail exchanger records (MX records):

<?php
  $domain="w3schools.com";if(dns_get_mx($domain,$mx_details)){  
  foreach($mx_details as $key=>$value){    echo "$key => 
  $value <br>";  }}?>



Definition and Usage
The dns_get_mx() function is an alias of the getmxrr() function.

Syntax

dns_get_mx(host, mxhosts, weight)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
host
Required. Specifies the host name
  
mxhosts
Required. An array that specifies a list of MX records found
  
weight
Optional. An array that specifies the weight information gathered
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if any records are found, FALSE otherwise

  
PHP Version:
  
5.0+

PHP Network Reference

PHP Network Reference

Example
Gets the MX resource records associated with "www.w3schools.com":

<?php
  print_r(dns_get_record("w3schools.com", DNS_MX));?>



Definition and Usage
The dns_get_record() function gets the DNS resource records associated with the specified hostname.

Syntax

dns_get_record(hostname, type, authns, addtl, raw)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
hostname
Required. Specifies a hostname (like "www.w3schools.com")
  
type
Optional. Specifies the resource record type to search for. Can be one of the following:
    
      
DNS_A
      
DNS_CNAME
      
DNS_HINFO
      
DNS_CAA
      
DNS_MX
      
DNS_NS
      
DNS_PTR
      
DNS_SOA
      
DNS_TXT
      
DNS_AAAA
      
DNS_SRV
      
DNS_NAPTR
      
DNS_A6
      
DNS_ALL
      
DNS_ANY (default)
    
    
  
authns
Optional. Passed by reference and, if set, it will be populated with 
    Resource Records for the Authoritative Name Servers 
  
addtl
Optional. Passed by reference and, if set, it will be populated with any
    Additional Records 
  
raw
Optional. A Boolean value. If set to TRUE, it queries only the requested 
    type instead of looping type-by-type before getting the info stuff. Default 
    is FALSE
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 

 An array of associative arrays, FALSE on failure. Each array contains the 
 following keys (at minimum):
 
   
host - The hostname
   
class - Always return IN (because this function only returns Internet 
   class records)
   
type - The record type
   
ttl - "Time To Live" remaining for this record (original ttl minus the 
   length of time passed since the server was queried)
 
 Other keys in the arrays depends on the type parameter.
  

  
PHP Version:
  
5.0+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 7.0.16: Added support for DNS_CAA type.PHP 5.4: Added the
  raw parameter.PHP 5.3: Available on Windows platforms.

PHP Network Reference

PHP Network Reference

Example
fsockopen() example:

<?php
  $fp = fsockopen("www.w3schools.com", 80, $errno, $errstr, 20);if (!$fp) {  
  echo "$errstr ($errno)<br>";} else {  $out = "GET / 
  HTTP/1.1\r\n";  $out .= "Host: www.w3schools.com\r\n";  $out 
  .= "Connection: Close\r\n\r\n";  fwrite($fp, $out);  while 
  (!feof($fp)) {    echo fgets($fp, 128);  }  
  fclose($fp);}?>



Definition and Usage
The fsockopen() function opens an Internet or Unix domain socket connection.

Syntax

fsockopen(hostname, port, errno, errstr, timeout)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
hostname
Required. Specifies a hostname (like "www.w3schools.com"). ssl:// 
    or tls:// works over TCP/IP to connect to the remote host
  
port
Optional. Specifies the port number. Use -1 for transports that do not 
    use ports, like unix://
  
errno
Optional. Specifies the system level error number
  
errstr
Optional. Specifies the error message as a string
  
timeout
Optional. Specifies the connection timeout (in seconds)
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
A file pointer that can be used with other file functions (such as fgets(), 
 fwrite(), fclose()). FALSE on failure.

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Network Reference

PHP Network Reference

Example
A simple gethostbyaddr() example:

<?php
  $host = gethostbyaddr($_SERVER["REMOTE_ADDR"]);echo $host;?>



Definition and Usage
The gethostbyaddr() function returns the domain name for a given IP address.

Syntax

gethostbyaddr(ipaddress)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
ipaddress
Required. Specifies an IP address
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The host name on success. The IP address or FALSE on failure.

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Network Reference

PHP Network Reference

Example
A gethostbyname() example:

<?php
  $ip = gethostbyname("www.w3schools.com");echo $ip;?>



Definition and Usage
The gethostbyname() function returns the IPv4 address for a given domain/host name.

Syntax

gethostbyname(hostname)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
hostname
Required. Specifies a hostname (like "www.w3schools.com")
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The IPv4 address on success. The hostname on failure.

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Network Reference

PHP Network Reference

Example
A gethostbynamel() example:

<?php
  $hostlist = gethostbynamel("www.w3schools.com");print_r($hostlist);?>



Definition and Usage
The gethostbynamel() function returns a list of IPv4 address for a given domain/host name.

Syntax

gethostbynamel(hostname)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
hostname
Required. Specifies a hostname (like "www.w3schools.com")
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
An array of IPv4 address on success. FALSE on failure.

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Network Reference

PHP Network Reference

Example
A gethostname() example:

<?php
  echo gethostname;?>



Definition and Usage
The gethostname() function returns the host name for the local machine.

Syntax

gethostname()

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The host name on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.3+

PHP Network Reference

PHP Network Reference

Example
Return details of mail exchanger records (MX records):

<?php
  $domain="w3schools.com";if(getmxrr($domain,$mx_details)){  
  foreach($mx_details as $key=>$value){    echo "$key => 
  $value <br>";  }}?>



Definition and Usage
The getmxrr() function returns the MX records for the specified internet host name.

Syntax

getmxrr(host, mxhosts, weight)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
host
Required. Specifies the host name
  
mxhosts
Required. An array that specifies a list of MX records found
  
weight
Optional. An array that specifies the weight information gathered
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if any records are found, FALSE otherwise

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.3: Now available on Windows platforms

PHP Network Reference

PHP Network Reference

Example
A getprotobyname() example:

<?php
  $protocolnum = getprotobyname("tcp");echo $protocolnum;?>



Definition and Usage
The getprotobyname() function returns the protocol number for a given protocol name.

Syntax

getprotobyname(protocolname)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
protocolname
Required. Specifies a protocol name (like "tcp")
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The protocol number on success. FALSE on failure.

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Network Reference

PHP Network Reference

Example
A getprotobynumber() example:

<?php
  $protocolname = getprotobynumber(6);echo $protocolname;?>



Definition and Usage
The getprotobynumber() function returns the protocol name for a given protocol number.

Syntax

getprotobynumber(protocolnumber)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
protocolnumber
Required. Specifies a protocol number (like 17)
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The protocol name on success. FALSE on failure.

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Network Reference

PHP Network Reference

Example
A getservbyname() example:

<?php
  $portnum = getservbyname("http", "tcp");echo $portnum;?>



Definition and Usage
The getservbyname() function returns the port number for a given Internet service and protocol.

Syntax

getservbyname(service, protocol)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
service
Required. Specifies the Internet service name (like "http")
  
protocol
Required. Specifies a protocol name (like "tcp" or "udp")
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The port number on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Network Reference

PHP Network Reference

Example
A getservbyport() example:

<?php
  $intservname = getservbyport(80, "tcp");echo $intservname;?>



Definition and Usage
The getservbyport() function returns the Internet service for a given port and protocol.

Syntax

getservbyport(port, protocol)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
port
Required. Specifies the port number (like 80)
  
protocol
Required. Specifies a protocol name (like "tcp" or "udp")
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The Internet Service name on success

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Network Reference

PHP Network Reference

Example
A getservbyname() example:

<?php
  $portnum = getservbyname("http", "tcp");echo $portnum;?>



Definition and Usage
The header_register_callback() function calls a header function (will be 
executed after PHP has prepared all headers to be sent, and before any other 
output is sent).

Syntax

header_register_callback(callback)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
callback
Required. Specifies a callback function
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.4+

PHP Network Reference

PHP Network Reference

Example
Remove specific header:

<?php
header("Expires: Mon, 26 Jul 1997 05:00:00 GMT");
header("Cache-Control: no-cache");
header("Pragma: no-cache");header_remove("Pragma"); ?>



Definition and Usage
The header_remove() function removes an HTTP header previously set with the
header() function.

Syntax

header_remove(headername)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
headername
Optional. Specifies a header name to be removed. If omitted, all 
    previously set headers are removed 
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Nothing

  
PHP Version:
  
5.3+

More Examples

Example
Remove all previously set headers:

<?php
header("Expires: Mon, 26 Jul 1997 05:00:00 GMT");
header("Cache-Control: no-cache");
header("Pragma: no-cache");header_remove(); ?>



PHP Network Reference

PHP Network Reference

Example
Send three HTTP headers to prevent page caching:

<?php
// Date in the past
header("Expires: Mon, 26 Jul 1997 05:00:00 GMT");
header("Cache-Control: no-cache");
header("Pragma: no-cache");
?>

<html>
<body>
...
...



Note: There are options that users may set to change the browser's 
default caching settings. By sending the headers above, you will override any 
of those settings and force the browser to not cache!

Definition and Usage
The header() function sends a raw HTTP header to a client.
It is important to notice that the header() function must be called before any actual 
output is sent!

Syntax

header(header, replace, http_response_code)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
header
Required. Specifies the header string to send
  
replace
Optional. Indicates whether the header should replace a previous similar 
    header or add a new header of the same type. Default is TRUE (will replace). FALSE 
    allows multiple headers of the same type
  
http_response_code
Optional. Forces the HTTP response code to the specified value
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Nothing

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.1.2: Now prevents that more than one header to be sent at once. This 
  is a protection against header injection attacks


More Examples

Example
Let the user be prompted to save a generated PDF file (Content-Disposition 
header is used to supply a recommended filename and force the browser to display 
the save dialog box): 

<?php
header("Content-type:application/pdf");

// It will be called downloaded.pdf
header("Content-Disposition:attachment;filename='downloaded.pdf'");

// The PDF source is in original.pdf
readfile("original.pdf");
?>

<html>
<body>

...
...



PHP Network Reference

PHP Network Reference

Example
Return a list of response headers sent:

<?php
setcookie("TestCookie","SomeValue");
header("X-Sample-Test: foo");
header("Content-type: text/plain");
?>

<html>
<body>

<?php
var_dump(headers_list());
?>

</body>
</html>

The output of the code above could be:

array(4)
{
[0]=> string(23) "X-Powered-By: PHP/7.1.1"
[1]=> string(19) "Set-Cookie: TestCookie=SomeValue"
[2]=> string(18) "X-Sample-Test: foo"
[3]=> string(24) "Content-type: text/plain"
}

Definition and Usage
The headers_list() function returns a list of response headers to be sent to 
the browser.
Tip: To determine whether or not the headers have been sent yet, use the 
headers_sent() function.

Syntax

headers_list()

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
A numerically indexed array of headers on success

  
PHP Version:
  
5.0+

PHP Network Reference

PHP Network Reference

Example
If no headers are sent, send one:

<?php
  if (!headers_sent()) {
  header("Location: https://www.w3schools.com/");
  exit;
  }
?>

<html>
<body>

...
...



Definition and Usage
The headers_sent() function checks if/where headers have been sent.

Syntax

headers_sent(file,line)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
file
Optional. If the file and line parameters are set, headers_sent() will put the PHP source file name and line number where output started in the file and line variables
  
line
Optional. Specifies the line number where the output started
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if HTTP headers has been sent, FALSE otherwise

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 4.3: Added the optional file and line parameters


More Examples

Example
Using the optional file and line parameters:

<?php
// $file and $line are passed in for later use
// Do not assign them values beforehand
if (!headers_sent($file, $line))
  {
  header("Location: https://www.w3schools.com/");
  exit;
  // Trigger an error here
  }
else
  {
  echo "Headers sent in $file on line $line";
  exit;
  }
?>

<html>
<body>

...
...

PHP Network Reference

PHP Network Reference

Example
Set the HTTP response status code to 404:

<?php
  http_response_code(404);?>



Definition and Usage
The http_response_code() function sets or returns the HTTP response status code.

Syntax

http_response_code(code)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
code
Optional. Specifies a response code (like 404)
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
If code is set, the previous status code is 
 returned. If code is not set, the current status code is returned

  
PHP Version:
  
5.4+

PHP Network Reference

PHP Network Reference

Example
Convert a packed address into a readable format:

<?php
  $addr = chr(127) . chr(0) . chr(1) . chr(1);$exp = inet_ntop($addr);
  echo $exp;?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The inet_ntop() function converts a 32bit IPv4 or 128bit IPv6 address into a 
readable format.

Syntax

inet_ntop(address)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
address
Required. Specifies a 32bit IPv4 or 128bit IPv6 address
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
A human readable address on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.1+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.3: Now available on Windows platforms

PHP Network Reference

PHP Network Reference

Example
Convert a readable IP address into a packed format:

<?php
  $addr = inet_pton("127.0.1.1");echo $addr;?>



Definition and Usage
The inet_pton() function converts a readable IP address into a packed 32bit IPv4 or 128bit IPv6 
format.

Syntax

inet_pton(address)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
address
Required. Specifies a readable IP address
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The address as a packed 32bit IPv4 or 128bit IPv6 format. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.1+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.3: Now available on Windows platforms

PHP Network Reference

PHP Network Reference

Example
Convert an IPv4 address into a long integer:

<?php
  $ip = gethostbyname("www.w3schools.com");$out = "The following URLs are 
  equivalent:<br>";$out .= "https://www.w3schools.com/, https://" . $ip . 
  "/, and https://" . sprintf("%u", ip2long($ip)) . "/";echo $out;?>



Definition and Usage
The ip2long() function converts an IPv4 address into a long integer.

Syntax

ip2long(address)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
address
Required. Specifies a standard IP address
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
A long integer. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.5: Before this version, on Windows, this function might return a 
  valid number even if the passed value was not an IPv4 address.PHP 5.2: PHP 5.5: 
  Before this version, this function might return a valid number even if the 
  passed value was not an IPv4 address. 

PHP Network Reference

PHP Network Reference

Example
Convert a long integer address into a string in IPv4 format:

<?php
  echo(long2ip(344294967296));?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The long2ip() function converts a long integer address into a string in IPv4 
format.

Syntax

long2ip(address)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
address
Required. Specifies a long integer that represents an IP address
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The IP address as a string

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 7.1: Changed the address parameter from string to integer. 

PHP Network Reference

PHP Network Reference

Example
Open and close connection of system logger:

<?php
  function _log($text) {openlog("phperrors", LOG_PID | LOG_PERROR);
  syslog(LOG_ERR, $text);closelog();........}?>



Definition and Usage
The openlog() function opens the connection of system logger.
Syntax

openlog(ident, option, facility)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
ident
Required. Specifies a string ident that is added to each message
  
option
Required. Specifies what logging options will be used when generating a 
    log message. Can be one or more of the following options (separated with |):
    
      
LOG_CONS
      
LOG_NDELAY
      
LOG_ODELAY
      
LOG_PERROR
      
LOG_PID
    
    
  
facility
Required. Specifies what type of program is logging the message:
    
      
LOG_AUTH
      
LOG_AUTHPRIV
      
LOG_CRON
      
LOG_DAEMON
      
LOG_KERN
      
LOG_LOCAL0...LOG_LOCAL7
      
LOG_LPR
      
LOG_MAIL
      
LOG_NEWS
      
LOG_SYSLOG
      
LOG_USER - (is the only valid log type for Windows OS)
      
LOG_UUCP
    
    
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Network Reference

PHP Network Reference

Example
pfsockopen() example:

<?php
  $fp = pfsockopen("www.w3schools.com", 80, $errno, $errstr, 20);if (!$fp) {  
  echo "$errstr ($errno)<br>";} else {  $out = "GET / 
  HTTP/1.1\r\n";  $out .= "Host: www.w3schools.com\r\n";  $out 
  .= "Connection: Close\r\n\r\n";  fwrite($fp, $out);  while 
  (!feof($fp)) {    echo fgets($fp, 128);  }  
  fclose($fp);}?>



Definition and Usage
The pfsockopen() function opens a persistent Internet or Unix domain socket connection.
Note: This function is almost identical to
fsockopen(). The difference is that the 
connection is not closed after the script finishes. This function is the 
persistent version of fsockopen(). 

Syntax

pfsockopen(hostname, port, errno, errstr, timeout)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
hostname
Required. Specifies a hostname (like "www.w3schools.com"). ssl:// 
    or tls:// works over TCP/IP to connect to the remote host
  
port
Optional. Specifies the port number. Use -1 for transports that do not 
    use ports, like unix://
  
errno
Optional. Specifies the system level error number
  
errstr
Optional. Specifies the error message as a string
  
timeout
Optional. Specifies the connection timeout (in seconds)
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
A file pointer that can be used with other file functions (such as fgets(), 
 fwrite(), fclose()). FALSE on failure.

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Network Reference

PHP Network Reference

Example
The following example creates a cookie named "user" 
with the value "John Doe". The cookie will expire after 30 days (86400 * 30). 
The "/" means that the cookie is available in entire website (otherwise, select the directory you prefer).
 We then retrieve the value of the cookie "user" (using the global variable 
$_COOKIE). We also use the isset() function to find out if the cookie is set:

 <!DOCTYPE html><?php$cookie_name = "user";$cookie_value = "John Doe";setcookie($cookie_name, $cookie_value, time() + (86400 * 30), "/"); // 86400 = 1 day?><html><body><?phpif(!isset($_COOKIE[$cookie_name])) {    echo "Cookie named '" . $cookie_name . "' is not set!";} else {    echo "Cookie '" . $cookie_name . "' is set!<br>";    echo "Value is: " . $_COOKIE[$cookie_name];}?></body></html>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The setcookie() function defines a cookie to be sent along with the rest of the HTTP headers.
A cookie is often used to identify a user. A cookie is a small file that the 
server embeds on the user's computer. Each time the same computer requests a 
page with a browser, it will send the cookie too. With PHP, you can both create and retrieve cookie values.
The name of the cookie is automatically assigned to a variable of the same 
name. For example, if a cookie was sent with the name "user", a variable is 
automatically created called $user, containing the cookie value.
Note: The setcookie() function must appear BEFORE the <html> tag.
Note: The value of the cookie is automatically URLencoded when 
sending the cookie, and automatically decoded when received (to prevent 
URLencoding, use setrawcookie() instead).

Syntax

setcookie(name, value, expire, path, domain, secure, httponly);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
name
Required. Specifies the name of the cookie
  
value
Optional. Specifies the value of the cookie
  
expire
Optional. Specifies when the cookie expires. The value: time()+86400*30, will set the cookie to expire in 30 days. If this parameter is omitted or set to 0, the cookie will expire at the end of the session (when the browser closes). Default is 0
  
path
Optional. Specifies the server path of the cookie.
    If set to "/", the cookie will be available within the entire domain. If set to "/php/", the cookie will only be available within the php directory and all sub-directories of php. The default value is the current directory that the cookie is being set in
  
domain
Optional. Specifies the domain name of the cookie. To make the cookie available on all subdomains of example.com, set domain to "example.com". Setting it to www.example.com will make the cookie only available in the www subdomain
  
secure
Optional. Specifies whether or not the cookie should only be transmitted over a secure HTTPS connection. TRUE indicates that the cookie will only be set if a secure connection exists. Default is FALSE
  
httponly
Optional. If set to TRUE the cookie will be accessible only through the HTTP protocol (the cookie will not be accessible by scripting languages). This setting can help to reduce identity theft through XSS attacks. Default is FALSE

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.5 - A Max-Age attribute was included in the Set-Cookie header sent to the clientPHP 5.2 - The httponly parameter was added


More Examples

Example
Several expire dates for cookies:

 <?php$value = "Hello world!";// cookie will expire when the browser closesetcookie("myCookie", $value);// cookie will expire in 1 hoursetcookie("myCookie", $value, time() + 3600);// cookie will expire in 1 hour, and will only be available// within the php directory + all sub-directories of phpsetcookie("myCookie", $value, time() + 3600, "/php/");?> <html><body>...some code...
 </body></html>

Try it Yourself »

Example
To modify a cookie, just set (again) the cookie using the setcookie() function:

 <?php$cookie_name = "user";$cookie_value = "Alex Porter";
 setcookie($cookie_name, $cookie_value, time() + (86400 * 30), "/");?><html><body><?phpif(!isset($_COOKIE[$cookie_name])) {    echo "Cookie named '" . $cookie_name . "' is not set!";} else {    echo "Cookie '" . $cookie_name . "' is set!<br>";    echo "Value is: " . $_COOKIE[$cookie_name];}?></body></html>

Try it Yourself »

Example
To delete a cookie, use the setcookie() function with an expiration date in the past:

 <?php// set the expiration date to one hour agosetcookie("user", ", time() - 3600);?><html><body><?phpecho "Cookie 'user' is deleted.";?></body></html>
Try it Yourself »

Example
Create a small script that checks whether cookies are enabled. First, try to create a test cookie with the setcookie() function, then count the $_COOKIE array variable:

 <?phpsetcookie("test_cookie", "test", time() + 3600, '/');?>
 <html><body><?phpif(count($_COOKIE) > 0) {    echo "Cookies are enabled.";} else {    echo "Cookies are disabled.";}?>
 </body></html>
Try it Yourself »

PHP Network Reference

PHP Network Reference

Example
The following example creates a cookie with PHP. The cookie is named "user" 
and the value will be "John Doe". The cookie value will not be URL 
encoded. The cookie will expire after 30 days (86400 * 30). 
Using "/", means that the cookie is available in entire website (otherwise, select the directory you prefer):

<?php
 $cookie_name = "user";$cookie_value = "John";
 setrawcookie($cookie_name, $cookie_value, time() + (86400 * 30), "/");// 86400 = 1 day?><html><body><?phpecho "Cookie is set.";
 ?></body></html>?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The setrawcookie() function defines a cookie (without URL encoding) to be sent along with the rest of the HTTP headers.
A cookie is often used to identify a user. A cookie is a small file that the 
server embeds on the user's computer. Each time the same computer requests a 
page with a browser, it will send the cookie too. With PHP, you can both create and retrieve cookie values.
The name of the cookie is automatically assigned to a variable of the same 
name. For example, if a cookie was sent with the name "user", a variable is 
automatically created called $user, containing the cookie value.
Note: The setrawcookie() function must appear BEFORE the <html> tag.
Note: To automatically URL-encode the cookie value when sending, and automatically decode when receiving, use 
the setcookie() function instead.

Syntax

setrawcookie(name, value, expire, path, domain, secure);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
name
Required. Specifies the name of the cookie
  
value
Optional. Specifies the value of the cookie
  
expire
Optional. Specifies when the cookie expires. The value: time()+86400*30, will set the cookie to expire in 30 days. If this parameter is not set, the cookie will expire at the end of the session (when the browser closes)
  
path
Optional. Specifies the server path of the cookie.
    If set to "/", the cookie will be available within the entire domain. If set to "/php/", the cookie will only be available within the php directory and all sub-directories of php. The default value is the current directory that the cookie is being set in
  
domain
Optional. Specifies the domain name of the cookie. To make the cookie available on all subdomains of example.com, set domain to ".example.com". Setting it to www.example.com will make the cookie only available in the www subdomain
  
secure
Optional. Specifies whether or not the cookie should only be transmitted over a secure HTTPS connection. TRUE indicates that the cookie will only be set if a secure connection exists. Default is FALSE.

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


More Examples

Example
Retrieve the value of the cookie named "user" (using the global variable 
$_COOKIE). Also use the isset() function to find out if the cookie exists:

 <html><body><?php$cookie_name = "user";if(!isset($_COOKIE[$cookie_name])) {    echo "Cookie named '" . $cookie_name . "' does not exist!";} else {    echo "Cookie is named: " . $cookie_name . "<br>Value is: " . $_COOKIE[$cookie_name];}?></body></html>

Try it Yourself »

Example
To modify a cookie, just set (again) the cookie using the setrawcookie() function:

 <?php$cookie_name = "user";$cookie_value = "Alex";
 setrawcookie($cookie_name, $cookie_value, time() + (86400 * 30), "/");?><html><body><?php$cookie_name = "user";if(!isset($_COOKIE[$cookie_name])) {    echo "Cookie named '" . $cookie_name . "' does not exist!";} else {    echo "Cookie is named: " . $cookie_name . "<br>Value is: " . $_COOKIE[$cookie_name];}?></body></html>

Try it Yourself »

Example
To delete a cookie, use the setrawcookie() function with an expiration date in the past:

 <?php$cookie_name = "user";
 unset($_COOKIE[$cookie_name]);// empty value and expiration one hour before$res = setrawcookie($cookie_name, '', time() - 3600);?><html><body><?phpecho "Cookie 'user' is deleted.";?></body></html>
Try it Yourself »

Example
Create a small script that checks whether cookies are enabled. First, try to create a test cookie with the setrawcookie() function, then count the $_COOKIE array variable:

 <?phpsetrawcookie("test_cookie", "test", time() + 3600, '/');?>
 <html><body><?phpif(count($_COOKIE) > 0) {    echo "Cookies are enabled";} else {    echo "Cookies are disabled";}?>
 </body></html>
Try it Yourself »

PHP Network Reference

PHP Network Reference

Definition and Usage
The socket_get_status() function is an alias of the stream_get_meta_data() function.

PHP Network Reference

PHP Network Reference

Definition and Usage
The socket_set_blocking() function is an alias of the stream_get_meta_data() function.

PHP Network Reference

PHP Network Reference

Definition and Usage
The socket_set_timeout() function is an alias of the stream_get_meta_data() function.

PHP Network Reference

PHP Network Reference

Example
Open and close connection of system logger:

<?php
  function _log($text) {openlog("phperrors", LOG_PID | LOG_PERROR);
  syslog(LOG_ERR, $text);closelog();........}?>



Definition and Usage
The syslog() function generates a system log message.
Syntax

  syslog(priority, message)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
priority
Required. Specifies ... Can be one of the following options:
    
      
LOG_EMERG
      
LOG_ALERT
      
LOG_CRIT
      
LOG_ERR
      
LOG_WARNING
      
LOG_NOTICE
      
LOG_INFO
      
LOG_DEBUG
    
    
  
message
Required. Specifies the message to send
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success, FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP Network Reference

SimpleXML Introduction
SimpleXML is an extension that allows us to easily manipulate and get XML 
data.
SimpleXML provides an easy way of getting an element's name, attributes and 
textual content if you know the XML document's structure or layout.
SimpleXML turns an XML document into a data structure you can iterate through 
like a collection of arrays and objects.

Installation
From PHP 5, the SimpleXML functions are part of the PHP core. No installation is required to use these functions.

SimpleXML Functions


  
Function
Description
  
__construct()
Creates a new SimpleXMLElement object
  
__toString()
Returns the string content of an element
  
addAttribute()
Appends an attribute to the SimpleXML element
  
addChild()
Appends a child element the SimpleXML element
  
asXML()
Returns a well-formed XML string (XML version 1.0) from a SimpleXML object
  
attributes()
Returns the attributes/values of an element
  
children()
Returns the children of a specified node
  
count()
Counts the children of a specified node
  
getDocNamespaces()
Returns the namespaces declared in document
  
getName()
Returns the name of an element
  
getNamespaces()
Returns the namespaces used in document
  
registerXPathNamespace()
Creates a namespace context for the next XPath query
  
saveXML()
Alias of asXML()
  
simplexml_import_dom()
Returns a SimpleXMLElement object from a DOM node
  
simplexml_load_file()
Converts an XML document to an object
  
simplexml_load_string()
Converts an XML string to an object
  
xpath()
Runs an XPath query on XML data


SimpleXML Iteration Functions

  
Function
Description
  
current()
Returns the current element
  
getChildren()
Returns the child elements of the current element
  
hasChildren()
Checks whether the current element has children
  
key()
Returns the XML tag name of the current element
  
next()
Moves to the next element
  
rewind()
Rewinds to the first element
  
valid()
Checks whether the current element is valid




PHP SimpleXML Reference

Example
Create a SimpleXMLElement object from a string:

 <?php$note=<<<XML<note><to>Tove</to><from>Jani</from><heading>Reminder</heading>
 <body>Do not forget me this weekend!</body></note>XML;
$xml=new SimpleXMLElement($note);
 echo $xml->asXML();?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The __construct() function creates a new SimpleXMLElement object.

Syntax

  SimpleXMLElement::__construct(data, options, data_is_url, ns, is_prefix)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
data
Required. Specifies A well-formed XML string or the path or URL to an XML document if data_is_url is TRUE
  
options
Optional. Specifies additional Libxml parameters. Is set by specifying the option and 1 or 0 (TRUE or FALSE, e.g. LIBXML_NOBLANKS(1))
 Possible values:
 
    
LIBXML_COMPACT - Activate nodes allocation optimization (may  speed up application)
    
LIBXML_DTDATTR - Set default DTD attributes
    
LIBXML_DTDLOAD - Load external subset
    
LIBXML_DTDVALID - Validate with the DTD
    
LIBXML_NOBLANKS - Remove blank nodes
    
LIBXML_NOCDATA - Merge CDATA as text nodes
    
LIBXML_NOEMPTYTAG - Expand empty tags (e.g. <br/> to <br></br>),  only available in the DOMDocument->save() and DOMDocument->saveXML()  functions
    
LIBXML_NOENT - Substitute entities
    
LIBXML_NOERROR - Do not show error reports
    
LIBXML_NONET - Disable network access while loading documents
    
LIBXML_NOWARNING - Do not show warning reports
    
LIBXML_NOXMLDECL - Drop the XML declaration when saving a document
    
LIBXML_NSCLEAN - Remove redundant namespace declarations
    
LIBXML_PARSEHUGE - Sets XML_PARSE_HUGE flag, which relaxes any  hardcoded limit from the parser. This affects limits like maximum depth  of a document and limits of the size of text nodes
    
LIBXML_XINCLUDE - Implement XInclude substitution
    
LIBXML_ERR_ERROR - Get recoverable errors
    
LIBXML_ERR_FATAL - Get fatal errors
    
LIBXML_ERR_NONE - Get no errors
    
LIBXML_ERR_WARNING - Get simple warnings
    
LIBXML_VERSION - Get libxml version (e.g. 20605 or 20617)
    
LIBXML_DOTTED_VERSION - Get dotted libxml version (e.g. 2.6.5 or  2.6.17)
 
  
  
data_is_url
Optional. TRUE specifies that 
 data is a path/URL to an XML document instead of string data. Default is FALSE
  
ns
Optional. Specifies a namespace prefix or URI
  
is_prefix
Optional. Specifies a Boolean value. TRUE if ns is a prefix. FALSE if ns is a URI. Default is FALSE


Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a SimpleXMLElement object that represents data

  
PHP Version:
  
5.0+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.2.0: Added the optional ns and is_prefix parameters.PHP 5.1.2: 
  Added the optional options and data_is_url parameters.


More Examples
Assume we have the following XML file, "note.xml":

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<note>
   
<to>Tove</to>
   
<from>Jani</from>
   
<heading>Reminder</heading>
   
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>

Example
Create a SimpleXMLElement object from a URL:

 <?php$xml=new SimpleXMLElement("note.xml", 0, TRUE);echo $xml->asXML();?>

Run Example »

PHP SimpleXML Reference

PHP SimpleXML Reference

Example
Return the string content of the <note> element:

 <?php$xml = new SimpleXMLElement("<note>Hello <to>Tove</to><from>Jani</from>World!</note>");
  echo $xml;?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The __toString() function returns the string content of an element.
This function returns the string content that is directly in the element - 
not the string content that is inside this element's children!

Syntax

SimpleXMLElement::__toString()
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The string content on success. An empty string on 
 failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.3+

PHP SimpleXML Reference

PHP SimpleXML Reference

Example
Add an attribute to the root 
element (<note>) and to the <body> element:

 <?php$note=<<<XML<note><to>Tove</to><from>Jani</from><heading>Reminder</heading>
 <body>Do not forget me this weekend!</body></note>XML;
 $xml = new SimpleXMLElement($note);// Add attribute to root element$xml->addAttribute("type","private");
  // Add attribute to body element
 $xml->body->addAttribute("date","2014-01-01");
 echo $xml->asXML();?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The addAttribute() function appends an attribute to the SimpleXML element.

Syntax

SimpleXMLElement::addAttribute(name, value, ns)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
name
Required. Specifies the name of the attribute to add
  
value
Optional. Specifies the value of the attribute
  
ns
Optional. Specifies a namespace for the attribute
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Nothing

  
PHP Version:
  
5.1.3+

PHP SimpleXML Reference

PHP SimpleXML Reference

Example
Add a child element to the <body> element and a new <footer> element:

 <?php$note=<<<XML<note><to>Tove</to><from>Jani</from><heading>Reminder</heading>
 <body>Do not forget me this weekend!</body></note>XML;
 $xml = new SimpleXMLElement($note);// Add a child element to the body element$xml->body->addChild("date","2014-01-01");// Add a child element after the last element inside note
 $footer = $xml->addChild("footer","Some footer text");echo $xml->asXML();?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The addChild() function appends a child element to the SimpleXML element.

Syntax

  SimpleXMLElement::addChild(name, value, ns)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
name
Required. Specifies the name of the child element to add
  
value
Optional. Specifies the value of the child element
  
ns
Optional. Specifies a namespace for the child element
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
A SimpleXMLElement object that represents the child added to the XML 
 node

  
PHP Version:
  
5.1.3+

PHP SimpleXML Reference

PHP SimpleXML Reference

Example
Return a well-formed XML string (XML version 1.0) from a SimpleXML object:

 <?php$note=<<<XML<note><to>Tove</to><from>Jani</from><heading>Reminder</heading>
 <body>Do not forget me this weekend!</body></note>XML;
 $xml = new SimpleXMLElement($note);echo $xml->asXML();?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The asXML() function returns a well-formed XML string (XML version 1.0) from 
a SimpleXML object.

Syntax

SimpleXMLElement::asXML(filename)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
filename
Optional. If specified, the data is written to the file, instead of returning 
    a string
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
A string (or TRUE if the 
 filename parameter is set) on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.0+


PHP SimpleXML Reference

PHP SimpleXML Reference

Example
Return the attributes and values for the XML <body> element:

 <?php$note=<<<XML<note><to>Tove</to><from>Jani</from>
 <heading>Reminder</heading><body date="2014-01-01" type="private">Do 
  not forget me this weekend!</body></note>XML;
 $xml = simplexml_load_string($note);foreach($xml->body[0]->attributes() as $a => $b)  {  echo $a,'="',$b,"<br>";  }?> 
Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The attributes() function returns the attributes and values of an XML element.

Syntax

  SimpleXMLElement::attributes(ns, prefix)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
ns
Optional. Specifies a namespace for the retrieved attributes
  
prefix
Optional. Specifies TRUE if ns is a prefix and FALSE if ns is a URI. Default is FALSE
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
A SimpleXMLElement object on success

  
PHP Version:
  
5.0+

PHP SimpleXML Reference

PHP SimpleXML Reference

Example
Find the children of the note node:

 <?php$note=<<<XML<note><to>Tove</to><from>Jani</from>
 <heading>Reminder</heading><body>Do not forget me this weekend!</body></note>XML;
 $xml=simplexml_load_string($note);foreach ($xml->children() as $child)  {  echo "Child node: " . $child . "<br>";  }?> 
Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The children() function finds the children of a specified node.

Syntax

  SimpleXMLElement::children(ns, prefix)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
ns
Optional. Specifies an XML namespace
  
prefix
Optional. A Boolean value. If TRUE ns is regarded as a prefix. 
    If FALSE ns is regarded as a namespace URL. Default is FALSE
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a SimpleXMLElement object

  
PHP Version:
  
5.0+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.2: Added the optional prefix parameter


More Examples

Example
Find the children of the body node:

 <?php$note=<<<XML<note><to>Tove</to><from>Jani</from>
 <heading>Reminder</heading><body><span>Important!</span> Do 
  not forget me this weekend!</body></note>XML;
 $xml=simplexml_load_string($note);foreach ($xml->body[0]->children() as $child)  {  echo "Child node: " . $child . "<br>";  }?>

Run Example »



PHP SimpleXML Reference

PHP SimpleXML Reference

Example
Count the children of the <car> element:

 <?php$xml=<<<XML  <cars>    <car name="Volvo">    <child/>    <child/>    <child/>    <child/>  </car>  <car name="BMW">    <child/>
    
 <child/>  </car></cars>XML;$elem=new SimpleXMLElement($xml);foreach ($elem as $car)  {  printf("%s has %d children.<br>", $car['name'], $car->count());  }?> 
Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The count() function counts the children of a specified node.

Syntax

  SimpleXMLElement::count();

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The number of child elements of an element

  
PHP Version:
  
5.3+


PHP SimpleXML Reference

PHP SimpleXML Reference

Example
Return the namespaces declared in the root of the XML document:

 <?php$xml=<<<XML<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?><cars xmlns:c="http://w3schools.com/ns">  <c:car id="1">Volvo</c:car>  <c:car id="2">BMW</c:car>  <c:car id="3">Saab</c:car> </cars>XML;
 $sxe=new SimpleXMLElement($xml);$ns=$sxe->getDocNamespaces();
 print_r($ns);?> 
Run Example » 

Definition and Usage
The getDocNamespaces() function returns the namespaces declared in an XML document.

Syntax

  SimpleXMLElement::getDocNamespaces(recursive, from_root)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
recursive
Optional.  Specifies a Boolean value. If TRUE, all namespaces declared in 
    document are returned. If FALSE, only namespaces declared in root node is returned. Default is FALSE
  
from_root
Optional. Specifies a Boolean value. TRUE checks namespaces from the root of the XML document. FALSE checks namespaces under a child node. Default is TRUE

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
An array of namespace names with their associated URIs

  
PHP Version:
  
5.1.2+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.4: The from_root parameter was added


More Examples

Example
Return all namespaces declared in the XML document:

 <?php$xml=<<<XML<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?><cars xmlns:c="http://w3schools.com/ns">  <c:car id="1">Volvo</c:car>  <c:car id="2">BMW</c:car>  <c:car id="3" a:country="Sweden" xmlns:a="http://w3schools.com/country">Saab</c:car> </cars>XML;
 $sxe=new SimpleXMLElement($xml);$ns=$sxe->getDocNamespaces(TRUE);
 var_dump($ns);?>

Run Example » 

PHP SimpleXML Reference

PHP SimpleXML Reference

Example
Return the name of the XML element and the children:

 <?php$xml=<<<XML<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?><cars>  <car id="1">Volvo</car>  <car id="2">BMW</car>  <car id="3">Saab</car> </cars>XML;$sxe=new SimpleXMLElement($xml);
 // Get the name of the cars elementecho $sxe->getName() . "<br>";
 // Also print out the names of the children of the cars elementforeach ($sxe->children() as $child)  {  echo $child->getName() . "<br>";  }?> 
Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The getName() function returns the name of the XML element.

Syntax

SimpleXMLElement::getName()
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The name of the XML element, as a string

  
PHP Version:
  
5.1.3+


PHP SimpleXML Reference

PHP SimpleXML Reference

Example
Return all the namespaces used in the XML document:

 <?php$xml=<<<XML<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?><cars xmlns:c="http://w3schools.com/ns" xmlns:a="http://w3schools.com/country">  <c:car id="1">Volvo</c:car>  <c:car id="2">BMW</c:car>  <c:car id="3">Saab</c:car> </cars>XML;$sxe=new SimpleXMLElement($xml);$ns=$sxe->getNamespaces(true);var_dump($ns);
 ?> 
Run Example » 

Definition and Usage
The getNamespaces() function returns the namespaces used in an XML document.

Syntax

SimpleXMLElement::getNamespaces(recursive)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
recursive
Optional. Specifies a Boolean value. If TRUE, all namespaces used in 
    document are returned. If FALSE, only namespaces used in root node is returned. Default is FALSE

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
An array of namespace names with their associated URIs

  
PHP Version:
  
5.1.2+

PHP SimpleXML Reference

PHP SimpleXML Reference

Example
Create a namespace context for the next XPath query:

 <?php$xml=<<<XML<book xmlns:chap="http://example.org/chapter-title">  <title>My Book</title>  <chapter id="1">    <chap:title>Chapter 1</chap:title>    <para>Donec velit. Nullam eget tellus...</para>  </chapter>  <chapter id="2">    <chap:title>Chapter 2</chap:title>    <para>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet....</para>  </chapter></book>XML;
 $sxe=new SimpleXMLElement($xml);
 $sxe->registerXPathNamespace('c','http://example.org/chapter-title');
 $result=$sxe->xpath('//c:title');foreach ($result as $title)  {  echo $title . "<br>";  }?> 
Run Example » 

Definition and Usage
The registerXPathNamespace() function creates a namespace context for the next XPath query.
This function is useful if a namespace prefix is changed in an XML document. 
The registerXPathNamespace() function will create a prefix for specified namespace, so that
the affected XML nodes can be accessed without altering the application code too much.

Syntax

SimpleXMLElement::registerXPathNamespace(prefix, ns)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
prefix
Required. Specifies the namespace prefix to use in the XPath query for the namespace given in ns
  
ns
Required. Specifies the namespace to use for the XPath query

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
 TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.1+


PHP SimpleXML Reference

PHP SimpleXML Reference

Definition and Usage
The saveXML() function is an alias of the asXML() function.

PHP SimpleXML Reference

PHP SimpleXML Reference

Example
Take a node of a DOM document and make it into a SimpleXML node:

<?php
 $dom=new domDocument;
 $dom->loadXML("<note><to>Tove</to><from>Jani</from></note>");
 $x=simplexml_import_dom($dom);echo $x->from;?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The simplexml_import_dom() function returns a SimpleXMLElement object from a DOM node.

Syntax

simplexml_import_dom(node, classname)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
node
Required. Specifies a DOM element node
  
classname
Optional. Specifies the class of the new object
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
A SimpleXMLElement object on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


More Examples

 
Example
Output the title of the second book node in the DOM document:

 <?php$dom=new domDocument;
 $dom->loadXML("<books><book><title>Title1</title></book><book><title>Title2</title></book></books>");
 $x=simplexml_import_dom($dom);echo $x->book[1]->title;?>

Run Example »

PHP SimpleXML Reference

PHP SimpleXML Reference

Example
Convert an XML file into an object, then output keys and elements 
of the 
object:

<?php
 $xml=simplexml_load_file("note.xml");print_r($xml);?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The simplexml_load_file() function converts an XML document to an object.

Syntax

simplexml_load_file(file, class, options, ns, is_prefix)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
file
Required. Specifies the path to the XML file
  
class
Optional. Specifies the class of the new object
  
options
Optional. Specifies additional Libxml parameters. Is set by specifying the option and 1 or 0 (TRUE or FALSE, e.g. LIBXML_NOBLANKS(1))
 Possible values:
 
    
LIBXML_COMPACT - Activate nodes allocation optimization (may  speed up application)
    
LIBXML_DTDATTR - Set default DTD attributes
    
LIBXML_DTDLOAD - Load external subset
    
LIBXML_DTDVALID - Validate with the DTD
    
LIBXML_NOBLANKS - Remove blank nodes
    
LIBXML_NOCDATA - Merge CDATA as text nodes
    
LIBXML_NOEMPTYTAG - Expand empty tags (e.g. <br/> to <br></br>),  only available in the DOMDocument->save() and DOMDocument->saveXML()  functions
    
LIBXML_NOENT - Substitute entities
    
LIBXML_NOERROR - Do not show error reports
    
LIBXML_NONET - Disable network access while loading documents
    
LIBXML_NOWARNING - Do not show warning reports
    
LIBXML_NOXMLDECL - Drop the XML declaration when saving a document
    
LIBXML_NSCLEAN - Remove redundant namespace declarations
    
LIBXML_PARSEHUGE - Sets XML_PARSE_HUGE flag, which relaxes any  hardcoded limit from the parser. This affects limits like maximum depth  of a document and limits of the size of text nodes
    
LIBXML_XINCLUDE - Implement XInclude substitution
    
LIBXML_ERR_ERROR - Get recoverable errors
    
LIBXML_ERR_FATAL - Get fatal errors
    
LIBXML_ERR_NONE - Get no errors
    
LIBXML_ERR_WARNING - Get simple warnings
    
LIBXML_VERSION - Get libxml version (e.g. 20605 or 20617)
    
LIBXML_DOTTED_VERSION - Get dotted libxml version (e.g. 2.6.5 or  2.6.17)
 
  
  
ns
Optional. Specifies a namespace prefix or URI
  
is_prefix
Optional. Specifies a Boolean value. TRUE if ns is a prefix. FALSE if ns is a URI. Default is FALSE


Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
A SimpleXMLElement object on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


More Examples
Assume we have the following XML file, "note.xml":

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<note>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>

Example
Output the data from each element in the XML file:

 <?php$xml=simplexml_load_file("note.xml");echo $xml->to . "<br>";
 echo $xml->from . "<br>";echo $xml->heading . "<br>";echo $xml->body;?>

Run Example »

Example
Output the element's name and data for each child node in the XML file:

<?php
$xml=simplexml_load_file("note.xml");
echo $xml->getName() . "<br>";

foreach($xml->children() as $child)
  {
  echo $child->getName() . ": " . $child . "<br>";
  }
?>

Run Example »

PHP SimpleXML Reference

PHP SimpleXML Reference

Example
Convert an XML string into an object, then output keys and elements 
of the 
object:

 <?php$note=<<<XML<note><to>Tove</to><from>Jani</from><heading>Reminder</heading>
 <body>Do not forget me this weekend!</body></note>XML;
 $xml=simplexml_load_string($note);print_r($xml);?>
Run Example » 

Definition and Usage
The simplexml_load_string() function converts a well-formed XML string into an object.

Syntax

simplexml_load_string(data, class, options, ns, is_prefix)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
data
Required. Specifies a well-formed XML string
  
class
Optional. Specifies the class of the new object
  
options
Optional. Specifies additional Libxml parameters. Is set by specifying the option and 1 or 0 (TRUE or FALSE, e.g. LIBXML_NOBLANKS(1))
 Possible values:
 
    
LIBXML_COMPACT - Activate nodes allocation optimization (may  speed up application)
    
LIBXML_DTDATTR - Set default DTD attributes
    
LIBXML_DTDLOAD - Load external subset
    
LIBXML_DTDVALID - Validate with the DTD
    
LIBXML_NOBLANKS - Remove blank nodes
    
LIBXML_NOCDATA - Merge CDATA as text nodes
    
LIBXML_NOEMPTYTAG - Expand empty tags (e.g. <br/> to <br></br>),  only available in the DOMDocument->save() and DOMDocument->saveXML()  functions
    
LIBXML_NOENT - Substitute entities
    
LIBXML_NOERROR - Do not show error reports
    
LIBXML_NONET - Disable network access while loading documents
    
LIBXML_NOWARNING - Do not show warning reports
    
LIBXML_NOXMLDECL - Drop the XML declaration when saving a document
    
LIBXML_NSCLEAN - Remove redundant namespace declarations
    
LIBXML_PARSEHUGE - Sets XML_PARSE_HUGE flag, which relaxes any  hardcoded limit from the parser. This affects limits like maximum depth  of a document and limits of the size of text nodes
    
LIBXML_XINCLUDE - Implement XInclude substitution
    
LIBXML_ERR_ERROR - Get recoverable errors
    
LIBXML_ERR_FATAL - Get fatal errors
    
LIBXML_ERR_NONE - Get no errors
    
LIBXML_ERR_WARNING - Get simple warnings
    
LIBXML_VERSION - Get libxml version (e.g. 20605 or 20617)
    
LIBXML_DOTTED_VERSION - Get dotted libxml version (e.g. 2.6.5 or  2.6.17)
 
  
  
ns
Optional. Specifies a namespace prefix or URI
  
is_prefix
Optional. Specifies a Boolean value. TRUE if ns is a prefix. FALSE if ns is a URI. Default is FALSE


Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
A SimpleXMLElement object on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


More Examples

Example
Output the data from each element in the XML string:

 <?php$note=<<<XML<note><to>Tove</to><from>Jani</from><heading>Reminder</heading>
 <body>Do not forget me this weekend!</body></note>XML;
 $xml=simplexml_load_string($note);echo $xml->to . "<br>";echo $xml->from . "<br>";echo $xml->heading . "<br>";echo $xml->body;
 ?>

Run Example » 

Example
Output the element's name and data for each child node in the XML string:

 <?php$note=<<<XML<note><to>Tove</to><from>Jani</from><heading>Reminder</heading>
 <body>Do not forget me this weekend!</body></note>XML;
 $xml=simplexml_load_string($note);echo $xml->getName() . "<br>";
 foreach($xml->children() as $child)  {  echo $child->getName() . ": " . $child . "<br>";  }?>

Run Example » 

PHP SimpleXML Reference

PHP SimpleXML Reference

Example
Run an XPath query on the XML document:

 <?php$note=<<<XML<note><to>Tove</to><from>Jani</from><heading>Reminder</heading>
 <body>Do not forget me this weekend!</body></note>XML;
 $xml = new SimpleXMLElement($note);$result = $xml->xpath("note/to");

print_r($result);?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The xpath() function runs an XPath query on the XML document.

Syntax

  SimpleXMLElement::xpath(path)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
path
Required. Specifies an XPath path to use
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
An array of SimpleXMLElements on success. FALSE on 
 failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.0+

PHP SimpleXML Reference

PHP SimpleXML Reference

Example
Rewind to the first element and then return it with the current() function:

 <?php$note=<<<XML<note><to>Tove</to><from>Jani</from><heading>Reminder</heading>
 <body>Do not forget me this weekend!</body></note>XML;
  $xml = new SimpleXMLIterator($note);// rewind to the first element
  $xml->rewind();// return current elementvar_dump($xml->current());?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The current() function returns the current element.

Syntax

SimpleXMLIterator::current()
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The current element (as a SimpleXMLIterator object) on 
 success. NULL on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.0+

PHP SimpleXML Reference

PHP SimpleXML Reference

Example
Get the child elements of the current element and output the name and data:

 <?php$bookxml = <<<XML<bookstore>  <book>    
  <title>Everyday Italian</title>    <author>Giada De 
  Laurentiis</author>  </book>  <book>    
  <title>Harry Potter</title>    <author>J K. 
  Rowling</author>  </book>  <book>    
  <title>Learning XML</title>    <author>Erik T. Ray</author>  
  </book></bookstore>XML;$xml = new SimpleXMLIterator($bookxml);
  for( $xml->rewind(); $xml->valid(); $xml->next() ) {  foreach($xml->getChildren() 
  as $name => $data) {    echo "The $name is '$data'";    
  echo "<br>";  }}?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The getChildren() function returns the child elements of the current element.

Syntax

SimpleXMLIterator::getChildren()
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
A SimpleXMLIterator object containing the children of the 
 current element

  
PHP Version:
  
5.0+

PHP SimpleXML Reference

PHP SimpleXML Reference

Example
Checks whether the current element has children, if it has; output the current element:

 <?php$bookxml = <<<XML<bookstore>  <book>    
  <title>Everyday Italian</title>    <author>Giada De 
  Laurentiis</author>  </book>  <book>    
  <title>Harry Potter</title>    <author>J K. 
  Rowling</author>  </book>  <book>    
  <title>Learning XML</title>    <author>Erik T. Ray</author>  
  </book></bookstore>XML;$xml = new SimpleXMLIterator($bookxml);
  for( $xml->rewind(); $xml->valid(); $xml->next() ) {  if($xml->hasChildren()) 
  {    var_dump($xml->current());    echo 
  "<br>";  }}?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The hasChildren() function checks whether the current element has children.

Syntax

SimpleXMLIterator::hasChildren()
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if the current element has children. FALSE otherwise

  
PHP Version:
  
5.0+

PHP SimpleXML Reference

PHP SimpleXML Reference

Example
Rewind to the first element and return the current key (which is the XML tag 
name of the current element):

 <?php$note=<<<XML<note><to>Tove</to><from>Jani</from><heading>Reminder</heading>
 <body>Do not forget me this weekend!</body></note>XML;
  $xml = new SimpleXMLIterator($note);// rewind to the first element
  $xml->rewind();// return current keyvar_dump($xml->key());?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The key() function returns the current key (which is the XML tag name of the 
current element).

Syntax

SimpleXMLIterator::key()
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The XML tag name of the current element on 
 success. FALSE otherwise

  
PHP Version:
  
5.0+

PHP SimpleXML Reference

PHP SimpleXML Reference

Example
Rewind to the first element, move to the next element and then return it with 
the current() function:

 <?php$note=<<<XML<note><to>Tove</to><from>Jani</from><heading>Reminder</heading>
 <body>Do not forget me this weekend!</body></note>XML;
  $xml = new SimpleXMLIterator($note);// rewind to the first element
  $xml->rewind();// move to the next element$xml->next();// 
  return current elementvar_dump($xml->current());?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The next() function moves to the next element.

Syntax

SimpleXMLIterator::next()
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Nothing

  
PHP Version:
  
5.0+

PHP SimpleXML Reference

PHP SimpleXML Reference

Example
Rewind to the first element and then return it (with current()):

 <?php$note=<<<XML<note><to>Tove</to><from>Jani</from><heading>Reminder</heading>
 <body>Do not forget me this weekend!</body></note>XML;
  $xml = new SimpleXMLIterator($note);// rewind to the first element
  $xml->rewind();// return current elementvar_dump($xml->current());?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The rewind() function rewinds to the first element.

Syntax

SimpleXMLIterator::rewind()
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Nothing

  
PHP Version:
  
5.0+

PHP SimpleXML Reference

PHP SimpleXML Reference

Example
Check whether the current element is valid after a call to rewind() and next():

 <?php$note=<<<XML<note><to>Tove</to><from>Jani</from><heading>Reminder</heading>
 <body>Do not forget me this weekend!</body></note>XML;
  $xml = new SimpleXMLIterator($note);// rewind to the first element
  $xml->rewind();// check if validvar_dump($xml->valid());
  // move to the next element$xml->next();// check if valid
  var_dump($xml->valid());?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The valid() function checks whether the current element is valid after a call 
to rewind() or 
next().

Syntax

SimpleXMLIterator::valid()
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if element is valid. FALSE otherwise

  
PHP Version:
  
5.0+

More Examples

Example
Check whether the current element is valid after a call to rewind() and next():

 <?php$xml = new SimpleXMLIterator('<books><book>Learn 
  PHP</book></books>');// rewind to the first element$xml->rewind();
  // check if validvar_dump($xml->valid());// move to the 
  next element$xml->next();// check if valid - will be bool(false) 
  because there is only one elementvar_dump($xml->valid());?>

Run Example »

PHP SimpleXML Reference

Stream Introduction
The Stream functions ....
Streams are the way of generalizing file, network, data compression, and 
other operations which share a common set of functions and uses. In its simplest 
definition, a stream is a resource object which exhibits streamable behavior. 
That is, it can be read from or written to in a linear fashion, and may be able 
to fseek() to an arbitrary location within the stream. A wrapper is 
additional code which tells the stream how to handle specific 
protocols/encodings.

Installation
The Stream functions are part of the PHP core. There is no installation needed to use these functions.

Stream Functions

  
Function
Description
  
set_socket_blocking()
Deprecated in PHP 5.4, and removed in PHP 7.0. 
    Alias of stream_set_blocking()
  
stream_bucket_prepend()
 
  
stream_context_create()
 
  
stream_context_get_default()
 
  
stream_context_get_options()
 
  
stream_context_get_params()
 
  
stream_context_set_default()
 
  
stream_context_set_options()
 
  
stream_context_set_params()
 
  
stream_copy_to_stream()
Copies data from one stream to another
  
stream_filter_append()
Appends a filter to a stream
  
stream_filter_prepend()
 
  
stream_filter_register()
 
  
stream_filter_remove()
 
  
stream_get_contents()
 
  
stream_get_filters()
 
  
stream_get_line()
 
  
stream_get_meta_data()
 
  
stream_get_transports()
 
  
stream_get_wrappers()
 
  
stream_is_local()
 
  
stream_isatty()
 
  
stream_notification_callback()
 
  
stream_register_wrapper()
Alias of stream_wrapper_register()
  
stream_resolve_include_path()
 
  
stream_select()
 
  
stream_set_blocking()
 
  
stream_set_chunk_size()
 
  
stream_set_read_buffer()
 
  
stream_set_timeout()
 
  
stream_set_write_buffer()
 
  
stream_socket_accept()
 
  
stream_socket_client()
 
  
stream_socket_enable_crypto()
 
  
stream_socket_get_name()
 
  
stream_socket_pair()
 
  
stream_socket_recvfrom()
 
  
stream_socket_sendto()
 
  
stream_socket_server()
 
  
stream_socket_shutdown()
 
  
stream_supports_lock()
 
  
stream_wrapper_register()
 
  
stream_wrapper_restore()
 
  
stream_wrapper_unregister()
 



String Functions
The PHP string functions are part of the PHP core. No installation is required to use these functions.


  
Function
Description
  
addcslashes()
Returns a string with backslashes in front of the specified characters
  
addslashes()
Returns a string with backslashes in front of predefined characters
  
bin2hex()
Converts a string of ASCII characters to hexadecimal values
  
chop()
Removes whitespace or other characters from the right end of a string
  
chr()
Returns a character from a specified ASCII value
  
chunk_split()
Splits a string into a series of smaller parts
  
convert_cyr_string()
Converts a string from one Cyrillic character-set to another
  
convert_uudecode()
Decodes a uuencoded string
  
convert_uuencode()
Encodes a string using the uuencode algorithm
  
count_chars()
Returns information about characters used in a string
  
crc32()
Calculates a 32-bit CRC for a string
  
crypt()
One-way string hashing
  
echo()
Outputs one or more strings
  
explode()
Breaks a string into an array
  
fprintf()
Writes a formatted string to a specified output stream
  
get_html_translation_table()
Returns the translation table used by htmlspecialchars() and htmlentities()
  

    
hebrev()
    
Converts Hebrew text to visual text
  
hebrevc()
Converts Hebrew text to visual text and new lines (\n) into <br>
   
hex2bin()
Converts a string of hexadecimal values to ASCII characters
  
html_entity_decode()
Converts HTML entities to characters
  
htmlentities()
Converts characters to HTML entities
  
htmlspecialchars_decode()
Converts some predefined HTML entities to characters
  
htmlspecialchars()
Converts some predefined characters to HTML entities
  
implode()
Returns a string from the elements of an array
  
join()
Alias of implode()
  
lcfirst()
Converts the first character of a string to lowercase
  
levenshtein()
Returns the Levenshtein distance between two strings
  
localeconv()
Returns locale numeric and monetary formatting information
  
ltrim()
Removes whitespace or other characters from the left side of a string
  
md5()
Calculates the MD5 hash of a string
  
md5_file()
Calculates the MD5 hash of a file
  
metaphone()
Calculates the metaphone key of a string
  
money_format()
Returns a string formatted as a currency string
  
nl_langinfo()
Returns specific local information
  
nl2br()
Inserts HTML line breaks in front 
of each newline in a string
  
number_format()
Formats a number with grouped thousands
  
ord()
Returns the ASCII value of the first character of a string
  
parse_str()
Parses a query string into variables
  
print()
Outputs one or more strings
  
printf()
Outputs a formatted string
  
quoted_printable_decode()
Converts a quoted-printable string to an 8-bit string
  
quoted_printable_encode()
Converts an 8-bit string to a quoted printable string
  
quotemeta()
Quotes meta characters
  
rtrim()
Removes whitespace or other characters from the right side of a string
  
setlocale()
Sets locale information
  
sha1()
Calculates the SHA-1 hash of a string
  
sha1_file()
Calculates the SHA-1 hash of a file
  
similar_text()
Calculates the similarity between two strings
  
soundex()
Calculates the soundex key of a string
  
sprintf()
Writes a formatted string to a variable
  
sscanf()
Parses input from a string according to a format
   
str_getcsv()
Parses a CSV string into an array
  
str_ireplace()
Replaces some characters in a string (case-insensitive)
  
str_pad()
Pads a string to a new length
  
str_repeat()
Repeats a string a specified number of times
  
str_replace()
Replaces some characters in a string (case-sensitive)
  
str_rot13()
Performs the ROT13 encoding on a string
  
str_shuffle()
Randomly shuffles all characters in a string
  
str_split()
Splits a string into an array
  
str_word_count()
Count the number of words in a string
  
strcasecmp()
Compares two strings (case-insensitive)
  
strchr()
Finds the first occurrence of a string inside another string (alias of strstr())
  
strcmp()
Compares two strings (case-sensitive)
  
strcoll()
Compares two strings (locale based string comparison)
  
strcspn()
Returns the number of characters found in a string before any part of some specified characters are found
  
strip_tags()
Strips HTML and PHP tags from a string
  
stripcslashes()
Unquotes a string quoted with addcslashes()
  
stripslashes()
Unquotes a string quoted with addslashes()
  
stripos()
Returns the position of the first occurrence of a string inside another string (case-insensitive)
  
stristr()
Finds the first occurrence of a string inside another string (case-insensitive)
  
strlen()
Returns the length of a string
  
strnatcasecmp()
Compares two strings using a "natural order" algorithm (case-insensitive)
  
strnatcmp()
Compares two strings using a "natural order" algorithm (case-sensitive)
  
strncasecmp()
String comparison of the first n characters (case-insensitive)
  
strncmp()
String comparison of the first n characters (case-sensitive)
  
strpbrk()
Searches a string for any of a set of characters
  
strpos()
Returns the position of the first occurrence of a string inside another string (case-sensitive)
  
strrchr()
Finds the last occurrence of a string inside another string
  
strrev()
Reverses a string
  
strripos()
Finds the position of the last occurrence of a string inside another string (case-insensitive)
  
strrpos()
Finds the position of the last occurrence of a string inside another string (case-sensitive)
  
strspn()
Returns the number of characters found in a string that contains only characters from a specified charlist
  
strstr()
Finds the first occurrence of a string inside another string (case-sensitive)
  
strtok()
Splits a string into smaller strings
  
strtolower()
Converts a string to lowercase letters
  
strtoupper()
Converts a string to uppercase letters
  
strtr()
Translates certain characters in a string
  
substr()
Returns a part of a string
  
substr_compare()
Compares two strings from a specified start position (binary safe and optionally case-sensitive)
  
substr_count()
Counts the number of times a substring occurs in a string
  
substr_replace()
Replaces a part of a string with another string
  
trim()
Removes whitespace or other characters from both sides of a string
  
ucfirst()
Converts the first character of a string to uppercase
  
ucwords()
Converts the first character of each word in a string to uppercase
  
vfprintf()
Writes a formatted string to a specified output stream
  
vprintf()
Outputs a formatted string
  
vsprintf()
Writes a formatted string to a variable
  
wordwrap()
Wraps a string to a given number of characters




PHP String Reference

Example
Add a backslash in front of the character "W":

 <?php $str = addcslashes("Hello World!","W");echo($str); ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The addcslashes() function returns a string with backslashes in front of 
the specified characters.
Note: The addcslashes() function is case-sensitive.
Note: Be careful using 
addcslashes() on 0 (NULL), r (carriage return), n (newline), f (form feed), t 
(tab) and v (vertical tab). In PHP, \0, \r, \n, \t, \f and \v are predefined escape 
sequences.

Syntax

addcslashes(string,characters)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to be escaped
  
characters
Required. Specifies the characters or range of characters to be escaped

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the escaped string

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


More Examples

Example
Add backslashes to certain characters in a string:

<?php
$str = "Welcome to my humble Homepage!";
echo $str."<br>";
echo addcslashes($str,'m')."<br>";
echo addcslashes($str,'H')."<br>";
?>

Try it Yourself »

Example
Add backslashes to a range of characters in a string:

<?php
$str = "Welcome to my humble Homepage!";
echo $str."<br>";
echo addcslashes($str,'A..Z')."<br>";
echo addcslashes($str,'a..z')."<br>";
echo addcslashes($str,'a..g');
?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Add a backslash in front of each double quote ("):

 <?php $str = addslashes('What does "yolo" mean?');echo($str); ?> 

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage

The addslashes() function returns a string with backslashes in front of 
predefined characters.
The predefined characters are:
single quote (')
double quote (")
backslash (\)
NULL

Tip: This function can be used to prepare a string for storage in a 
database and database queries.
Note: Prior to PHP 5.4, the PHP dir magic_quotes_gpc was on by default 
and it ran addslashes() on all GET, POST, and COOKIE data by 
default. You should not use addslashes() on strings that have already 
been escaped, as it will cause double escaping. The function get_magic_quotes_gpc() 
can be used to check this.

Syntax

addslashes(string)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to be escaped

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the escaped string

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
Prior to PHP 5.4, the PHP dir magic_quotes_gpc was on by default and it 
  ran addslashes() on all GET, POST, and COOKIE data by 
default.


More Examples

Example
Add backslashes to the predefined characters in a string:

<?php
$str = "Who's Peter Griffin?";
echo $str . " This is not safe in a database query.<br>";
echo addslashes($str) . " This is safe in a database query.";
?>

Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Convert "Hello World!" to hexadecimal values:

 <?php $str = bin2hex("Hello World!");echo($str); ?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The bin2hex() function converts a string of ASCII characters to hexadecimal 
values. The string can be converted back using the pack() function.

Syntax

bin2hex(string)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. The string to be converted
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the hexadecimal value of the converted string

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


More Examples

Example
Convert a string value from binary to hex and back:

<?php
$str = "Hello world!";
echo bin2hex($str) . "<br>";
echo pack("H*",bin2hex($str)) . "<br>";
?>

Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Remove characters from the right end of a string:

<?php
$str = "Hello World!";
 echo $str . "<br>";
echo chop($str,"World!");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The chop() function removes whitespaces or other predefined characters 
from the right end of a string.

Syntax

chop(string,charlist)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to check
  
charlist
Optional. Specifies which characters to remove from the string. 
 The following characters are removed if the charlist parameter is empty:
    
"\0" - NULL
    
"\t" - tab
    
"\n" - new line
    
"\x0B" - vertical tab
    
"\r" - carriage return
    
" " - ordinary white space
 
  
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the modified string

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
The charlist parameter was added in PHP 4.1.0


More Examples

Example
Remove newlines (\n) from the right end of a string:

 <?php$str = "Hello World!\n\n";echo $str;echo chop($str);?>

The HTML output of the code above will be (View Source):

 <!DOCTYPE html><html><body>Hello World!Hello World!</body>
 </html>

The browser output of the code above will be:

 Hello World! Hello World!
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Return characters from different ASCII values:

<?php
echo chr(52) . "<br>"; // Decimal value
echo chr(052) . "<br>"; // Octal value
echo chr(0x52) . "<br>"; // Hex value
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage

The chr() function returns a character from the specified ASCII value.
The ASCII value can be specified in decimal, octal, or hex values. Octal 
values are defined by a leading 0, while hex values are defined by a leading 0x.

Syntax

chr(ascii)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
ascii
Required. An ASCII value

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the specified character

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


More Examples

Example
Using the octal value 046 to add the ASCII Character: &.

 <?php$str = chr(046);
 echo("You $str me forever!");?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
Using the decimal values 43 and 61 to add the ASCII Characters: + and =.
 
  <?php $str = chr(43);$str2 = chr(61);echo("2 $str 2  $str2 4"); ?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Split the string after each character and add a "." after each split:

<?php
$str = "Hello world!";
echo chunk_split($str,1,".");
?> 

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The chunk_split() function splits a string into a series of smaller parts.
Note: This function does not alter the original string.

Syntax

chunk_split(string,length,end)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to split
  
length
Optional. A number that defines the length of the chunks. Default is 76
  
end
Optional. A string that defines what to place at the end of each chunk. Default is \r\n
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the split string

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


More Examples

Example
Split the string after each sixth character and add a "..." after each split:

 <?php
$str = "Hello world!";
echo chunk_split($str,6,"...");
?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference


❮ PHP String Reference

Example
Convert a string from one character-set to another:

  <?php
  $str = "Hello world! æøå";
  echo $str . "<br>";
  echo convert_cyr_string($str,'w','a');
  ?>

  Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The convert_cyr_string() function converts a string from one Cyrillic 
character-set to another.
The supported Cyrillic character-sets are:
k - koi8-r
w - windows-1251
i - iso8859-5
a - x-cp866
d - x-cp866
m - x-mac-cyrillic

Note: This function is binary-safe.

Syntax

  convert_cyr_string(string,from,to)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. The string to convert
  
from
Required. A character that specifies what Cyrillic character-set to 
    convert from
  
to
Required. A character that specifies what Cyrillic character-set to 
    convert to
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the converted string

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


❮ PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Decode a uuencoded string: 

<?php
$str = ",2&5L;&\@=V]R;&0A `";
echo convert_uudecode($str);
?>   

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The convert_uudecode() function decodes a uuencoded string.
This function is often used together with the convert_uuencode() function.

Syntax

convert_uudecode(string)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. The uuencoded string to decode
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the decoded data as a string

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


More Examples

Example
Encode a string and then decode it:

 <?php$str = "Hello world!";// Encode the string$encodeString = convert_uuencode($str);echo $encodeString . "<br>";// Decode the string$decodeString = convert_uudecode($encodeString);echo $decodeString;
 ?> 

Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Encode a string: 

<?php
$str = "Hello world!";
echo convert_uuencode($str);
?>  

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The convert_uuencode() function encodes a string using the uuencode algorithm.
Note: This function encodes all strings (including binary) into printable characters.
This will fix any problems with obscure binary data when storing in a database or transmit data over a network.
Remember to use the convert_uudecode() function before using the data again.
Note: Uuencoded data is about 35% larger than the original.

Syntax

convert_uuencode(string)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. The string to uuencode
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the uuencoded data

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


More Examples

Example
Encode a string and then decode it:

 <?php$str = "Hello world!";// Encode the string$encodeString = convert_uuencode($str);echo $encodeString . "<br>";// Decode the string$decodeString = convert_uudecode($encodeString);echo $decodeString;
 ?> 

Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Return a string with all the different characters used in "Hello World!" (mode 3): 

<?php
$str = "Hello World!";
echo count_chars($str,3);
?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The count_chars() function returns information about characters used in a 
string (for example, how many times an ASCII character occurs in a string, or 
which characters that have been used or not been used in a string). 

Syntax

count_chars(string,mode)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. The string to be checked
  
mode
Optional. Specifies the return modes. 0 is default. The different return modes are:
0 - an array with the ASCII value as key and number of occurrences as value
1 - an array with the ASCII value as key and number of occurrences as value, only lists occurrences greater than zero
2 - an array with the ASCII value as key and number of occurrences as value, only lists occurrences equal to zero are listed
3 - a string with all the different characters used
4 - a string with all the unused characters

  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Depending on the specified mode parameter

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


More Examples

Example
Return a string with all the unused characters in "Hello World!" (mode 4): 

<?php
$str = "Hello World!";
echo count_chars($str,4);
?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
In this example we will use count_chars() with mode 1 to check the string. 
Mode 1 will return an array with the ASCII value as key and how many times it 
occurred as value:

<?php
$str = "Hello World!";
print_r(count_chars($str,1));
?>

Try it Yourself »

Example
Another example of counting how many times an ASCII character occurs in a 
string:  

 <?php$str = "PHP is pretty fun!!";$strArray = count_chars($str,1);
 foreach ($strArray as $key=>$value)  {echo "The character <b>'".chr($key)."'</b> was found $value time(s)<br>";  }?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Print the result of crc32():

<?php$str = crc32("Hello World!");printf("%u\n",$str);?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The crc32() function calculates a 32-bit CRC (cyclic redundancy checksum) for a string.
This function can be used to validate data integrity.
Tip: To ensure that you get the correct string representation from the crc32() function,
you'll need to use the %u formatter of the printf() or sprintf() function. If the %u formatter is not used,
the result may display in incorrect and negative numbers.

Syntax

crc32(string)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. The string to be calculated

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the crc32 checksum of string as an integer

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0.1+

More Examples
Example:
In this example we will print the result of crc32() with and without the "%u" 
formatter (note that the result is equal):

<?php
$str = crc32("Hello world!");
echo 'Without %u: '.$str."<br>";
echo 'With %u: ';
printf("%u",$str);
?>

The output of the code above will be:

Without %u: 461707669
With %u: 461707669

Example:
In this example we will print the result of crc32() with and without the "%u" 
formatter (note that the result is not equal):

<?php
$str = crc32("Hello world.");
echo 'Without %u: '.$str."<br>";
echo 'With %u: ';
printf("%u",$str);
?> 

The output of the code above will be:

Without %u: -1959132156
With %u: 2335835140

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Definition and Usage
The crypt() function returns a hashed string using DES, Blowfish, or MD5 algorithms.
This function behaves different on different operating systems. PHP checks what algorithms 
are available and what algorithms to use when it is installed.
The salt parameter is optional. However, crypt() creates a weak password 
without the salt. Make sure to specify a strong enough salt for better security.
There are some constants that are used together with the crypt() function. 
The value of these constants are set by PHP when it is installed.
Constants:
[CRYPT_STD_DES] - Standard DES-based hash with two character salt from the alphabet "./0-9A-Za-z". Using invalid characters in the salt will cause this function to fail.
[CRYPT_EXT_DES] - Extended DES-based hash with a nine character salt consisting of an underscore followed by 4 bytes of iteration count and 4 bytes of salt. These are encoded as printable characters, 6 bits per character, least significant character first. The values 0 to 63 are encoded as "./0-9A-Za-z". Using invalid characters in the salt will cause the function to fail.
[CRYPT_MD5] - MD5 hashing with a 12 character salt starting with $1$
[CRYPT_BLOWFISH] - Blowfish hashing with a salt starting with $2a$, $2x$, or $2y$, a two digit cost parameters "$", and 22 characters from the alphabet "./0-9A-Za-z". Using characters outside of the alphabet will cause this function to return a zero-length string. The "$" parameter is the base-2 logarithm of the iteration count for the underlying Blowfish-bashed hashing algorithmeter and must be in range 04-31. Values outside this range will cause the function to fail.
[CRYPT_SHA_256] - SHA-256 hash with a 16 character salt starting with $5$. If the salt string starts with "rounds=<N>$", the numeric value of N is used to indicate how many times the hashing loop should be executed, much like the cost parameter on Blowfish. The default number of rounds is 5000, there is a minimum of 1000 and a maximum of 999,999,999. Any selection of N outside this range will be truncated to the nearest limit.
[CRYPT_SHA_512] - SHA-512 hash with a 16 character salt starting with $6$.
 If the salt string starts with "rounds=<N>$", the numeric value of N is used to indicate how many times the hashing loop should be executed, much like the cost parameter on Blowfish. The default number of rounds is 5000, there is a minimum of 1000 and a maximum of 999,999,999. Any selection of N outside this range will be truncated to the nearest limit.

On systems where this function supports multiple algorithms, the constants 
above are set to "1" if supported and "0" otherwise.
Note: There is no decrypt function. The crypt() function uses a one-way algorithm.

Syntax

crypt(str,salt)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
str
Required. Specifies the string to be hashed
  
salt
Optional. A salt string to base the hashing on 
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the encoded string or a string that is shorter than 13 characters and is guaranteed to differ from the salt on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
PHP 5.6.0 - Shows a E_NOTICE security warning if salt is omitted.
  PHP 5.3.7 - Added $2x$ and $2y$ Blowfish modes.PHP 5.3.2 - Added SHA-256 and SHA-512. 
  Fixed Blowfish behavior on invalid rounds returns "failure" string ("*0" or "*1"), instead of falling back to DES.PHP 5.3.0 
  - PHP now contains its own implementation for MD5 crypt, Standard DES, 
  Extended DES and the Blowfish algorithms and will use that if the system lacks 
  of support for one or more of the algorithms.


More Examples

Example
In this example we will test the different algorithms:

<?php
// 2 character salt
 if (CRYPT_STD_DES == 1){echo "Standard DES: ".crypt('something','st')."\n<br>";
 }else{echo "Standard DES not supported.\n<br>";}
 // 4 character saltif (CRYPT_EXT_DES == 1){echo "Extended DES: ".crypt('something','_S4..some')."\n<br>";}else{echo "Extended DES not supported.\n<br>";}// 12 character salt starting with $1$ if (CRYPT_MD5 == 1){echo "MD5: ".crypt('something','$1$somethin$')."\n<br>"; }else{echo "MD5 not supported.\n<br>";}// Salt starting with $2a$. The two digit cost parameter: 09. 22 characters if (CRYPT_BLOWFISH == 1){
 echo "Blowfish: ".crypt('something','$2a$09$anexamplestringforsalt$')."\n<br>";
 }else{echo "Blowfish DES not supported.\n<br>";}
 // 16 character salt starting with $5$. The default number of rounds is 5000.if (CRYPT_SHA256 == 1) {echo "SHA-256: ".crypt('something','$5$rounds=5000$anexamplestringforsalt$')."\n<br>"; }
 else{echo "SHA-256 not supported.\n<br>";}// 16 character salt starting with $6$. The default number of rounds is 5000.
 if (CRYPT_SHA512 == 1) {echo "SHA-512: ".crypt('something','$6$rounds=5000$anexamplestringforsalt$'); }else
 {echo "SHA-512 not supported.";}
?> 

The output of the code above could be (depending on the operating system):

 Standard DES: stqAdD7zlbByIExtended DES: _S4..someQXidlBpTUu6MD5: $1$somethin$4NZKrUlY6r7K7.rdEOZ0w.Blowfish: $2a$09$anexamplestringforsaleLouKejcjRlExmf1671qw3Khl49R3dfuSHA-256: $5$rounds=5000$anexamplestringf$KIrctqsxo2wrPg5Ag/hs4jTi4PmoNKQUGWFXlVy9vu9
 SHA-512: $6$rounds=5000$anexamplestringf$Oo0skOAdUFXkQxJpwzO05wgRHG0dhuaPBaOU/
 oNbGpCEKlf/7oVM5wn6AN0w2vwUgA0O24oLzGQpp1XKI6LLQ0.



PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Write some text to the output:

<?php echo "Hello world!"; ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The echo() function outputs one or more strings.
Note: The echo() function is not actually a function, so you are not required to use parentheses with it.
However, if you want to pass more than one parameter to echo(), using parentheses will generate a parse error.
Tip: The echo() function is slightly faster than print().
Tip: The echo() function also has a shortcut syntax. Prior to PHP 5.4.0, this syntax only
works with the short_open_tag configuration setting enabled.

Syntax

echo(strings)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
strings
Required. One or more strings to be sent to the output
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
No value is returned

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


More Examples

Example
Write the value of the string variable ($str) to the output:

<?php
$str = "Hello world!";
echo $str;
?>

Try it Yourself »

Example
Write the value of the string variable ($str) to the output, including HTML tags:

<?php$str = "Hello world!";echo $str;echo "<br>What a nice day!";?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
Join two string variables together:

<?php$str1="Hello world!";$str2="What a nice day!";echo $str1 . " " . $str2;?> 

Try it Yourself »

Example
Write the value of an array to the output: 

<?php$age=array("Peter"=>"35");echo "Peter is " . $age['Peter'] . " years old.";?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
Write some text to the output:

<?php
echo "This text
spans multiple
lines.";
?> 

Try it Yourself »

Example
How to use multiple parameters:

<?php
echo 'This ','string ','was ','made ','with multiple parameters.';
?> 

Try it Yourself »

Example
Difference of single and double quotes. Single quotes will print the variable name, not the value:

<?php
$color = "red";
echo "Roses are $color";
echo "<br>";
echo 'Roses are $color';
?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
Shortcut syntax (will only work with the short_open_tag configuration setting enabled): 

<?php
$color = "red";
?>

<p>Roses are <?=$color?></p> 

Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Break a string into an array:

<?php
$str = "Hello world. It's a beautiful day.";
print_r (explode(" ",$str));
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The explode() function breaks a string into an array.
Note: The "separator" parameter cannot be an empty string.
Note: This function is binary-safe.

Syntax

explode(separator,string,limit)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
separator
Required. Specifies where to break the string
  
string
Required. The string to split
  
limit
Optional. Specifies the number of array elements to return. Possible values:
 
    
Greater than 0 - Returns an array with a maximum of limit  element(s)
    
Less than 0 - Returns an array except for the last -limit  elements()
    
0 - Returns an array with one element
 
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns an array of strings

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
The limit parameter was added in PHP 4.0.1, and support for negative  limits were added in PHP 5.1.0


More Examples

Example
Using the limit parameter to return a number of array elements: 

 <?php$str = 'one,two,three,four';// zero limitprint_r(explode(',',$str,0));
 // positive limitprint_r(explode(',',$str,2));// negative limit print_r(explode(',',$str,-1));?> 

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PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Write some text to a text file named "test.txt":

<?php$number = 9;$str = "Beijing";$file = fopen("test.txt","w");
echo fprintf($file,"There are %u million bicycles in %s.",$number,$str);
?> 

The output of the code above will be:

40

The following text will be written to the file "test.txt":

There are 9 million bicycles in Beijing.


Definition and Usage
The fprintf() function writes a formatted string to a specified output stream (example: file or database).
The arg1, arg2, ++ parameters will be inserted at percent (%) signs in the main string.
This function works "step-by-step". At the first % sign, arg1 is inserted, at the second % sign, arg2 is inserted, etc.
Note: If there are more % signs than arguments, you must use placeholders. A placeholder is 
inserted after the % sign, and consists of the argument- number and "\$". See example two.
Tip: Related functions: printf(),
sprintf(),
vprintf(),
vsprintf() and
vfprintf()

Syntax

fprintf(stream,format,arg1,arg2,arg++)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
stream
Required. Specifies where to write/output the string
  
format
Required. Specifies the string and how to format the variables in it.Possible format values:
%% - Returns a percent sign
%b - Binary number
%c - The character according to the ASCII value
%d - Signed decimal number (negative, zero or positive)
%e - Scientific notation using a lowercase (e.g. 1.2e+2)
%E - Scientific notation using a uppercase (e.g. 1.2E+2)
%u - Unsigned decimal number (equal to or greather than zero)
%f - Floating-point number (local settings aware)
%F - Floating-point number (not local settings aware)
%g - shorter of %e and %f
%G - shorter of %E and %f
%o - Octal number
%s - String
%x - Hexadecimal number (lowercase letters)
%X - Hexadecimal number (uppercase letters)

 Additional format values. These are placed between the % and the letter (example %.2f):
 
+ (Forces both + and - in front of numbers. By default, only negative numbers are marked)
    
' (Specifies what to use as padding. Default is space. Must be used  together with the width specifier.  Example: %'x20s (this uses "x" as padding)
    
- (Left-justifies the variable value)
    
[0-9] (Specifies the minimum width held of to the variable value)
    
.[0-9] (Specifies the number of decimal digits or maximum string length)
 
 Note: If multiple additional format values are used, they must be in the same order as above.
  
arg1
Required. The argument to be inserted at the first %-sign in the format string
  
arg2
Optional. The argument to be inserted at the second %-sign in the format string
  
arg++
Optional. The argument to be inserted at the third, fourth, etc. %-sign in the format string
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the length of the written string

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


More Examples

Example
Write some text to a file: 

<?php
$number = 123;
$file = fopen("test.txt","w");
fprintf($file,"%f",$number);
?>

The following text will be written to the file "test.txt":

123.000000

Example
Use of placeholders: 

<?php
$number = 123;
$file = fopen("test.txt","w");
fprintf($file,"With 2 decimals: %1\$.2f
\nWith no decimals: %1\$u",$number);
 ?>
The following text will be written to the file "test.txt":

With 2 decimals: 123.00
With no decimals: 123

Example
Using printf() to demonstrate all possible format values:

 <?php$num1 = 123456789;$num2 = -123456789;$char = 50; // The ASCII Character 50 is 2// Note: The format value "%%" returns a percent signprintf("%%b = %b <br>",$num1); // Binary numberprintf("%%c = %c <br>",$char); // The ASCII Characterprintf("%%d = %d <br>",$num1); // Signed decimal numberprintf("%%d = %d <br>",$num2); // Signed decimal numberprintf("%%e = %e <br>",$num1); // Scientific notation (lowercase)
 printf("%%E = %E <br>",$num1); // Scientific notation (uppercase)printf("%%u = %u <br>",$num1); // Unsigned decimal number (positive)printf("%%u = %u <br>",$num2); // Unsigned decimal number (negative)printf("%%f = %f <br>",$num1); // Floating-point number (local settings aware)printf("%%F = %F <br>",$num1); // Floating-point number (not local settings aware)printf("%%g = %g <br>",$num1); // Shorter of %e and %fprintf("%%G = %G <br>",$num1); // Shorter of %E and %fprintf("%%o = %o <br>",$num1); // Octal numberprintf("%%s = %s <br>",$num1); // Stringprintf("%%x = %x <br>",$num1); // Hexadecimal number (lowercase)printf("%%X = %X <br>",$num1); // Hexadecimal number (uppercase)printf("%%+d = %+d <br>",$num1); // Sign specifier (positive)
 printf("%%+d = %+d <br>",$num2); // Sign specifier (negative)?>
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PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Print the translation table used by the htmlspecialchars function:

 <?php
print_r (get_html_translation_table()); // HTML_SPECIALCHARS is default.
 ?>
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Definition and Usage
The get_html_translation_table() function returns the translation table used 
by the htmlentities() and
htmlspecialchars() functions.
Tip: Some characters can be encoded several ways. The 
get_html_translation_table() function returns the most common encoding.

Syntax

get_html_translation_table(function,flags,character-set)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
function
Optional. Specifies which translation table to return.Possible values:
 
    
HTML_SPECIALCHARS - Default. Translates some characters that need  URL-encoding to be shown properly on a HTML page
    
HTML_ENTITIES - Translates all characters that need URL-encoding to  be shown properly on a HTML page
 
  
  
flags
Optional. Specifies which quotes the table will contain and which document type the table is for.
 The available quote styles are:
 
    
ENT_COMPAT - Default. Table contains entities for double quotes, not single quotes
    
ENT_QUOTES - Table contains entities for double and single quotes
    
ENT_NOQUOTES - Table will not contain entities for double and single  quotes
 
  Additional flags for specifying which doctype the table is for:
 
    
ENT_HTML401 - Default. Table for HTML 4.01
    
ENT_HTML5 - Table for HTML 5
    
ENT_XML1 - Table for XML 1
    
ENT_XHTML - Table for XHTML
 
    
  
character-set
Optional. A string that specifies which character-set to use.Allowed values are:
 
     
UTF-8 - Default. ASCII compatible multi-byte 8-bit Unicode
    
ISO-8859-1 - Western European
    
ISO-8859-15 - Western European (adds the Euro sign + French  and Finnish letters missing in ISO-8859-1)
    
cp866 - DOS-specific Cyrillic charset
    
cp1251 - Windows-specific Cyrillic charset
    
cp1252 - Windows specific charset for Western European
    
KOI8-R - Russian
    
BIG5 - Traditional Chinese, mainly used in Taiwan
    
GB2312 - Simplified Chinese, national standard character set
    
BIG5-HKSCS - Big5 with Hong Kong extensions
    
Shift_JIS - Japanese
    
EUC-JP - Japanese
    
MacRoman - Character-set that was used by Mac OS
 
 Note: Unrecognized character-sets will be ignored and replaced by ISO-8859-1 in versions prior to PHP 5.4. As of PHP 5.4, it will be ignored an replaced by UTF-8.
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the translation table as an array, with the original characters as keys and entities as values

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
The default value for the character-set parameter was changed to UTF-8 in PHP 5The additional flags for specifying which doctype the table is for; ENT_HTML401, ENT_HTML5, ENT_XML1 and ENT_XHTML were added in PHP 5.4The character-set parameter was added in PHP 5.3.4


More Examples

Example
Table for HTML_SPECIALCHARS:

 <?php
print_r (get_html_translation_table(HTML_SPECIALCHARS));
 ?>
Displaying character and entity name:

 Array
 (
   ["] => &quot;
   [&] => &amp;
   [<] => &lt;
   [>] => &gt;
 )



Example
Table for HTML_ENTITIES:

<?php
print_r (get_html_translation_table(HTML_ENTITIES));
?>

Displaying character and entity name:

 Array
 (
   ["] => &quot;
   [&] => &amp;
   [<] => &lt;
   [>] => &gt;
   [ ] => &nbsp;
   [¡] => &iexcl;
   [¢] => &cent;
   [£] => &pound;
   [¤] => &curren;
   [¥] => &yen;
   [¦] => &brvbar;
   [§] => &sect;
   [¨] => &uml;
   [©] => &copy;
   [ª] => &ordf;
   [«] => &laquo;
   [¬] => &not;
   [?­] => &shy;
   [®] => &reg;
   [¯] => &macr;
   [°] => &deg;
   [±] => &plusmn;
   [²] => &sup2;
   [³] => &sup3;
   [´] => &acute;
   [µ] => &micro;
   [¶] => &para;
   [·] => &middot;
   [¸] => &cedil;
   [¹] => &sup1;
   [º] => &ordm;
   [»] => &raquo;
   [¼] => &frac14;
   [½] => &frac12;
   [¾] => &frac34;
   [¿] => &iquest;
   [À] => &Agrave;
   [Á] => &Aacute;
   [Â] => &Acirc;
   [Ã] => &Atilde;
   [Ä] => &Auml;
   [Å] => &Aring;
   [Æ] => &AElig;
   [Ç] => &Ccedil;
   [È] => &Egrave;
   [É] => &Eacute;
   [Ê] => &Ecirc;
   [Ë] => &Euml;
   [Ì] => &Igrave;
   [Í] => &Iacute;
   [Î] => &Icirc;
   [Ï] => &Iuml;
   [Ð] => &ETH;
   [Ñ] => &Ntilde;
   [Ò] => &Ograve;
   [Ó] => &Oacute;
   [Ô] => &Ocirc;
   [Õ] => &Otilde;
   [Ö] => &Ouml;
   [×] => &times;
   [Ø] => &Oslash;
   [Ù] => &Ugrave;
   [Ú] => &Uacute;
   [Û] => &Ucirc;
   [Ü] => &Uuml;
   [Ý] => &Yacute;
   [Þ] => &THORN;
   [ß] => &szlig;
   [à] => &agrave;
   [á] => &aacute;
   [â] => &acirc;
   [ã] => &atilde;
   [ä] => &auml;
   [å] => &aring;
   [æ] => &aelig;
   [ç] => &ccedil;
   [è] => &egrave;
   [é] => &eacute;
   [ê] => &ecirc;
   [ë] => &euml;
   [ì] => &igrave;
   [í] => &iacute;
   [î] => &icirc;
   [ï] => &iuml;
   [ð] => &eth;
   [ñ] => &ntilde;
   [ò] => &ograve;
   [ó] => &oacute;
   [ô] => &ocirc;
   [õ] => &otilde;
   [ö] => &ouml;
   [÷] => &divide;
   [ø] => &oslash;
   [ù] => &ugrave;
   [ú] => &uacute;
   [û] => &ucirc;
   [ü] => &uuml;
   [ý] => &yacute;
   [þ] => &thorn;
   [ÿ] => &yuml;
   [Œ] => &OElig;
   [œ] => &oelig;
   [Š] => &Scaron;
   [š] => &scaron;
   [Ÿ] => &Yuml;
   [ƒ] => &fnof;
   [ˆ] => &circ;
   [˜] => &tilde;
   [Α] => &Alpha;
   [Β] => &Beta;
   [Γ] => &Gamma;
   [Δ] => &Delta;
   [Ε] => &Epsilon;
   [Ζ] => &Zeta;
   [Η] => &Eta;
   [Θ] => &Theta;
   [Ι] => &Iota;
   [Κ] => &Kappa;
   [Λ] => &Lambda;
   [Μ] => &Mu;
   [Ν] => &Nu;
   [Ξ] => &Xi;
   [Ο] => &Omicron;
   [Π] => &Pi;
   [Ρ] => &Rho;
   [Σ] => &Sigma;
   [Τ] => &Tau;
   [Υ] => &Upsilon;
   [Φ] => &Phi;
   [Χ] => &Chi;
   [Ψ] => &Psi;
   [Ω] => &Omega;
   [α] => &alpha;
   [β] => &beta;
   [γ] => &gamma;
   [δ] => &delta;
   [ε] => &epsilon;
   [ζ] => &zeta;
   [η] => &eta;
   [θ] => &theta;
   [ι] => &iota;
   [κ] => &kappa;
   [λ] => &lambda;
   [μ] => &mu;
   [ν] => &nu;
   [ξ] => &xi;
   [ο] => &omicron;
   [π] => &pi;
   [ρ] => &rho;
   [ς] => &sigmaf;
   [σ] => &sigma;
   [τ] => &tau;
   [υ] => &upsilon;
   [φ] => &phi;
   [χ] => &chi;
   [ψ] => &psi;
   [ω] => &omega;
   [ϑ] => &thetasym;
   [ϒ] => &upsih;
   [ϖ] => &piv;
   [ ] => &ensp;
   [ ] => &emsp;
   [ ] => &thinsp;
   [‌] => &zwnj;
   [‍] => &zwj;
   [‎] => &lrm;
   [‏] => &rlm;
   [–] => &ndash;
   [—] => &mdash;
   [‘] => &lsquo;
   [’] => &rsquo;
   [‚] => &sbquo;
   [“] => &ldquo;
   [”] => &rdquo;
   [„] => &bdquo;
   [†] => &dagger;
   [‡] => &Dagger;
   [•] => &bull;
   […] => &hellip;
   [‰] => &permil;
   [′] => &prime;
   [″] => &Prime;
   [‹] => &lsaquo;
   [›] => &rsaquo;
   [‾] => &oline;
   [⁄] => &frasl;
   [€] => &euro;
   [ℑ] => &image;
   [℘] => &weierp;
   [ℜ] => &real;
   [™] => &trade;
   [ℵ] => &alefsym;
   [←] => &larr;
   [↑] => &uarr;
   [→] => &rarr;
   [↓] => &darr;
   [↔] => &harr;
   [↵] => &crarr;
   [⇐] => &lArr;
   [⇑] => &uArr;
   [⇒] => &rArr;
   [⇓] => &dArr;
   [⇔] => &hArr;
   [∀] => &forall;
   [∂] => &part;
   [∃] => &exist;
   [∅] => &empty;
   [∇] => &nabla;
   [∈] => &isin;
   [∉] => &notin;
   [∋] => &ni;
   [∏] => &prod;
   [∑] => &sum;
   [−] => &minus;
   [∗] => &lowast;
   [√] => &radic;
   [∝] => &prop;
   [∞] => &infin;
   [∠] => &ang;
   [∧] => &and;
   [∨] => &or;
   [∩] => &cap;
   [∪] => &cup;
   [∫] => &int;
   [∴] => &there4;
   [∼] => &sim;
   [≅] => &cong;
   [≈] => &asymp;
   [≠] => &ne;
   [≡] => &equiv;
   [≤] => &le;
   [≥] => &ge;
   [⊂] => &sub;
   [⊃] => &sup;
   [⊄] => &nsub;
   [⊆] => &sube;
   [⊇] => &supe;
   [⊕] => &oplus;
   [⊗] => &otimes;
   [⊥] => &perp;
   [⋅] => &sdot;
   [⌈] => &lceil;
   [⌉] => &rceil;
   [⌊] => &lfloor;
   [⌋] => &rfloor;
   [〈] => &lang;
   [〉] => &rang;
   [◊] => &loz;
   [♠] => &spades;
   [♣] => &clubs;
   [♥] => &hearts;
   [♦] => &diams;
 )



PHP String Reference


❮ PHP String Reference

Example
Reverse the display of Hebrew characters: 

  <?php
  echo hebrev("á çùåï äúùñâ");
  ?>

  Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage

The hebrev() function converts Hebrew text from a right-to-left flow to a 
left-to-right flow.
Tip: hebrev() and hebrevc() can 
convert Hebrew logical text (the Windows encoding) to Hebrew visual text. Hebrew 
visual requires no special right-to-left character support to be displayed 
properly, making it very useful for displaying Hebrew text on the web.

Syntax

  hebrev(string,maxcharline)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. A Hebrew text
  
maxcharline
Optional. Specifies maximum characters for each line. hebrev() will 
    avoid breaking words if possible
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the visual string

  
PHP Version:
  
4+



❮ PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Reverse the display of Hebrew characters, and convert new lines(\n) into <br>: 

<?php
echo hebrevc("??? ???\n??? ???");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The hebrevc() function converts Hebrew text from a right-to-left flow to a 
left-to-right flow. It also converts new lines (\n) into <br>.
Tip: hebrevc() and hebrev() can convert Hebrew logical text (the 
Windows encoding) to Hebrew visual text. Hebrew visual requires no special 
right-to-left character support to be displayed properly, making it very useful 
for displaying Hebrew text on the web.

Syntax

hebrevc(string,maxcharline)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. A Hebrew text
  
maxcharline
Optional. Specifies maximum characters for each line. hebrev() will avoid breaking words if possible
  
 
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the visual string

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Convert hexadecimal values to ASCII characters:

<?phpecho hex2bin("48656c6c6f20576f726c6421");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The hex2bin() function converts a string of hexadecimal values to ASCII 
characters.

Syntax

hex2bin(string)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. The hexadecimal value to be converted
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the ASCII character of the converted string, or FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
5.4.0+

  
Changelog:
  
PHP 5.5.1 - Throws a warning if the string is invalid hexadecimal string.PHP 5.4.1 
  - Throws a warning if the string is of odd length. In 5.4.0, the string was silently accepted, but the last byte was removed.


PHP String Reference


❮ PHP String Reference

Example
Convert HTML entities to characters:

  <?php$str = '&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.w3schools.com&quot;&gt;w3schools.com&lt;/a&gt;';
  echo html_entity_decode($str);
  ?>
The HTML output of the code above will be (View Source):

  <a href="https://www.w3schools.com">w3schools.com</a>

The browser output of the code above will be:

w3schools.com



Definition and Usage
The html_entity_decode() function converts HTML entities to characters.
The html_entity_decode() function is the opposite of
htmlentities().

Syntax

html_entity_decode(string,flags,character-set)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to decode
  
flags
Optional. Specifies how to handle quotes and which document type to use.
    The available quote styles are:
 
    
ENT_COMPAT - Default. Decodes only double quotes
    
ENT_QUOTES - Decodes double and single quotes
    
ENT_NOQUOTES - Does not decode any quotes
 
  Additional flags for specifying the used doctype:
 
    
ENT_HTML401 - Default. Handle code as HTML 4.01
    
ENT_HTML5 - Handle code as HTML 5
    
ENT_XML1 - Handle code as XML 1
    
ENT_XHTML - Handle code as XHTML
 
    
  
character-set
Optional. A string that specifies which character-set to use.Allowed 
    values are:
 
    
UTF-8 - Default. ASCII compatible multi-byte 8-bit Unicode
    
ISO-8859-1 - Western European
    
ISO-8859-15 - Western European (adds the Euro sign + French and Finnish 
    letters missing in ISO-8859-1)
    
cp866 - DOS-specific Cyrillic charset
    
cp1251 - Windows-specific Cyrillic charset
    
cp1252 - Windows specific charset for Western European
    
KOI8-R - Russian
    
BIG5 - Traditional Chinese, mainly used in Taiwan
    
GB2312 - Simplified Chinese, national standard character set
    
BIG5-HKSCS - Big5 with Hong Kong extensions
    
Shift_JIS - Japanese
    
EUC-JP - Japanese
    
MacRoman - Character-set that was used by Mac OS
 
 Note: Unrecognized character-sets will be ignored and replaced by 
 ISO-8859-1 in versions prior to PHP 5.4. As of PHP 5.4, it will be ignored an 
 replaced by UTF-8.
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the converted string

  
PHP Version:
  
4.3.0+

  
Changelog:
  
PHP 5.6 - Changed the default value for the character-set 
  parameter to the value of the default charset (in configuration).PHP 5.4 - 
  Changed the default value for the character-set parameter to UTF-8.
  PHP 5.4 - Added ENT_HTML401, ENT_HTML5, ENT_XML1 and ENT_XHTML.PHP 5.0 - 
  Added support for multi-byte encodings


More Examples

Example
Convert some HTML entities to characters: 

  <?php
  $str = "Albert Einstein said: &#039;E=MC&sup2;&#039;";echo 
  html_entity_decode($str, ENT_COMPAT); // Will only convert double quotes
  echo "<br>";echo html_entity_decode($str, ENT_QUOTES); // Converts double 
  and single quotes
  echo "<br>";echo html_entity_decode($str, ENT_NOQUOTES); // Does not 
  convert any quotes
  ?>
The HTML output of the code above will be (View Source):

  Albert Einstein said: &#039;E=MC²&#039;<br>Albert Einstein said: 'E=MC²'<br>
  Albert Einstein said: &#039;E=MC²&#039;
The browser output of the code above will be:

  Albert Einstein said: 'E=MC²'Albert Einstein said: 'E=MC²'Albert 
  Einstein said: 'E=MC²'



Example
Convert some HTML entities to characters, using the Western European character-set:

  <?php
  $str = "My name is &Oslash;yvind &Aring;sane. I&#039;m Norwegian.";
  echo html_entity_decode($str, ENT_QUOTES, "UTF-8");
  ?>
The HTML output of the code above will be (View Source):

  My name is Øyvind Åsane. I'm Norwegian.
The browser output of the code above will be:

My name is Øyvind Åsane. I'm Norwegian.



❮ PHP String Reference


PHP String Reference

Example
Convert some characters to HTML entities: 

 <?php$str = '<a href="https://www.w3schools.com">Go to 
  w3schools.com</a>';echo htmlentities($str);
 ?>
The HTML output of the code above will be (View Source):

  &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.w3schools.com&quot;&gt;Go to w3schools.com&lt;/a&gt;

The browser output of the code above will be:

  <a href="https://www.w3schools.com">Go to w3schools.com</a>

 Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The htmlentities() function converts characters to HTML entities.
Tip: To convert HTML entities back to characters, use the
html_entity_decode() function.
Tip: Use the 
get_html_translation_table() function to return the translation table used by htmlentities(). 

Syntax

htmlentities(string,flags,character-set,double_encode)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to convert
  
flags
Optional. Specifies how to handle quotes, invalid encoding and the used document type.The available quote styles are:
 
    
ENT_COMPAT - Default. Encodes only double quotes
    
ENT_QUOTES - Encodes double and single quotes
    
ENT_NOQUOTES - Does not encode any quotes
 
 Invalid encoding:
 
    
ENT_IGNORE - Ignores invalid encoding instead of having the function  return an empty string. Should be avoided, as it may have security  implications.
    
ENT_SUBSTITUTE - Replaces invalid encoding for a specified character  set with a Unicode Replacement Character U+FFFD (UTF-8) or &#FFFD;  instead of returning an empty string.
    
ENT_DISALLOWED - Replaces code points that are invalid in the  specified doctype with a Unicode Replacement Character U+FFFD (UTF-8) or  &#FFFD;
 
  Additional flags for specifying the used doctype:
 
    
ENT_HTML401 - Default. Handle code as HTML 4.01
    
ENT_HTML5 - Handle code as HTML 5
    
ENT_XML1 - Handle code as XML 1
    
ENT_XHTML - Handle code as XHTML
 
    
  
character-set
Optional. A string that specifies which character-set to use.Allowed values are:
 
     
UTF-8 - Default. ASCII compatible multi-byte 8-bit Unicode
    
ISO-8859-1 - Western European
    
ISO-8859-15 - Western European (adds the Euro sign + French and  Finnish letters missing in ISO-8859-1)
    
cp866 - DOS-specific Cyrillic charset
    
cp1251 - Windows-specific Cyrillic charset
    
cp1252 - Windows specific charset for Western European
    
KOI8-R - Russian
    
BIG5 - Traditional Chinese, mainly used in Taiwan
    
GB2312 - Simplified Chinese, national standard character set
    
BIG5-HKSCS - Big5 with Hong Kong extensions
    
Shift_JIS - Japanese
    
EUC-JP - Japanese
    
MacRoman - Character-set that was used by Mac OS
 
 Note: Unrecognized character-sets will be ignored and replaced by ISO-8859-1 in versions prior to PHP 5.4. As of PHP 5.4, it will be ignored an replaced by UTF-8. 
  
    
double_encode
Optional. A boolean value that specifies whether to encode existing html entities or not. 
    
TRUE - Default. Will convert everything
    
FALSE - Will not encode existing html entities
 
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the converted string. However, if the string 
 parameter contains invalid encoding, it will return an empty string, unless either the ENT_IGNORE or ENT_SUBSTITUTE flags are set

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
PHP 5.6 - Changed the default value for the character-set 
  parameter to the value of the default charset (in configuration).PHP 5.4 - 
  Changed the default value for the character-set parameter to UTF-8.
  PHP 5.4 - Added ENT_SUBSTITUTE, ENT_DISALLOWED, ENT_HTML401, ENT_HTML5, 
  ENT_XML1 and ENT_XHTMLPHP 5.3 - Added ENT_IGNORE constant.PHP 5.2.3 - 
  Added the double_encode parameter.PHP 4.1 - Added the character-set 
  parameter.


More Examples

Example
Convert some characters to HTML entities: 
 
  <?php
   $str = "Albert Einstein said: 'E=MC²'";
  echo htmlentities($str, ENT_COMPAT); // Will only convert double quotes
  echo "<br>";
  echo htmlentities($str, ENT_QUOTES); // Converts double and single  quotes
  echo "<br>";
  echo htmlentities($str, ENT_NOQUOTES); // Does not convert any quotes
  ?>
The HTML output of the code above will be (View Source):

  Albert Einstein said: 'E=MC&sup2;'<br>Albert Einstein said: 
  &#039;E=MC&sup2;&#039;<br>Albert Einstein said: 'E=MC&sup2;'

The browser output of the code above will be:

  Albert Einstein said: 'E=MC²'Albert Einstein said: 'E=MC²'Albert 
  Einstein said: 'E=MC²'


 Try it Yourself »

Example
Convert some characters to HTML entities using the Western European 
character-set: 
 
  <?php$str = "My name is Øyvind Åsane. I'm Norwegian.";echo  htmlentities($str, ENT_QUOTES, "UTF-8"); // Will only convert  double quotes (not single quotes), and uses the character-set Western  European?>
The HTML output of the code above will be (View Source):

 <!DOCTYPE html><html><body>My name is &Oslash;yvind &Aring;sane. I&#039;m Norwegian.</body></html>

The browser output of the code above will be:

My name is Øyvind Åsane. I'm Norwegian.

 Try it Yourself »


PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Convert the predefined HTML entities "&lt;" (less than) and "&gt;" 
(greater than) to characters: 

 <?php$str = "This is some &lt;b&gt;bold&lt;/b&gt; text.";echo htmlspecialchars_decode($str);
 ?>
The HTML output of the code above will be (View Source):

 <!DOCTYPE html><html>
<body>
 This is some <b>bold</b> text.
</body>
</html>

The browser output of the code above will be:

This is some bold text.


Definition and Usage
The htmlspecialchars_decode() function converts some predefined HTML entities to characters.
HTML entities that will be decoded are:
&amp; becomes & (ampersand)
&quot; becomes " (double quote)
&#039; becomes ' (single quote)
&lt; becomes < (less than)
&gt; becomes > (greater than)

The htmlspecialchars_decode() function is the opposite of
htmlspecialchars().

Syntax

htmlspecialchars_decode(string,flags)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to decode
  
flags
Optional. Specifies how to handle quotes and which document type to use.The available quote styles are:
 
    
ENT_COMPAT - Default. Decodes only double quotes
    
ENT_QUOTES - Decodes double and single quotes
    
ENT_NOQUOTES - Does not decode any quotes
 
  Additional flags for specifying the used doctype:
 
    
ENT_HTML401 - Default. Handle code as HTML 4.01
    
ENT_HTML5 - Handle code as HTML 5
    
ENT_XML1 - Handle code as XML 1
    
ENT_XHTML - Handle code as XHTML
 
    

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the converted string

  
PHP Version:
  
5.1.0+

  
Changelog:
  
PHP 5.4 - Added ENT_HTML401, ENT_HTML5, ENT_XML1 and ENT_XHTML.


More Examples

Example
Convert some predefined HTML entities to characters: 

<?php
$str = "Jane &amp; &#039;Tarzan&#039;";
echo htmlspecialchars_decode($str, ENT_COMPAT); // Will only convert double quotes
echo "<br>";
echo htmlspecialchars_decode($str, ENT_QUOTES); // Converts double and single quotes
echo "<br>";
echo htmlspecialchars_decode($str, ENT_NOQUOTES); // Does not convert any quotes
?>
The HTML output of the code above will be (View Source):

 <!DOCTYPE html><html>
<body>
Jane & &#039;Tarzan&#039;<br>
Jane & 'Tarzan'<br>
Jane & &#039;Tarzan&#039;
</body>
</html>

The browser output of the code above will be:

Jane & 'Tarzan'
Jane & 'Tarzan'
Jane & 'Tarzan'



Example
Convert the predefined HTML entities to double quotes: 

 <?php
 $str = 'I love &quot;PHP&quot;.';echo htmlspecialchars_decode($str, ENT_QUOTES); // Converts double and single quotes
 ?>
The HTML output of the code above will be (View Source):

 <!DOCTYPE html><html>
<body>
 I love "PHP".
</body>
</html>

The browser output of the code above will be:

I love "PHP".


PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Convert the predefined characters "<" (less than) and ">" (greater than) to HTML entities: 

 <?php$str = "This is some <b>bold</b> text.";echo htmlspecialchars($str);
 ?>
The HTML output of the code above will be (View Source):

 <!DOCTYPE html><html>
<body>
 This is some &lt;b&gt;bold&lt;/b&gt; text.
</body>
</html>

The browser output of the code above will be:

This is some <b>bold</b> text.
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The htmlspecialchars() function converts some predefined characters to HTML entities.
The predefined characters are:
& (ampersand) becomes &amp;
" (double quote) becomes &quot;
' (single quote) becomes &#039;
< (less than) becomes &lt;
> (greater than) becomes &gt;

Tip: To convert special HTML entities back to characters, 
use the htmlspecialchars_decode() function. 

Syntax

htmlspecialchars(string,flags,character-set,double_encode)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to convert
  
flags
Optional. Specifies how to handle quotes, invalid encoding and the used document type.The available quote styles are:
 
    
ENT_COMPAT - Default. Encodes only double quotes
    
ENT_QUOTES - Encodes double and single quotes
    
ENT_NOQUOTES - Does not encode any quotes
 
 Invalid encoding:
 
    
ENT_IGNORE - Ignores invalid encoding instead of having the function  return an empty string. Should be avoided, as it may have security  implications.
    
ENT_SUBSTITUTE - Replaces invalid encoding for a specified character  set with a Unicode Replacement Character U+FFFD (UTF-8) or &#FFFD;  instead of returning an empty string.
    
ENT_DISALLOWED - Replaces code points that are  invalid in the specified doctype with a Unicode Replacement Character  U+FFFD (UTF-8) or &#FFFD;
 
  Additional flags for specifying the used doctype:
 
    
ENT_HTML401 - Default. Handle code as HTML 4.01
    
ENT_HTML5 - Handle code as HTML 5
    
ENT_XML1 - Handle code as XML 1
    
ENT_XHTML - Handle code as XHTML
 
    
  
character-set
Optional. A string that specifies which character-set to use.Allowed values are:
 
     
UTF-8 - Default. ASCII compatible multi-byte 8-bit Unicode
    
ISO-8859-1 - Western European
    
ISO-8859-15 - Western European (adds the Euro sign + French  and Finnish letters missing in ISO-8859-1)
    
cp866 - DOS-specific Cyrillic charset
    
cp1251 - Windows-specific Cyrillic charset
    
cp1252 - Windows specific charset for Western European
    
KOI8-R - Russian
    
BIG5 - Traditional Chinese, mainly used in Taiwan
    
GB2312 - Simplified Chinese, national standard character set
    
BIG5-HKSCS - Big5 with Hong Kong extensions
    
Shift_JIS - Japanese
    
EUC-JP - Japanese
    
MacRoman - Character-set that was used by Mac OS
 
 Note: Unrecognized character-sets will be ignored and replaced by ISO-8859-1 in versions prior to PHP 5.4. As of PHP 5.4, it will be ignored an replaced by UTF-8. 
  
  
double_encode
Optional. A boolean value that specifies whether to encode existing html entities or not. 
    
TRUE - Default. Will convert everything
    
FALSE - Will not encode existing html entities
 
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the converted stringIf the string contains invalid encoding, it will return an empty string, unless either the ENT_IGNORE or ENT_SUBSTITUTE flags are set

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
PHP 5.6 - Changed the default value for the character-set 
  parameter to the value of the default charset (in configuration).PHP 5.4 - 
  Changed the default value for the character-set parameter to UTF-8.
  PHP 5.4 - Added ENT_SUBSTITUTE, ENT_DISALLOWED, ENT_HTML401, ENT_HTML5, 
  ENT_XML1 and ENT_XHTMLPHP 5.3 - Added ENT_IGNORE constant.PHP 5.2.3 - 
  Added the double_encode parameter.PHP 4.1 - Added the character-set 
  parameter.


More Examples

Example
Convert some predefined characters to HTML entities: 

 <?php
$str = "Jane & 'Tarzan'";
echo htmlspecialchars($str, ENT_COMPAT); // Will only convert double quotes
echo "<br>";
echo htmlspecialchars($str, ENT_QUOTES); // Converts double and single quotes
echo "<br>";
echo htmlspecialchars($str, ENT_NOQUOTES); // Does not convert any quotes
 ?>
The HTML output of the code above will be (View Source):

 <!DOCTYPE html><html>
<body>
Jane &amp; 'Tarzan'<br>
Jane &amp; &#039;Tarzan&#039;<br>
Jane &amp; 'Tarzan'
</body>
</html>

The browser output of the code above will be:

Jane & 'Tarzan'
Jane & 'Tarzan'
Jane & 'Tarzan'

Try it Yourself »

Example
Convert double quotes to HTML entities: 

 <?php
 $str = 'I love "PHP".';echo htmlspecialchars($str, ENT_QUOTES); // Converts double and single quotes
 ?>
The HTML output of the code above will be (View Source):

 <!DOCTYPE html><html>
<body>
 I love &quot;PHP&quot;.
</body>
</html>

The browser output of the code above will be:

I love "PHP".
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Join array elements with a string:

<?php
$arr = array('Hello','World!','Beautiful','Day!');
echo implode(" ",$arr);
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The implode() function returns a string from the elements of an array.
Note: The implode() function accept its parameters in either order. However, for consistency with 
explode(), 
you should use the documented order of arguments.
Note: The separator parameter of implode() is optional. However, it is recommended to
always use two parameters for backwards compatibility.
Note: This function is binary-safe.

Syntax

implode(separator,array)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
separator
Optional. Specifies what to put between the array elements. Default is " (an empty string)
  
array
Required. The array to join to a string
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a string from elements of an array

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
The separator parameter became optional in PHP 4.3.0


More Examples

Example
Separate the array elements with different characters:

 <?php$arr = array('Hello','World!','Beautiful','Day!');echo implode(" ",$arr)."<br>";echo implode("+",$arr)."<br>";echo implode("-",$arr)."<br>";
 echo implode("X",$arr);?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Join array elements with a string:

<?php
$arr = array('Hello','World!','Beautiful','Day!');
echo join(" ",$arr);
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The join() function returns a string from the elements of an array.
The join() function is an alias of the implode() function.
Note: The join() function accept its parameters in either order. However, for consistency with explode(), 
you should use the documented order of arguments.
Note: The separator parameter of join() is optional. However, it is recommended to always use two
parameters for backwards compatibility.

Syntax

join(separator,array)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
separator
Optional. Specifies what to put between the array elements. Default is " (an empty string)
  
array
Required. The array to join to a string
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a string from elements of an array

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
The separator parameter became optional in PHP 4.3.0.


More Examples

Example
Separate the array elements with different characters:

 <?php$arr = array('Hello','World!','Beautiful','Day!');echo join(" ",$arr)."<br>";echo join("+",$arr)."<br>";echo join("-",$arr)."<br>";
 echo join("X",$arr);?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Convert the first character of "Hello" to lowercase: 

<?phpecho lcfirst("Hello world!");?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The lcfirst() function converts the first character of a string to lowercase.
Related functions:
ucfirst() - converts the first character of a string to uppercase
ucwords() - converts the first character of each word in a string to uppercase
strtoupper() - converts a string to uppercase
strtolower() - converts a string to lowercase

Syntax

lcfirst(string)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to convert
  
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the converted string

  
PHP Version:
  
5.3.0+

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Calculate the Levenshtein distance between two strings:

<?php
echo levenshtein("Hello World","ello World");
echo "<br>";
echo levenshtein("Hello World","ello World",10,20,30);
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The levenshtein() function returns the Levenshtein distance between two strings.
The Levenshtein distance is the number of characters you have to replace, 
insert or delete to transform string1 into string2.
By default, PHP gives each operation (replace, insert, and delete) equal 
weight. However, you can define the cost of each operation by setting the 
optional insert, replace, and delete parameters.
Note: The levenshtein() function is not case-sensitive.
Note: The levenshtein() function is faster than the similar_text() 
function. However, similar_text() will give you a more accurate 
result with less modifications needed.

Syntax

levenshtein(string1,string2,insert,replace,delete)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string1
Required. First string to compare
  
string2
Required. Second string to compare
  
insert
Optional. The cost of inserting a character. Default is 1
  
replace
Optional. The cost of replacing a character. Default is 1
  
delete
Optional. The cost of deleting a character. Default is 1
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the Levenshtein distance between the two argument strings or -1, if one of the strings exceeds 255 characters

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0.1+

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Find the United States locale numeric formatting information:

<?php
setlocale(LC_ALL,"US");
$locale_info = localeconv();
print_r($locale_info);
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The localeconv() function returns an array containing local numeric and monetary formatting information.
The localeconv() function will return the following array elements:
[decimal_point] - Decimal point character
[thousands_sep] - Thousands separator
[int_curr_symbol] - Currency symbol (example: USD)
[currency_symbol] - Currency symbol (example: $)
[mon_decimal_point] - Monetary decimal point character
[mon_thousands_sep] - Monetary thousands separator
[positive_sign] - Positive value character
[negative_sign] - Negative value character
[int_frac_digits] - International fractional digits
[frac_digits] - Local fractional digits
[p_cs_precedes] - True (1) if currency symbol is placed in front of a positive value, False (0) if it is placed behind
[p_sep_by_space] - True (1) if there is a spaces between the currency symbol and a positive value, False (0) otherwise
[n_cs_precedes] - True (1) if currency symbol is placed in front of a negative value, False (0) if it is placed behind
[n_sep_by_space] - True (1) if there is a spaces between the currency symbol and a negative value, False (0) otherwise
[p_sign_posn] - Formatting options:
    
0 - Parentheses surround the quantity and currency symbol
    
1 - The + sign is placed in front of the quantity and  currency symbol
    
2 - The + sign is placed after the quantity and currency symbol
    
3 - The + sign is placed immediately in front of the  currency symbol
    
4 - The + sign is placed immediately after the currency symbol
 
[n_sign_posn] - Formatting options:
    
0 - Parentheses surround the quantity and currency symbol
    
1 - The - sign is placed in front of the quantity and  currency symbol
    
2 - The - sign is placed after the quantity and currency symbol
    
3 - The - sign is placed immediately in front of the  currency symbol
    
4 - The - sign is placed immediately after the currency symbol
 
[grouping] - Array displaying how numbers are grouped (example: 3 indicates 1 000 000)
[mon_grouping] - Array displaying how monetary numbers are grouped (example: 2 indicates 1 00 00 00)

Tip: To define locale settings, see the 
setlocale() function.
Tip: To view all available language codes, go to our Language code reference.

Syntax

localeconv()

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns data based upon the current locale as set by setlocale()

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0.5+

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Remove characters from the left side of a string:

<?php
$str = "Hello World!";
 echo $str . "<br>";
echo ltrim($str,"Hello");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The ltrim() function removes whitespace or other predefined characters from the left side of a string.
Related functions: 
rtrim() - Removes whitespace or other predefined characters from the right side of a string
trim() - Removes whitespace or other predefined characters from both sides of a string

Syntax

ltrim(string,charlist)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to check
  
charlist
Optional. Specifies which characters to remove from the string. If omitted, all of the following characters are removed:
    
"\0" - NULL
    
"\t" - tab
    
"\n" - new line
    
"\x0B" - vertical tab
    
"\r" - carriage return
    
" " - ordinary white space
 
  
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the modified string

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
The charlist parameter was added in PHP 4.1


More Examples

Example
Remove whitespaces from the left side of a string:

<?php
$str = "    Hello World!";
echo "Without ltrim: " . $str;
echo "<br>";
echo "With ltrim: " . ltrim($str);
?>
The HTML output of the code above will be (View Source):

 <!DOCTYPE html><html>
<body>
Without ltrim:    Hello World!<br>With ltrim: Hello World!
</body>
</html>

The browser output of the code above will be:

Without ltrim: Hello World!
With ltrim: Hello World! 
Try it Yourself »

Example
Remove newlines (\n) from the left side of a string:

<?php
$str = "\n\n\nHello World!";
echo "Without ltrim: " . $str;
echo "<br>";
echo "With ltrim: " . ltrim($str);
?>
The HTML output of the code above will be (View Source):

 <!DOCTYPE html><html>
<body>
Without ltrim:  
Hello World!<br>With ltrim: Hello World!
</body>
</html>

The browser output of the code above will be:

Without ltrim: Hello World!
With ltrim: Hello World! 
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Calculate the MD5 hash of the string "Hello":

<?php
$str = "Hello";
echo md5($str);
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The md5() function calculates the MD5 hash of a string.
The md5() function uses the RSA Data Security, Inc. MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm.
From RFC 1321 - The MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm: "The MD5 message-digest algorithm takes as 
input a message of arbitrary length and produces as output a 128-bit 
"fingerprint" or "message digest" of the input. The MD5 algorithm is intended for digital signature applications, where 
a large file must be "compressed" in a secure manner before being encrypted with 
a private (secret) key under a public-key cryptosystem such as RSA."
To calculate the MD5 hash of a file, use the md5_file() function.

Syntax

md5(string,raw)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. The string to be calculated
  
raw
Optional. Specifies hex or binary output format:
    
TRUE - Raw 16 character binary format
    
FALSE - Default. 32 character hex number
 
   
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the calculated MD5 hash on success, or FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
The raw parameter became optional in PHP 5.0


More Examples

Example
Print the result of md5():

<?php $str = "Hello"; echo "The string: ".$str."<br>"; echo "TRUE - Raw 16 character binary format: ".md5($str, TRUE)."<br>"; echo "FALSE - 32 character hex number: ".md5($str)."<br>"; ?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
Print the result of md5() and then test it: 

<?php$str = "Hello";echo md5($str);if (md5($str) == "8b1a9953c4611296a827abf8c47804d7")  {  echo "<br>Hello world!";  exit;  }?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Calculate the MD5 hash of the text file "test.txt":

<?php
$filename = "test.txt";
$md5file = md5_file($filename);
echo $md5file;
?>
The output of the code above will be:

d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e



Definition and Usage
The md5_file() function calculates the MD5 hash of a file.
The md5_file() function uses the RSA Data Security, Inc. MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm.
From RFC 1321 - The MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm: "The MD5 message-digest algorithm takes as 
input a message of arbitrary length and produces as output a 128-bit 
"fingerprint" or "message digest" of the input. The MD5 algorithm is intended for digital signature applications, where 
a large file must be "compressed" in a secure manner before being encrypted with 
a private (secret) key under a public-key cryptosystem such as RSA."
To calculate the MD5 hash of a string, use the 
md5() function.

Syntax

md5_file(file,raw)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
file
Required. The file to be calculated
  
raw
Optional. A boolean value that specifies hex or binary output format:
    
TRUE - Raw 16 character binary format
    
FALSE - Default. 32 character hex number
 
   
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the calculated MD5 hash on success, or FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.2.0+

  
Changelog:
  
The raw parameter was added in PHP 5.0As of PHP 5.1, it is possible to use md5_file() with wrappers, e.g. 
 md5_file("https://w3schools.com/..")


More Examples

Example
Store the MD5 hash of "test.txt" in a file:

<?php
$md5file = md5_file("test.txt");
file_put_contents("md5file.txt",$md5file);
?>
Test if "test.txt" has been changed (that is if the 
MD5 hash has been changed):

<?php
$md5file = file_get_contents("md5file.txt");
if (md5_file("test.txt") == $md5file)
  {
  echo "The file is ok.";
  }
else
  {
  echo "The file has been changed.";
  }
?>
The output of the code above could be:

The file is ok.



PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Calculate the metaphone key of "World":

<?php
echo metaphone("World");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage

The metaphone() function calculates the metaphone key of a string.
A metaphone key represents how a string sounds if said by an English speaking person.
The metaphone() function can be used for spelling applications.
Note: The metaphone() function creates the same key for similar sounding words.
Note: The generated metaphone keys vary in length.
Tip: metaphone() is more accurate than the soundex() 
function, because metaphone() knows the basic rules of English pronunciation. 

Syntax

metaphone(string,length)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to check
  
length
Optional. Specifies the maximum length of the metaphone key
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the metaphone key of the string on success, or FALSE on failure.

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


More Examples

Example
Using the metaphone() function on two similar sounding words: 

<?php
$str = "Assistance";
$str2 = "Assistants";

echo metaphone($str);
echo "<br>";
echo metaphone($str2);
?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
Using the length parameter: 

<?php
$str = "Assistance";
$str2 = "Assistants";

echo metaphone($str,5);
echo "<br>";
echo metaphone($str2,5);
?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
International en_US format:

<?php
$number = 1234.56;
setlocale(LC_MONETARY,"en_US");
echo money_format("The price is %i", $number);
?>
The output of the code above will be:

The price is USD 1,234.56



Definition and Usage
The money_format() function returns a string formatted as a currency string.
This function inserts a formatted number where there is a percent (%) sign in the main string.
Note: The money_format() function does not work on Windows platforms.
Tip: This function is often used together with the
setlocale() function.
Tip: To view all available language codes, go to our Language code reference.

Syntax

money_format(string,number)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to be formatted and how to format the variables in it.Possible format values:

 Padding and Flags:
    
=f - Specifies the character (f) to be used as padding (Example: %=t this uses "t" as padding). Default is space
 
^ - Removes the use of grouping characters
+ or ( - Specifies how to show positive and negative numbers. If "+" is used, the local setting for + and - will be used (usually a sign in front of negative numbers, and nothing in front of positive numbers). If "(" is used, negative numbers are enclosed in parenthesis. Default is "+"
! - Stops the use of currency symbols in the output string
- If "-" is used, all fields are left-justified. Default is right-justified
    

 Field width:
 
x - Specifies the minimum field width (x). Default is 0
#x - Specifies the maximum number (x) of digits expected to the left of the decimal point. This is used to keep formatted output aligned in the same columns. If the number of digits are bigger than x, this specification is ignored
.x - Specifies the maximum number (x) of digits expected to the right of the decimal point. If x is 0, the decimal point and the digits to its right will not be shown. Default is local settings
 
 
 Conversion characters:
 
i - The number is formatted to international currency format
n - The number is formatted to national currency format
% - Returns the % character
 

 Note: If multiple format values are used, they must be in the same order as shown above.
 Note: This function is affected by local settings.
  
number
Required. The number to be inserted at the %-sign in the format string
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the formatted string. Characters before and after the formatting string will be returned unchanged. Non-numeric number causes returning NULL and emitting E_WARNING

  
PHP Version:
  
4.3.0+


More Examples

Example
International format (Germany) with 2 decimals:

<?php
$number = 1234.56;
setlocale(LC_MONETARY,"de_DE");
echo money_format("%.2n", $number);
?>
The output of the code above will be:

1 234,56 EUR

Example
Negative number, US national format with () to indicate negative numbers and 
2 digits of right precision and "*" as a fill character:

<?php
$number = -1234.5672;
echo money_format("%=*(#10.2n",$number);
?>
The output of the code above will be:

(******1234.57)

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Definition and Usage
The nl_langinfo() function returns specific local information.
Note: This function does not work on Windows platforms.
Tip: Unlike the localeconv() function, 
which returns all local formatting information, the nl_langinfo() function returns specific information.

Syntax

nl_langinfo(element)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
element
Required. Specifies which element to return. Must be one of the following elements:Time and Calendar:
 
    
ABDAY_(1-7) - Abbreviated name of the numbered day of the week
    
DAY_(1-7) - Name of the numbered day of the week (DAY_1 = Sunday)
    
ABMON_(1-12) - Abbreviated name of the numbered month of the year
    
MON_(1-12) - Name of the numbered month of the year
    
AM_STR - String for Ante meridian
    
PM_STR - String for Post meridian
    
D_T_FMT - String that can be used as the format string for strftime() to represent time and date
    
D_FMT - String that can be used as the format string for strftime()  to represent date
    
T_FMT - String that can be used as the format string for strftime()  to represent time
    
T_FMT_AMPM - String that can be used as the format string for strftime() to represent time in 12-hour format with ante/post meridian
    
ERA - Alternate era
    
ERA_YEAR - Year in alternate era format
    
ERA_D_T_FMT - Date and time in alternate era format (string can be  used in strftime())
    
ERA_D_FMT - Date in alternate era format (string can be used in strftime())
    
ERA_T_FMT - Time in alternate era format (string can be used in strftime())
 
 Monetary Category:
 
    
INT_CURR_SYMBOL - Currency symbol (example: USD)
CURRENCY_SYMBOL - Currency symbol (example: $)
CRNCYSTR - Same as CURRENCY_SYMBOL
    
MON_DECIMAL_POINT - Monetary decimal point character
MON_THOUSANDS_SEP - Monetary thousands separator
POSITIVE_SIGN - Positive value character
NEGATIVE_SIGN -Negative value character
    
MON_GROUPING - Array displaying how monetary numbers are grouped (example: 1 000 000)
    
INT_FRAC_DIGITS - International fractional digits
    
FRAC_DIGITS - Local fractional digits
    
P_CS_PRECEDES - True (1) if currency symbol is placed in front of a positive value, False (0) if it is placed behind
    
P_SEP_BY_SPACE - True (1) if there is a spaces between the     currency symbol and a positive value, False (0) otherwise
    
N_CS_PRECEDES - True (1) if currency symbol is placed in front of a negative value, False (0) if it is placed behind
    
N_SEP_BY_SPACE - True (1) if there is a spaces between the     currency symbol and a negative value, False (0) otherwise
    
P_SIGN_POSN - Formatting setting. Possible return values:
      
0 - Parentheses surround the quantity and currency symbol
      
1 - The sign string is placed in front of the quantity and      currency symbol
      
2 - The sign string is placed after the quantity and currency 
            symbol
      
3 - The sign string is placed immediately in front of the      currency symbol
      
4 - The sign string is placed immediately after the currency 
            symbol
  
N_SIGN_POSN - Formatting setting. Possible return values:
    
0 - Parentheses surround the quantity and currency symbol
    
1 - The sign string is placed in front of the quantity and  currency symbol
    
2 - The sign string is placed after the quantity and currency symbol
    
3 - The sign string is placed immediately in front of the  currency symbol
    
4 - The sign string is placed immediately after the currency symbol
 
 
 
 Numeric Category:
 
    
DECIMAL_POINT - Decimal point character
    
RADIXCHAR - Same as DECIMAL_POINT
    
THOUSANDS_SEP - Separator character for thousands
    
THOUSEP - Same as THOUSANDS_SEP
    
GROUPING - Array displaying how numbers are grouped (example: 1  000 000)
 
 Messaging Category:
 
    
YESEXPR - Regex string for matching 'yes' input
    
NOEXPR - Regex string for matching 'no' input
    
YESSTR - Output string for 'yes'
    
NOSTR - Output string for 'no'
 
 Code set Category:
 
    
CODESET Return a string with the name of the character encoding.
  
 
  
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the specific information on success, or FALSE on failure.

  
PHP Version:
  
4.1.0+

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Insert line breaks where newlines (\n) occur in the string: 

<?php
echo nl2br("One line.\nAnother line.");
?>
The browser output of the code above will be:

One line.
Another line.

The HTML output of the code above will be (View Source):

One line.<br />
Another line.

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The nl2br() function inserts HTML line breaks (<br> or <br />) in front 
of each newline (\n) in a string.

Syntax

nl2br(string,xhtml)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to check
xhtml 
Optional. A boolean value that indicates whether or not to use XHTML compatible line breaks:
 
    
TRUE- Default. Inserts <br />
    
FALSE - Inserts <br>
 
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the converted string

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
The xhtml parameter was added in PHP 5.3.Before PHP 4.0.5, it inserted <br>. After PHP 
4.0.5 it inserts <br />.


More Examples

Example
Insert line breaks where newlines (\n) occur, using the xhtml parameter: 

<?php
echo nl2br("One line.\nAnother line.",false);
?>

The browser output of the code above will be:

One line.
Another line.

The HTML output of the code above will be (View Source):

One line.<br>
Another line.

Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Format numbers:

 <?phpecho number_format("1000000")."<br>";echo number_format("1000000",2)."<br>";
 echo number_format("1000000",2,",",".");?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The number_format() function formats a number with grouped thousands.
Note: This function supports one, two, or four parameters (not three).

Syntax

number_format(number,decimals,decimalpoint,separator)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
number
Required. The number to be formatted. If no other parameters are set, the number will be formatted without decimals and with comma (,) as the thousands separator.
  
decimals
Optional. Specifies how many decimals. If this parameter is set, the number will be formatted with a dot (.) as decimal point
  
decimalpoint
Optional. Specifies what string to use for decimal point
  
separator
Optional. Specifies what string to use for thousands separator. Only the first character of separator is used. For example, "xxx" will give the same output as "x" Note: If this parameter is given, all other parameters are required as well
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the formatted number

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
As of PHP 5.4, this function supports multiple bytes in the parameters
 decimalpoint and separator. Only the first byte of each separator was used in older versions.


More Examples

Example
You want to return a price: One parameter will round the number (it will be formatted without decimals). 
Two parameters should give the result you want:

 <?php$num = 1999.9;$formattedNum = number_format($num)."<br>";
 echo $formattedNum;$formattedNum = number_format($num, 2);echo $formattedNum;?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Return the ASCII value of "h":

<?php
echo ord("h")."<br>";
echo ord("hello")."<br>";
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The ord() function returns the ASCII value of the first character of a string.

Syntax

ord(string)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. The string to get an ASCII value from

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the ASCII value as an integer

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Parse a query string into variables:

<?php
parse_str("name=Peter&age=43");
echo $name."<br>";
 echo $age;
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The parse_str() function parses a query string into variables.
Note: If the array parameter is not set, variables set by this function will overwrite existing variables of the same name.Note: The magic_quotes_gpc setting in the php.ini file affects the output of this 
function. If enabled, the variables are converted by addslashes() before parsed 
by parse_str().

Syntax

parse_str(string,array)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to parse
  
array
Optional (Required from PHP 7.2). Specifies the name of an array to store the variables. This parameter indicates that the variables will be stored in an array.

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
No value is returned

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
PHP 7.2.0 - The array parameter is required.PHP 4.0.3 - Added 
  the array parameter.


More Examples

Example
Store the variables in an array: 

<?php
parse_str("name=Peter&age=43",$myArray);
print_r($myArray);
?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Write some text to the output:

<?php print "Hello world!"; ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The print() function outputs one or more strings.
Note: The print() function is not 
actually a function, so you are not required to use parentheses with it.
Tip: The print() function is 
slightly slower than echo().

Syntax

print(strings)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
strings
Required. One or more strings to be sent to the output
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Always returns 1

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


More Examples

Example
Write the value of the string variable ($str) to the output:

<?php
$str = "Hello world!";
 print $str;
?>

Try it Yourself »

Example
Write the value of the string variable ($str) to 
the output, including HTML tags:

<?php$str = "Hello world!";print $str;print "<br>What a nice day!";?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
Join two string variables together:

<?php$str1="Hello world!";$str2="What a nice day!";
print $str1 . " " . $str2;?> 

Try it Yourself »

Example
Write the value of an array to the output: 

<?php$age=array("Peter"=>"35");print "Peter is " . $age['Peter'] . " years old.";?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
Write some text to the output:

<?php
 print "This text
spans multiple
lines.";
?> 

Try it Yourself »

Example
Difference of single and double quotes. Single quotes will print the variable name, not the value:

<?php
$color = "red";
 print "Roses are $color";
 print "<br>";
 print 'Roses are $color';
?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Output a formatted string:

<?php$number = 9;$str = "Beijing";printf("There are %u million bicycles in %s.",$number,$str);?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The printf() function outputs a formatted string.
The arg1, arg2, ++ parameters will be inserted at percent (%) 
signs in the main string. This function works "step-by-step". At the first % sign, 
arg1 is inserted, at the second % sign, arg2 is inserted, etc.
Note: If there are more % signs than arguments, you must use placeholders. A placeholder is 
inserted after the % sign, 
and consists of the argument- number and "\$". See example two.
Tip: Related functions: sprintf(),
vprintf(),
vsprintf(),
fprintf() and
vfprintf()

Syntax

printf(format,arg1,arg2,arg++)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
format
Required. Specifies the string and how to format the variables in it.Possible format values:
%% - Returns a percent sign
%b - Binary number
%c - The character according to the ASCII value
%d - Signed decimal number (negative, zero or positive)
%e - Scientific notation using a lowercase (e.g. 1.2e+2)
%E - Scientific notation using a uppercase (e.g. 1.2E+2)
%u - Unsigned decimal number (equal to or greather than zero)
%f - Floating-point number (local settings aware)
%F - Floating-point number (not local settings aware)
%g - shorter of %e and %f
%G - shorter of %E and %f
%o - Octal number
%s - String
%x - Hexadecimal number (lowercase letters)
%X - Hexadecimal number (uppercase letters)

 Additional format values. These are placed between the % and the letter (example %.2f):
 
+ (Forces both + and - in front of numbers. By default, only negative numbers are marked)
    
' (Specifies what to use as padding. Default is space. Must be used  together with the width specifier.  Example: %'x20s (this uses "x" as padding)
    
- (Left-justifies the variable value)
    
[0-9] (Specifies the minimum width held of to the variable value)
    
.[0-9] (Specifies the number of decimal digits or maximum string length)
 
 Note: If multiple additional format values are used, they must be in the same order as above.
  
arg1
Required. The argument to be inserted at the first %-sign in the format string
  
arg2
Optional. The argument to be inserted at the second %-sign in the format string
  
arg++
Optional. The argument to be inserted at the third, fourth, etc. %-sign in the format string
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the length of the outputted string

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


More Examples

Example
Using the format value %f:

<?php
$number = 123;
printf("%f",$number);
?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
Use of placeholders: 

<?php
$number = 123;
printf("With 2 decimals: %1\$.2f
<br>With no decimals: %1\$u",$number);
?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
A demonstration of all possible format values: 

<?php$num1 = 123456789;$num2 = -123456789;$char = 50; // The ASCII Character 50 is 2// Note: The format value "%%" returns a percent signprintf("%%b = %b <br>",$num1); // Binary numberprintf("%%c = %c <br>",$char); // The ASCII Characterprintf("%%d = %d <br>",$num1); // Signed decimal numberprintf("%%d = %d <br>",$num2); // Signed decimal numberprintf("%%e = %e <br>",$num1); // Scientific notation (lowercase)
printf("%%E = %E <br>",$num1); // Scientific notation (uppercase)printf("%%u = %u <br>",$num1); // Unsigned decimal number (positive)printf("%%u = %u <br>",$num2); // Unsigned decimal number (negative)printf("%%f = %f <br>",$num1); // Floating-point number (local settings aware)printf("%%F = %F <br>",$num1); // Floating-point number (not local settings aware)printf("%%g = %g <br>",$num1); // Shorter of %e and %fprintf("%%G = %G <br>",$num1); // Shorter of %E and %fprintf("%%o = %o <br>",$num1); // Octal numberprintf("%%s = %s <br>",$num1); // Stringprintf("%%x = %x <br>",$num1); // Hexadecimal number (lowercase)printf("%%X = %X <br>",$num1); // Hexadecimal number (uppercase)printf("%%+d = %+d <br>",$num1); // Sign specifier (positive)
printf("%%+d = %+d <br>",$num2); // Sign specifier (negative)?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
A demonstration of string specifiers: 

<?php$str1 = "Hello";$str2 = "Hello world!";printf("[%s]<br>",$str1);
printf("[%8s]<br>",$str1);printf("[%-8s]<br>",$str1);printf("[%08s]<br>",$str1); printf("[%'*8s]<br>",$str1);printf("[%8.8s]<br>",$str2);
 ?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Decode a quoted-printable string to an 8-bit ASCII string:

<?php
$str = "Hello=0Aworld.";
echo quoted_printable_decode($str);
?>
The browser output of the code above will be:

Hello world.

The HTML output of the code above will be (View Source):

Hello
world.
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The quoted_printable_decode() function decodes a quoted-printable string to an 8-bit ASCII string.
Tip: Data encoded in quoted-printable are unlikely to be modified by 
mail transport. A text which is entirely US-ASCII may be encoded in 
quoted-printable to ensure the integrity of the data should the message pass 
through a character-translating, or line-wrapping gateway.

Syntax

quoted_printable_decode(string)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the quoted-printable string to be decoded
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the 8-bit ASCII string

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Definition and Usage
The quoted_printable_encode() function converts an 8-bit string to a quoted-printable string.
Tip: Data encoded in quoted-printable are unlikely to be modified by 
mail transport. A text which is entirely US-ASCII may be encoded in 
quoted-printable to ensure the integrity of the data should the message pass 
through a character-translating, or line-wrapping gateway.

Syntax

quoted_printable_encode(string)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the 8-bit string to be converted
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the converted string

  
PHP Version:
  
5.3.0+

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Add backslashes in front of the predefined characters:

<?php
$str = "Hello world. (can you hear me?)";
echo quotemeta($str);
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The quotemeta() function adds backslashes in front of some predefined characters in a string.
The predefined characters are:
period (.)
backslash (\)
plus sign (+)
asterisk (*)
question mark (?)
brackets ([])
caret (^)
dollar sign ($)
parenthesis (())

Tip: This function can be used to escape characters with special 
meanings, such as ( ), [ ], and * in SQL.
Note: This function is binary-safe.

Syntax

quotemeta(string)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to check
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the string with meta characters quoted

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


More Examples

Example
Add backslashes in front of many predefined characters:

<?php$str1 = "1 + 1 = 2";$str2 = "1 * 1 = 1";$str3 = "Could you borrow me 5$?";$str4 = "Are you not entertained? (I am..)";$str5 = "The caret [ ^ ] Looks like a hat!";echo quotemeta($str1)."<br>";
echo quotemeta($str2)."<br>";echo quotemeta($str3)."<br>";echo quotemeta($str4)."<br>";echo quotemeta($str5)."<br>";?>

Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Remove characters from the right side of a string:

<?php
$str = "Hello World!";
 echo $str . "<br>";
echo rtrim($str,"World!");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The rtrim() function removes whitespace or other predefined characters from the right side of a string.
Related functions: 
ltrim() - Removes whitespace or other predefined characters from the left side of a string
trim() - Removes whitespace or other predefined characters from both sides of a string

Syntax

rtrim(string,charlist)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to check
  
charlist
Optional. Specifies which characters to remove from the string. If omitted, all of the following characters are removed:
    
"\0" - NULL
    
"\t" - tab
    
"\n" - new line
    
"\x0B" - vertical tab
    
"\r" - carriage return
    
" " - ordinary white space
 
  
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the modified string

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
The charlist parameter was added in PHP 4.1


More Examples

Example
Remove whitespaces from the right side of a string:

<?php
$str = "Hello World!    ";
echo "Without rtrim: " . $str;
echo "<br>";
echo "With rtrim: " . rtrim($str);
?>
The HTML output of the code above will be (View Source):

 <!DOCTYPE html><html>
<body>
Without rtrim: Hello World!    <br>With rtrim: Hello World!
</body>
</html>
The browser output of the code above will be:

Without rtrim: Hello World!
With rtrim: Hello World! 
Try it Yourself »

Example
Remove newlines (\n) from the right side of a string:

<?php
$str = "Hello World!\n\n\n";
echo "Without rtrim: " . $str;
echo "<br>";
echo "With rtrim: " . rtrim($str);
?>
The HTML output of the code above will be (View Source):

 <!DOCTYPE html><html>
<body>
Without rtrim: Hello World!
<br>With rtrim: Hello World!
</body>
</html>

The browser output of the code above will be:

Without rtrim: Hello World!
With rtrim: Hello World! 
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Set the locale to US English and then back to default again:

<?php
echo setlocale(LC_ALL,"US");
echo "<br>";
echo setlocale(LC_ALL,NULL);
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The setlocale() function sets locale information.
Locale information is language, monetary, time and other information specific for a geographical area.
Note: The setlocale() function changes the locale only for the current script.
Tip: The locale information can be set to system default with setlocale(LC_ALL,NULL)
Tip: To get numeric formatting information, see the
localeconv() function.

Syntax

setlocale(constant,location)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
constant
Required. Specifies what locale information should be set.
 Available constants:
 
    
LC_ALL - All of the below
    
LC_COLLATE -  Sort order
    
LC_CTYPE - Character classification and conversion (e.g. all  characters should be lower or upper-case)
    
LC_MESSAGES - System message formatting
    
LC_MONETARY - Monetary/currency formatting
    
LC_NUMERIC - Numeric formatting
    
LC_TIME - Date and time formatting
 
  
  
location
Required. Specifies what country/region to set the locale information to. Can be a string or an array. It is possible to pass multiple locations.If the location is NULL or the empty string ", the location names will be set from the values of environment variables with the same names as the constants above, or from "LANG".If the location is "0", the location setting is not affected, only the current setting is returned.If the location is an array, setlocale() will try each array element until it finds a valid language or region code. This is very useful if a region is known under different names on different systems.Note: To view all available language codes, go to our Language code reference.
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the current locale settings, or FALSE on failure. The return value depends on the system that PHP is running.

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
PHP 5.3.0 - If a string is passed to the constant parameter instead of one of the LC_ constants, this function throws an E_DREPRECATED notice.


PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Calculate the SHA-1 hash of the string "Hello":

<?php
$str = "Hello";
echo sha1($str);
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The sha1() function calculates the SHA-1 hash of a string.
The sha1() function uses the US Secure Hash Algorithm 1.
From RFC 3174 - The US Secure Hash Algorithm 1: "SHA-1 produces a 160-bit output called 
a message digest. The message digest can then, for example, be input to a 
signature algorithm which generates or verifies the signature for the message. 
Signing the message digest rather than the message often improves the efficiency 
of the process because the message digest is usually much smaller in size than 
the message. The same hash algorithm must be used by the verifier of a digital 
signature as was used by the creator of the digital signature."
Tip: To calculate the SHA-1 hash of a file, use the
sha1_file() function.

Syntax

sha1(string,raw)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. The string to be calculated
  
raw
Optional. Specify hex or binary output format:
    
TRUE - Raw 20 character binary format
    
FALSE - Default. 40 character hex number
 
   
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the calculated SHA-1 hash on success, or FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.3.0+


More Examples

Example
Print the result of sha1():

<?php $str = "Hello"; echo "The string: ".$str."<br>"; echo "TRUE - Raw 20 character binary format: ".sha1($str, TRUE)."<br>"; echo "FALSE - 40 character hex number: ".sha1($str)."<br>"; ?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
Print the result of sha1() and then test it: 

<?php$str = "Hello";echo sha1($str);if (sha1($str) == "f7ff9e8b7bb2e09b70935a5d785e0cc5d9d0abf0")  {  echo "<br>Hello world!";  exit;  }?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Calculate the SHA-1 hash of the text file "test.txt":

<?php
$filename = "test.txt";
$sha1file = sha1_file($filename);
echo $sha1file;
?>
The output of the code above will be:

aaf4c61ddcc5e8a2dabede0f3b482cd9aea9434d



Definition and Usage
The sha1_file() function calculates the SHA-1 hash of a file.
The sha1_file() function uses the US Secure Hash Algorithm 1.
From RFC 3174 - The US Secure Hash Algorithm 1: "SHA-1 produces a 160-bit output called 
a message digest. The message digest can then, for example, be input to a 
signature algorithm which generates or verifies the signature for the message. 
Signing the message digest rather than the message often improves the efficiency 
of the process because the message digest is usually much smaller in size than 
the message. The same hash algorithm must be used by the verifier of a digital 
signature as was used by the creator of the digital signature."
This function returns the calculated SHA-1 hash on success, or FALSE on failure.

Syntax

sha1_file(file,raw)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
file
Required. The file to be calculated
  
raw
Optional. A boolean value that specifies hex or binary output format:
    
TRUE - Raw 20 character binary format
    
FALSE - Default. 40 character hex number
 
   
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the calculated SHA-1 hash on success, or FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.3.0+

  
Changelog:
  
As of PHP 5.1, it is possible to use sha1_file() with wrappers, e.g. 
 sha1_file("https://w3schools.com/..")


More Examples

Example
Store the SHA-1 hash of "test.txt" in a file:

<?php
$sha1file = sha1_file("test.txt");
file_put_contents("sha1file.txt",$sha1file);
?>
Test if "test.txt" has been changed (that is if the SHA-1 hash has been changed):

<?php
$sha1file = file_get_contents("sha1file.txt");
if (sha1_file("test.txt") == $sha1file)
  {
  echo "The file is ok.";
  }
else
  {
  echo "The file has been changed.";
  }
?>
The output of the code above could be:

The file is ok.


PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Calculate the similarity between two strings and return the matching characters:

<?php
echo similar_text("Hello World","Hello Peter");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The similar_text() function calculates the similarity between two strings.
It can also calculate the similarity of the two strings in percent.
Note: The levenshtein() function is faster than the similar_text() 
function. However, the similar_text() function will give you a more accurate 
result with less modifications needed.

Syntax

similar_text(string1,string2,percent)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string1
Required. Specifies the first string to be compared
  
string2
Required. Specifies the second string to be compared
  
percent
Optional. Specifies a variable name for storing the similarity in percent
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the number of matching characters of two strings

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


More Examples

Example
Calculate the similarity between two strings in percent:

<?php
similar_text("Hello World","Hello Peter",$percent);
echo $percent;
?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Calculate the soundex key of "Hello":

<?php
$str = "Hello";
echo soundex($str);
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The soundex() function calculates the soundex key of a string.
A soundex key is a four character long alphanumeric string that represent English pronunciation of a word.
The soundex() function can be used for spelling applications.
Note: The soundex() function creates the same key for similar sounding words.
Tip: metaphone() is more accurate than soundex(), because metaphone() knows the basic rules of English pronunciation. 

Syntax

soundex(string)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to check
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the soundex key of the string on success, or FALSE on failure.

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


More Examples

Example
Using the soundex() function on two similar sounding words: 

<?php
$str = "Assistance";
$str2 = "Assistants";

echo soundex($str);
echo "<br>";
echo soundex($str2);
?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Replace the percent (%) sign by a variable passed as an argument:

<?php$number = 9;$str = "Beijing";$txt = sprintf("There are %u million bicycles in %s.",$number,$str);echo $txt;?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The sprintf() function writes a formatted string to a variable.
The arg1, arg2, ++ parameters will be inserted at percent (%) 
signs in the main string. This function works "step-by-step". At the first % sign, 
arg1 is inserted, at the second % sign, arg2 is inserted, etc.
Note: If there are more % signs than arguments, you must use 
placeholders. A placeholder is inserted after the % sign, and consists of the 
argument- number and "\$". See example two.
Tip: Related functions: printf(),
vprintf(),
vsprintf(),
fprintf() and
vfprintf()

Syntax

sprintf(format,arg1,arg2,arg++)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
format
Required. Specifies the string and how to format the variables in it.Possible format values:
%% - Returns a percent sign
%b - Binary number
%c - The character according to the ASCII value
%d - Signed decimal number (negative, zero or positive)
%e - Scientific notation using a lowercase (e.g. 1.2e+2)
%E - Scientific notation using a uppercase (e.g. 1.2E+2)
%u - Unsigned decimal number (equal to or greather than zero)
%f - Floating-point number (local settings aware)
%F - Floating-point number (not local settings aware)
%g - shorter of %e and %f
%G - shorter of %E and %f
%o - Octal number
%s - String
%x - Hexadecimal number (lowercase letters)
%X - Hexadecimal number (uppercase letters)

 Additional format values. These are placed between the % and the letter (example %.2f):
 
+ (Forces both + and - in front of numbers. By default, only negative numbers are marked)
    
' (Specifies what to use as padding. Default is space. Must be used  together with the width specifier.  Example: %'x20s (this uses "x" as padding)
    
- (Left-justifies the variable value)
    
[0-9] (Specifies the minimum width held of to the variable value)
    
.[0-9] (Specifies the number of decimal digits or maximum string length)
 
 Note: If multiple additional format values are used, they must be in the same order as above.
  
arg1
Required. The argument to be inserted at the first %-sign in the format string
  
arg2
Optional. The argument to be inserted at the second %-sign in the format string
  
arg++
Optional. The argument to be inserted at the third, fourth, etc. %-sign in the format string
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the formatted string

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


More Examples

Example
Using the format value %f:

<?php
$number = 123;
$txt = sprintf("%f",$number);
echo $txt;
?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
Use of placeholders: 

<?php
$number = 123;
$txt = sprintf("With 2 decimals: %1\$.2f
<br>With no decimals: %1\$u",$number);
echo $txt;
?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
A demonstration of all possible format values: 

 <?php$num1 = 123456789;$num2 = -123456789;$char = 50; // The ASCII Character 50 is 2// Note: The format value "%%" returns a percent signecho sprintf("%%b = %b",$num1)."<br>"; // Binary numberecho sprintf("%%c = %c",$char)."<br>"; // The ASCII Character
 echo sprintf("%%d = %d",$num1)."<br>"; // Signed decimal numberecho sprintf("%%d = %d",$num2)."<br>"; // Signed decimal numberecho sprintf("%%e = %e",$num1)."<br>"; // Scientific notation (lowercase)echo sprintf("%%E = %E",$num1)."<br>"; // Scientific notation (uppercase)echo sprintf("%%u = %u",$num1)."<br>"; // Unsigned decimal number (positive)
 echo sprintf("%%u = %u",$num2)."<br>"; // Unsigned decimal number (negative)
 echo sprintf("%%f = %f",$num1)."<br>"; // Floating-point number (local settings aware)echo sprintf("%%F = %F",$num1)."<br>"; // Floating-point number (not local sett aware)echo sprintf("%%g = %g",$num1)."<br>"; // Shorter of %e and %fecho sprintf("%%G = %G",$num1)."<br>"; // Shorter of %E and %fecho sprintf("%%o = %o",$num1)."<br>"; // Octal number
 echo sprintf("%%s = %s",$num1)."<br>"; // Stringecho sprintf("%%x = %x",$num1)."<br>"; // Hexadecimal number (lowercase)echo sprintf("%%X = %X",$num1)."<br>"; // Hexadecimal number (uppercase)echo sprintf("%%+d = %+d",$num1)."<br>"; // Sign specifier (positive)echo sprintf("%%+d = %+d",$num2)."<br>"; // Sign specifier (negative)?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
A demonstration of string specifiers: 

 <?php$str1 = "Hello";$str2 = "Hello world!";echo sprintf("[%s]",$str1)."<br>";
 echo sprintf("[%8s]",$str1)."<br>";echo sprintf("[%-8s]",$str1)."<br>";
 echo sprintf("[%08s]",$str1)."<br>"; 
 echo sprintf("[%'*8s]",$str1)."<br>";echo sprintf("[%8.8s]",$str2)."<br>"; ?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Parse a string:

<?php
$str = "age:30 weight:60kg";
sscanf($str,"age:%d weight:%dkg",$age,$weight);
// show types and values
var_dump($age,$weight);
?>
Try it Yourself »

The sscanf() function parses input from a string according to a specified format. 
The sscanf() function parses a string into variables based on the format string.
If only two parameters are passed to this function, the data will be returned 
as an array. Otherwise, if optional parameters are passed, the data parsed are 
stored in them. If there are more specifiers than variables to contain them, an 
error occurs. However, if there are less specifiers than variables, the extra variables contain NULL.
Related functions:
printf() - outputs a formatted string
sprintf() - writes a formatted string to a variable

Syntax

sscanf(string,format,arg1,arg2,arg++)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to read
  
format
Required. Specifies the format to use.Possible format values:
%% - Returns a percent sign
%c - The character according to the ASCII value
%d - Signed decimal number (negative, zero or positive)
%e - Scientific notation using a lowercase (e.g. 1.2e+2)
%u - Unsigned decimal number (equal to or greather than zero)
%f - Floating-point number
%o - Octal number
%s - String
%x - Hexadecimal number (lowercase letters)
%X - Hexadecimal number (uppercase letters)

 Additional format values. These are placed between the % and the letter (example %.2f):
 
+ (Forces both + and - in front of numbers. By default, only negative numbers are marked)
    
' (Specifies what to use as padding. Default is space. Must be used  together with the width specifier.  Example: %'x20s (this uses "x" as padding)
    
- (Left-justifies the variable value)
    
[0-9] (Specifies the minimum width held of to the variable value)
    
.[0-9] (Specifies the number of decimal digits or maximum string length)
 
 Note: If multiple additional format values are used, they must be in the same order as above.
  
arg1
Optional. The first variable to store data in
  
arg2
Optional. The second variable to store data in
  
arg++
Optional. The third, fourth, and so on, to store data in
  

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
If only two parameters are passed to this function, the data will be returned 
as an array. Otherwise, if optional parameters are passed, the data parsed are 
stored in them. If there are more specifiers than variables to contain them, an 
error occurs. However, if there are less specifiers than variables, the extra 
variables contain NULL.

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0.1+


More Examples

Example
Using the format values %s, %d and %c:

<?php$str = "If you divide 4 by 2 you'll get 2";$format = sscanf($str,"%s %s %s %d %s %d %s %s %c");print_r($format);?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Definition and Usage
The str_getcsv() function parses a string for fields in CSV format and 
returns an array containing the fields read.

Syntax

str_getcsv(string,separator,enclosure,escape)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to parse
   
separator
Optional. A character that specifies the field separator. Default is comma ( , )
 
enclosure
Optional. A character that specifies the field enclosure character. Default is "
 
escape
Optional. A character that specifies the escape character. Default is backslash (\)
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the CSV fields in an array

  
PHP Version:
  
5.3.0+


PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Replace the characters "WORLD" (case-insensitive) in the string "Hello world!" with "Peter":

<?php
echo str_ireplace("WORLD","Peter","Hello world!");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The str_ireplace() function replaces some characters with some other characters in a string.
This function works by the following rules:
If the string to be searched is an array, it returns an array
If the string to be searched is an array, find and replace is performed with every array element
If both find and replace are arrays, and replace has fewer elements than find, an empty string will be used as replace
If find is an array and replace is a string, the replace string will be used for every find value

Note: This function is case-insensitive. Use the
str_replace() function to perform a case-sensitive search.
Note: This function is binary-safe.

Syntax

str_ireplace(find,replace,string,count)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
find
Required. Specifies the value to find
  
replace
Required. Specifies the value to replace the value in 
 find
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to be searched
  
count
Optional. A variable that counts the number of replacements
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a string or an array with the replaced values

  
PHP Version:
  
5+

  
Changelog:
  
The count parameter was added in PHP 5.0


More Examples

Example
Using str_ireplace() with an array and a count variable:

<?php
$arr = array("blue","red","green","yellow");
print_r(str_ireplace("RED","pink",$arr,$i)); // This function is case-insensitive
echo "Replacements: $i";
?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
Using str_ireplace() with fewer elements in replace than find:

<?php
$find = array("HELLO","WORLD");
$replace = array("B");
$arr = array("Hello","world","!");
print_r(str_ireplace($find,$replace,$arr));
?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Pad to the right side of the string, to a new length of 20 characters: 

<?php
$str = "Hello World";
echo str_pad($str,20,".");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The str_pad() function pads a string to a new length.

Syntax

str_pad(string,length,pad_string,pad_type)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to pad
  
length
Required. Specifies the new string length. If this value is less than the original length of the string, nothing will be done
  
pad_string
Optional. Specifies the string to use for padding. Default is whitespace
  
pad_type
Optional. Specifies what side to pad the string.Possible values:
 
    
STR_PAD_BOTH - Pad to both sides of the string. If not an even  number, the right side gets the  extra padding
    
STR_PAD_LEFT - Pad to the left side of the string
    
STR_PAD_RIGHT - Pad to the right side of the string. This is default
 
   

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the padded string

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0.1+


More Examples

Example
Pad to the left side of the string:

<?php
$str = "Hello World";
echo str_pad($str,20,".",STR_PAD_LEFT);
?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
Pad to both sides of the string: 

<?php
$str = "Hello World";
echo str_pad($str,20,".:",STR_PAD_BOTH);
?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Repeat the string "Wow" 13 times:

<?php
echo str_repeat("Wow",13);
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The str_repeat() function repeats a string a specified number of times.

Syntax

str_repeat(string,repeat)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to repeat
  
repeat
Required. Specifies the number of times the string will be repeated. Must be greater or equal to 0
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the repeated string

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Replace the characters "world" in the string "Hello world!" with "Peter":

<?php
echo str_replace("world","Peter","Hello world!");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The str_replace() function replaces some characters with some other characters in a string.
This function works by the following rules:
If the string to be searched is an array, it returns an array
If the string to be searched is an array, find and replace is performed with every array element
If both find and replace are arrays, and replace has fewer elements than find, an empty string will be used as replace
If find is an array and replace is a string, the replace string will be used for every find value

Note: This function is case-sensitive. Use the str_ireplace() function to perform a 
case-insensitive search.
Note: This function is binary-safe.

Syntax

str_replace(find,replace,string,count)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
find
Required. Specifies the value to find
  
replace
Required. Specifies the value to replace the value in 
 find
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to be searched
  
count
Optional. A variable that counts the number of replacements
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a string or an array with the replaced values

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
The count parameter was added in PHP 5.0Before PHP 4.3.3, this function experienced trouble when using arrays as both find and replace parameters, which caused empty find indexes to be skipped without advancing the internal pointer on the replace array. Newer versions will not have this problem.As of PHP 4.0.5, most of the parameters can now be an array


More Examples

Example
Using str_replace() with an array and a count variable:

<?php
$arr = array("blue","red","green","yellow");
print_r(str_replace("red","pink",$arr,$i));
echo "Replacements: $i";
?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
Using str_replace() with fewer elements in replace than find:

<?php
$find = array("Hello","world");
$replace = array("B");
$arr = array("Hello","world","!");
print_r(str_replace($find,$replace,$arr));
?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Encode and decode a string: 

<?php
echo str_rot13("Hello World");
echo "<br>";
echo str_rot13("Uryyb Jbeyq");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The str_rot13() function performs the ROT13 encoding on a string.
The ROT13 encoding shifts every letter 13 places in the alphabet. Numeric 
and non-alphabetical characters remains untouched.
Tip: Encoding and decoding are done by the same function. If you pass 
an encoded string as argument, the original string will be returned.

Syntax

str_rot13(string)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to encode
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the ROT13 version of the encoded string

  
PHP Version:
  
4.2.0+


PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Randomly shuffle all characters of a string:

<?php
echo str_shuffle("Hello World");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The str_shuffle() function randomly shuffles all the characters of a string.

Syntax

str_shuffle(string)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to shuffle
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the shuffled string 

  
PHP Version:
  
4.3.0+

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Split the string "Hello" into an array:

<?php
print_r(str_split("Hello"));
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The str_split() function splits a string into an array.

Syntax

str_split(string,length)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to split
  
length
Optional. Specifies the length of each array element. Default is 1
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
If length is less than 1, the str_split() function will return 
FALSE.  If length is larger than the length of string, the entire string will 
be returned as the only element of the array.

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


More Examples

Example
Using the length parameter: 

<?php
print_r(str_split("Hello",3));
?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Count the number of words found in the string "Hello World!":

<?php
echo str_word_count("Hello world!");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The str_word_count() function counts the number of words in a string.

Syntax

str_word_count(string,return,char)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to check
  
return
Optional. Specifies the return value of the str_word_count() function.Possible values:
 
    
0 - Default. Returns the number of words found
    
1 - Returns an array with the words from the string
    
2 - Returns an array where the key is the position of the word in  the string, and value is the actual word
 
  
  
char
Optional. Specifies special characters to be considered as words.
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a number or an array, depending on the chosen 
 return parameter

  
PHP Version:
  
4.3.0+

  
Changelog:
  
The char parameter was added in PHP 5.1


More Examples

Example
Return an array with the words from the string:

<?php
print_r(str_word_count("Hello world!",1));
?>

Try it Yourself »

Example
Return an array where the key is the position of the word in the string, and 
value is the actual word:

<?php
print_r(str_word_count("Hello world!",2));
?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
Without and with the char parameter:

<?php
print_r(str_word_count("Hello world & good morning!",1));
print_r(str_word_count("Hello world & good morning!",1,"&"));
?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Compare two strings (case-insensitive):

<?php
echo strcasecmp("Hello world!","HELLO WORLD!");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The strcasecmp() function compares two strings.
Tip: The strcasecmp() function is binary-safe and case-insensitive.
Tip: This function is similar to the
strncasecmp() function, with the 
difference that you can specify the number of characters from each string to be 
used in the comparison with strncasecmp(). 

Syntax

strcasecmp(string1,string2)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string1
Required. Specifies the first string to compare
  
string2
Required. Specifies the second string to compare
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
This function returns:
0 - if the two strings are equal
<0 - if string1 is less than string2
>0 - if string1 is greater than string2
 


  
PHP Version:
  
4+


More Examples

Example
Compare two strings (case-insensitive = HELLO and hELLo will output the same):

<?php
echo strcasecmp("Hello","HELLO");echo "<br>";echo strcasecmp("Hello","hELLo");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
Different return values:

<?php
 echo strcasecmp("Hello world!","HELLO WORLD!"); // The two strings are equal
 echo strcasecmp("Hello world!","HELLO"); // String1 is greater than string2
 echo strcasecmp("Hello world!","HELLO WORLD! HELLO!"); // String1 is less than string2 
?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Find the first occurrence of "world" inside "Hello world!" and return the 
rest of the string:

<?php
echo strchr("Hello world!","world");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The strchr() function searches for the first occurrence of a string inside another string.
This function is an alias of the strstr() function.
Note: This function is binary-safe.
Note: This function is case-sensitive. For a case-insensitive search, 
use stristr() function.

Syntax

strchr(string,search,before_search);

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to search
  
search
Required. Specifies the string to search for. If this parameter is a number, it will search for the character matching the ASCII value of the number
  
before_search
Optional. A boolean value whose default is "false". If set to "true", it returns the part of the string before the first occurrence of the 
 search parameter.
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the rest of the string (from the matching point), or FALSE, if the string to search for is not found.

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
The before_search parameter was added in PHP 5.3


More Examples

Example
Search a string for the ASCII value of "o" and return the rest of the string:

<?php
echo strchr("Hello world!",111);
?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
Return the part of the string before the first occurence of "world":

<?php
echo strchr("Hello world!","world",true);
?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Compare two strings (case-sensitive):

<?php
echo strcmp("Hello world!","Hello world!");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The strcmp() function compares two strings.
Note: The strcmp() function is binary-safe and case-sensitive.
Tip: This function is similar to the
strncmp() function, with the difference 
that you can specify the number of characters from each string to be used in the comparison with strncmp().

Syntax

strcmp(string1,string2)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string1
Required. Specifies the first string to compare
  
string2
Required. Specifies the second string to compare
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
This function returns:
0 - if the two strings are equal
<0 - if string1 is less than string2
>0 - if string1 is greater than string2
 


  
PHP Version:
  
4+


More Examples

Example
Compare two strings (case-sensitive = Hello and hELLo will not output the same):

<?phpecho strcmp("Hello","Hello");echo "<br>";echo strcmp("Hello","hELLo");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
Different return values:

<?php
 echo strcmp("Hello world!","Hello world!"); // the two strings are equal
 echo strcmp("Hello world!","Hello"); // string1 is greater than string2
 echo strcmp("Hello world!","Hello world! Hello!"); // string1 is less than string2 
?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Compare strings:

<?php
setlocale (LC_COLLATE, 'NL');
echo strcoll("Hello World!","Hello World!");
echo "<br>";

setlocale (LC_COLLATE, 'en_US');
echo strcoll("Hello World!","Hello World!");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The strcoll() function compares two strings.
The comparison of the strings may vary depending on the locale settings (A<a or A>a).
Note: The strcoll() is case-sensitive but not binary-safe.
Note: If the current locale is C or POSIX, this function works the same way as strcmp().

Syntax

strcoll(string1,string2)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string1
Required. Specifies the first string to compare
  
string2
Required. Specifies the second string to compare
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 

This function returns:
0 - if the two strings are equal
<0 - if string1 is less than string2
>0 - if string1 is greater than string2

  

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0.5+


PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Print the number of characters found in "Hello world!" before the character 
"w":

<?php
echo strcspn("Hello world!","w");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The strcspn() function returns the number of characters (including whitespaces) found in a string 
before any part of the specified characters are found.
Tip: Use the strspn() 
function to the number of characters found in the string that contains only 
characters from a specified character list.
Note: This function is binary-safe.

Syntax

strcspn(string,char,start,length)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to search
  
char
Required. Specifies the characters to search for
  
start
Optional. Specifies where in string to start
  
length
Optional. Specifies the length of the string (how much of the string to search)
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the number of characters found in a string before any part of the specified characters are found

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
The start and length parameters were added in PHP 4.3


More Examples

Example
Using all parameters to print the number of characters found in "Hello 
world!" before the character "w":

<?php
echo strcspn("Hello world!","w",0,6); // The start position is 0 and the length of the search string is 6.
?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Strip the string from HTML tags:

<?php
echo strip_tags("Hello <b>world!</b>");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The strip_tags() function strips a string from HTML, XML, and PHP tags.
Note: HTML comments are always stripped. This cannot be changed with the allow parameter.
Note: This function is binary-safe.

Syntax

strip_tags(string,allow)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to check
  
allow
Optional. Specifies allowable tags. These tags will not be removed
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the stripped string

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
As of PHP 5.3.4, this function ignores self-closing XHTML tags (like <br 
  />) in allow parameterAs of PHP 5.0, this function is binary-safe.As of PHP 4.3, HTML comments are always stripped.


More Examples

Example
Strip the string from HTML tags, but allow <b> tags to be used:

<?php
echo strip_tags("Hello <b><i>world!</i></b>","<b>");
?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Remove the backslash in front of "World!":

<?php
echo stripcslashes("Hello \World!");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The stripcslashes() function removes backslashes added by the addcslashes() function.
Tip: This function can be used to clean up data retrieved from a database or from an HTML form.

Syntax

stripcslashes(string)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to check
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the unescaped string

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Remove the backslash:

<?php
echo stripslashes("Who\'s Peter Griffin?");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The stripslashes() function removes backslashes added by the addslashes() 
function.
Tip: This function can be used to clean up data retrieved from a database or from an HTML form.

Syntax

stripslashes(string)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to check
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a string with backslashes stripped off

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Find the position of the first occurrence of "php" inside the 
string:

<?php
echo stripos("I love php, I love php too!","PHP");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The stripos() function finds the position of the first occurrence of a string inside another string.
Note: The stripos() function is case-insensitive.
Note: This function is binary-safe.
Related functions:
strripos() - Finds the position of the last occurrence of a string inside another string (case-insensitive)
strpos() - Finds the position of the first occurrence of a string inside another string (case-sensitive)
strrpos() - Finds the position of the last occurrence of a string inside another string (case-sensitive)

Syntax

stripos(string,find,start)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to search
  
find
Required. Specifies the string to find
  
start
Optional. Specifies where to begin the search
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the position of the first occurrence of a string inside another string, or FALSE if the string is not found. Note: String positions start at 0, and not 1.

  
PHP Version:
  
5+

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Find the first occurrence of "world" inside "Hello world!", and return the 
rest of the string:

<?php
echo stristr("Hello world!","WORLD");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The stristr() function searches for the first occurrence of a string inside another string.
Note: This function is binary-safe.
Note: This function is case-insensitive. For a case-sensitive search, 
use strstr() function.

Syntax

stristr(string,search,before_search)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to search
  
search
Required. Specifies the string to search for. If this parameter is a number, it will search for the character matching the ASCII value of the number
  
before_search
Optional. A boolean value whose default is "false". If set to "true", it returns the part of the string before the first occurrence of the 
 search parameter.
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the rest of the string (from the matching point), or FALSE, if the string to search for is not found.

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
The before_search parameter was added in PHP 5.3.This function was made binary-safe in PHP 4.3


More Examples

Example
Search a string for the ASCII value of "o", and return the rest of the string:

<?php
echo stristr("Hello world!",111);
?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
Return the part of the string before the first occurence of "world":

<?php
echo stristr("Hello world!","WORLD",true);
?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Return the length of the string "Hello":

<?phpecho strlen("Hello");?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The strlen() function returns the length of a string.

Syntax

strlen(string)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to check

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the length of a string (in bytes) on success, and 0 if the string is empty

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


More Examples

Example
Return the length of the string "Hello World":

<?php
echo strlen("Hello world!");
?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Compare two strings using a "natural" algorithm (case-insensitive):

<?php
echo strnatcasecmp("2Hello world!","10Hello WORLD!");
echo "<br>";
echo strnatcasecmp("10Hello world!","2Hello WORLD!");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The strnatcasecmp() function compares two strings using a "natural" algorithm.
In a natural algorithm, the number 2 is less than the number 10. In  
computer sorting, 10 is less than 2, because the first number in "10" is less than 2.
Note: The strnatcasecmp() is case-insensitive.

Syntax

strnatcasecmp(string1,string2)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string1
Required. Specifies the first string to compare
  
string2
Required. Specifies the second string to compare
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
This function returns:
0 - if the two strings are equal
<0 - if string1 is less than string2
>0 - if string1 is greater than string2
 


  
PHP Version:
  
4+


More Examples

Example
Difference between natural algorithm (strnatcmp) and regular computer string sorting algorithms (strcmp):

<?php$arr1 = $arr2 = array("pic1","pic2","pic10","pic01","pic100","pic20","pic30","pic200");
 echo "Standard string comparison"."<br>";usort($arr1,"strcmp");
 print_r($arr1);echo "<br>";echo "Natural order string comparison"."<br>";usort($arr2,"strnatcmp");print_r($arr2);
?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Compare two strings using a "natural" algorithm (case-sensitive):

<?php
echo strnatcmp("2Hello world!","10Hello world!");
echo "<br>";
echo strnatcmp("10Hello world!","2Hello world!");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The strnatcmp() function compares two strings using a "natural" algorithm.
In a natural algorithm, the number 2 is less than the number 10. In  
computer sorting, 10 is less than 2, because the first number in "10" is less than 2.
Note: This function is case-sensitive.

Syntax

strnatcmp(string1,string2)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string1
Required. Specifies the first string to compare
  
string2
Required. Specifies the second string to compare
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
This function returns:
0 - if the two strings are equal
<0 - if string1 is less than string2
>0 - if string1 is greater than string2
 


  
PHP Version:
  
4+


More Examples

Example
Difference between natural algorithm (strnatcmp) and regular computer string sorting algorithms (strcmp):

<?php$arr1 = $arr2 = array("pic1","pic2","pic10","pic01","pic100","pic20","pic30","pic200");
 echo "Standard string comparison"."<br>";usort($arr1,"strcmp");
 print_r($arr1);echo "<br>";echo "Natural order string comparison"."<br>";usort($arr2,"strnatcmp");print_r($arr2);
?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Compare two strings (case-insensitive):

<?php
echo strncasecmp("Hello world!","hello earth!",6);
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The strncasecmp() function compares two strings.
Note: The strncasecmp() is binary-safe and case-insensitive.
Tip: This function is similar to the
strcasecmp() function, except that 
strcasecmp() does not have the length parameter. 

Syntax

strncasecmp(string1,string2,length)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string1
Required. Specifies the first string to compare
  
string2
Required. Specifies the second string to compare
  
length
Required. Specify the number of characters from each string to be used in the comparison
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
This function returns:
0 - if the two strings are equal
<0 - if string1 is less than string2
>0 - if string1 is greater than string2
 


  
PHP Version:
  
4.0.2+


More Examples

Example
Compare two strings (case-insensitive = Hello and hELLo will output the same):

<?phpecho strncasecmp("Hello","Hello",6);echo "<br>";echo strncasecmp("Hello","hELLo",6);
?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Compare two strings (case-sensitive):

<?php
echo strncmp("Hello world!","Hello earth!",6);
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The strncmp() function compares two strings.
Note: The strncmp() is binary-safe and case-sensitive.
Tip: This function is similar to the
strcmp() function, except that strcmp() does not have the length parameter. 

Syntax

strncmp(string1,string2,length)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string1
Required. Specifies the first string to compare
  
string2
Required. Specifies the second string to compare
  
length
Required. Specify the number of characters from each string to be used in the comparison
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
This function returns:
0 - if the two strings are equal
<0 - if string1 is less than string2
>0 - if string1 is greater than string2
 


  
PHP Version:
  
4+


More Examples

Example
Compare two strings (case-sensitive = Hello and hELLo will not output the same):

<?phpecho strncmp("Hello","Hello",6);echo "<br>";echo strncmp("Hello","hELLo",6);
?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Search a string for the characters "oe", and return the rest of the string 
from where it found the first occurrence of the specified characters:

<?php
echo strpbrk("Hello world!","oe");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The strpbrk() function searches a string for any of the specified characters.
Note: This function is case-sensitive.
This function returns the rest of the string from where it found the first 
occurrence of a specified character, otherwise it returns FALSE.

Syntax

strpbrk(string,charlist)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to search
  
charlist
Required. Specifies the characters to find
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the string starting from the character found, otherwise it returns FALSE

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


More Examples

Example
This function is case-sensitive ("W" and "w" will not output the same):

<?php
 echo strpbrk("Hello world!","W");echo "<br>";echo strpbrk("Hello world!","w");
?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Find the position of the first occurrence of "php" inside the 
string:

<?php
echo strpos("I love php, I love php too!","php");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The strpos() function finds the position of the first occurrence of a string inside another string.
Note: The strpos() function is case-sensitive.
Note: This function is binary-safe.
Related functions:
strrpos() - Finds the position of the last occurrence of a string inside another string (case-sensitive)
stripos() - Finds the position of the first occurrence of a string inside another string (case-insensitive)
strripos() - Finds the position of the last occurrence of a string inside another string (case-insensitive)

Syntax

strpos(string,find,start)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to search
  
find
Required. Specifies the string to find
  
start
Optional. Specifies where to begin the search. If start is a 
    negative number, it counts from the end of the string. 
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the position of the first occurrence of a string inside another string, or FALSE if the string is not found. Note: String positions start at 0, and not 1.

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
PHP 7.1.0 - The start parameter can be a negative number

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Search a string for "world", and return all characters from this position to the end of the string:

<?php
echo strrchr("Hello world!","world");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The strrchr() function finds the position of the last occurrence of a string 
within another string, and returns all characters from this position to the end of the string.
Note: This function is binary-safe.

Syntax

strrchr(string,char)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to search
  
char
Required. Specifies the string to find. If this is a number, it will search for the character matching the ASCII value of that number
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns all characters from the last occurrence of a string within another string, to the end of the main string, or FALSE if the character is not found

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
This function was made binary-safe in PHP 4.3



More Examples

Example
Search a string for "What", and return all characters from this position to the 
end of the string:

<?php
echo strrchr("Hello world! What a beautiful day!", "What");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
Search a string for the ASCII value of "e" (101) and return all 
characters from this position to the end of the string: 

<?php
echo strrchr("Hello world!",101);
?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Reverse the string "Hello World!":

<?php
echo strrev("Hello World!");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The strrev() function reverses a string.

Syntax

strrev(string)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to reverse
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the reversed string

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Find the position of the last occurrence of "php" inside the 
string:

<?php
echo strripos("I love php, I love php too!","PHP");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The strripos() function finds the position of the last occurrence of a string inside another string.
Note: The strripos() function is case-insensitive.
Related functions:
stripos() - Finds the position of the first occurrence of a string inside another string (case-insensitive)
strpos() - Finds the position of the first occurrence of a string inside another string (case-sensitive)
strrpos() - Finds the position of the last occurrence of a string inside another string (case-sensitive)

Syntax

strripos(string,find,start)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to search
  
find
Required. Specifies the string to find
  
start
Optional. Specifies where to begin the search
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the position of the last occurrence of a string inside another string, or FALSE if the string is not found. Note: String positions start at 0, and not 1.

  
PHP Version:
  
5+

  
Changelog:
  
As of PHP 5.0, the find parameter may now be a string of more than one character.The start parameter was added in PHP 5.0


PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Find the position of the last occurrence of "php" inside the 
string:

<?php
echo strrpos("I love php, I love php too!","php");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The strrpos() function finds the position of the last occurrence of a string inside another string.
Note: The strrpos() function is case-sensitive.
Related functions:
strpos() - Finds the position of the first occurrence of a string inside another string (case-sensitive)
stripos() - Finds the position of the first occurrence of a string inside another string (case-insensitive)
strripos() - Finds the position of the last occurrence of a string inside another string (case-insensitive)

Syntax

strrpos(string,find,start)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to search
  
find
Required. Specifies the string to find
  
start
Optional. Specifies where to begin the search
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the position of the last occurrence of a string inside another string, or FALSE if the string is not found. Note: String positions start at 0, and not 1.

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
As of PHP 5.0, the find parameter may now be a string of more than one characterThe start parameter was added in PHP 5.0


PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Return the number of characters found in the string "Hello world!" that 
contains the characters "kHlleo":

<?php
echo strspn("Hello world!","kHlleo");
?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The strspn() function returns the number of characters found in the string 
that contains only characters from the charlist parameter.
Tip: Use the strcspn() 
function to return the number of characters found in a string before any part of 
the specified characters are found.
Note: This function is binary-safe.

Syntax

strspn(string,charlist,start,length)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to search
  
charlist
Required. Specifies the characters to find
  
start
Optional. Specifies where in the string to start
  
length
Optional. Defines the length of the string
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the number of characters found in the string that contains only characters from the charlist parameter.

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
The start and length parameters were added in PHP 4.3.


More Examples

Example
Return the number of characters found in the string "abcdefand" that 
contains the characters "abc":

<?php
echo strspn("abcdefand","abc");
?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Find the first occurrence of "world" inside "Hello world!" and return the 
rest of the string:

<?php
echo strstr("Hello world!","world");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The strstr() function searches for the first occurrence of a string inside another string.
Note: This function is binary-safe.
Note: This function is case-sensitive. For a case-insensitive search, 
use stristr() function.

Syntax

strstr(string,search,before_search)

Parameter Values

  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to search
  
search
Required. Specifies the string to search for. If this parameter is a number, it will search for the character matching the ASCII value of the number
  
before_search
Optional. A boolean value whose default is "false". If set to "true", it returns the part of the string before the first occurrence of the 
 search parameter.
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the rest of the string (from the matching point), or FALSE, if the string to search for is not found.

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
The before_search parameter was added in PHP 5.3


More Examples

Example
Search a string for the ASCII value of "o" and return the rest of the string:

<?php
echo strstr("Hello world!",111);
?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
Return the part of the string before the first occurence of "world":

<?php
echo strstr("Hello world!","world",true);
?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Split string one by one:
In the example below, note that it is only the first call to strtok() that uses the string argument. 
After the first call, this function only needs the split argument, as it keeps track of 
where it is in the current string. To tokenize a new string, call strtok() with the string argument again:

<?php$string = "Hello world. Beautiful day today.";$token = strtok($string, " ");while ($token !== false){echo "$token<br>";
 $token = strtok(" ");}
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The strtok() function splits a string into smaller strings (tokens).

Syntax

strtok(string,split)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to split
  
split
Required. Specifies one or more split characters
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns a string token

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Convert all characters to lowercase: 

<?php
echo strtolower("Hello WORLD.");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The strtolower() function converts a string to lowercase.
Note: This function is binary-safe.
Related functions:
strtoupper() - converts a string to uppercase
lcfirst() - converts the first character of a string to lowercase
ucfirst() - converts the first character of a string to uppercase
ucwords() - converts the first character of each word in a string to uppercase 

Syntax

strtolower(string)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to convert
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the the lowercased string

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Convert all characters to uppercase:

<?php
echo strtoupper("Hello WORLD!");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The strtoupper() function converts a string to uppercase.
Note: This function is binary-safe.
Related functions:
strtolower() - converts a string to lowercase
lcfirst() - converts the first character of a string to lowercase
ucfirst() - converts the first character of a string to uppercase
ucwords() - converts the first character of each word in a string to uppercase 

Syntax

strtoupper(string)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to convert

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the the uppercased string

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Replace the characters "ia" in the string with "eo":

<?php
echo strtr("Hilla Warld","ia","eo");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The strtr() function translates certain characters in a string.
Note: If the from and to parameters are different in length, both will be formatted to 
the length of the shortest.

Syntax

strtr(string,from,to)

or

strtr(string,array)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to translate
  
from
Required (unless array is used). Specifies what characters to change
  
to
Required (unless array is used). Specifies what characters to change into
  
array
Required (unless to and from is used). An array containing what to change from as key, and what to change to as value
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the translated string. If the array parameter contains a key which is an empty string ("), it will return FALSE.

  
PHP Version:
  
4+


More Examples

Example
Replace the string "Hello world" with "Hi earth":

<?php
$arr = array("Hello" => "Hi", "world" => "earth");
echo strtr("Hello world",$arr);
?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Return "world" from the string: 

<?php
echo substr("Hello world",6);
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The substr() function returns a part of a string.

Syntax

substr(string,start,length)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to return a part of
  
start
Required. Specifies where to start in the string
    
A positive number - Start at a specified position in the string
    
A negative number - Start at a specified position from the end of the string
    
0 - Start at the first character in string
 
    
  
length
Optional. Specifies the length of the returned string. Default is to the end of the string.
    
A positive number - The length to be returned from the start  parameter
    
Negative number - The length to be returned from the end  of the string
      
If the length parameter is 0, NULL, or FALSE - it return an 
      empty string 
 
  
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the extracted part of a string, or FALSE on failure, or an empty string

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
PHP 7.0 - If string = start (in characters long), it 
  will return an empty string. Earlier versions returns FALSE.PHP 5.2.2 - 5.2.6 
  - If start has the position of a negative truncation, FALSE is returned. Other versions get the string from start.


More Examples

Example
Using the start parameter with different positive and negative numbers:

<?phpecho substr("Hello world",10)."<br>";echo substr("Hello world",1)."<br>";echo substr("Hello world",3)."<br>";echo substr("Hello world",7)."<br>";echo substr("Hello world",-1)."<br>";echo substr("Hello world",-10)."<br>";echo substr("Hello world",-8)."<br>";
 echo substr("Hello world",-4)."<br>";?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
Using the start and length parameters with different positive and negative numbers:

<?phpecho substr("Hello world",0,10)."<br>";echo substr("Hello world",1,8)."<br>";echo substr("Hello world",0,5)."<br>";echo substr("Hello world",6,6)."<br>";echo substr("Hello world",0,-1)."<br>";echo substr("Hello world",-10,-2)."<br>";echo substr("Hello world",0,-6)."<br>";?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Compare two strings:

<?php
echo substr_compare("Hello world","Hello world",0);
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The substr_compare() function compares two strings from a specified start position.
Tip: This function is binary-safe and optionally case-sensitive.

Syntax

substr_compare(string1,string2,startpos,length,case)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string1
Required. Specifies the first string to compare
  
string2
Required. Specifies the second string to compare
  
startpos
Required. Specifies where to start comparing in string1. If negative, it starts counting from the end of the string
  
length
Optional. Specifies how much of string1 to compare
  
case
Optional. A boolean value that specifies whether or not to perform a case-sensitive compare:
 
    
FALSE - Default. Case-sensitive
    
TRUE - Case-insensitive
 
   
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
This function returns:
0 - if the two strings are equal
<0 - if string1 (from startpos) is less than string2
>0 - if string1 (from startpos) is greater than string2
If length is equal or greater than length of string1, this function returns FALSE. 


  
PHP Version:
  
5+

  
Changelog:
  
As of PHP 5.5.11 - The length parameter can be 0.As of PHP 5.1, it is now possible to use a negative startpos.


More Examples

Example
Compare two strings, when start position in string1 for the comparison is 6th:

<?php
echo substr_compare("Hello world","world",6);
?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
Using all parameters:

 <?phpecho substr_compare("world","or",1,2); echo substr_compare("world","ld",-2,2);
 echo substr_compare("world","orl",1,2); echo substr_compare("world","OR",1,2,TRUE);
 echo substr_compare("world","or",1,3); echo substr_compare("world","rl",1,2);
?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
Different return values:

 <?phpecho substr_compare("Hello world!","Hello world!",0); // the two strings are equalecho substr_compare("Hello world!","Hello",0); // string1 is greater than string2echo substr_compare("Hello world!","Hello world! Hello!",0); // str1 is less than str2
?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Count the number of times "world" occurs in the string:

<?php
echo substr_count("Hello world. The world is nice","world");
?>
Try it Yourself »

The substr_count() function counts the number of times a substring occurs in a string.
Note: The substring is case-sensitive.
Note: This function does not count overlapped substrings (see example 2).
Note: This function generates a warning if the start 
parameter plus the length parameter is greater than the string length (see example 3).

Syntax

substr_count(string,substring,start,length)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to check
  
substring
Required. Specifies the string to search for 
  
start
Optional. Specifies where in string to start searching. If negative, it 
    starts counting from the end of the string
  
length
Optional. Specifies the length of the search
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the  the number of times the substring occurs in the string

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
PHP 7.1 - The length parameters can be 0 or a negative number.
  PHP 7.1 - The start parameters can be a negative number.PHP 5.1 - The start and length 
  parameters were added.


More Examples

Example
Using all parameters:

<?php
 $str = "This is nice";echo strlen($str)."<br>"; // Using strlen() to return the string lengthecho substr_count($str,"is")."<br>"; // The number of times "is" occurs in the stringecho substr_count($str,"is",2)."<br>"; // The string is now reduced to "is is nice"echo substr_count($str,"is",3)."<br>"; // The string is now reduced to "s is nice"echo substr_count($str,"is",3,3)."<br>"; // The string is now reduced to "s i"
?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
Overlapped substrings:

<?php
 $str = "abcabcab"; echo substr_count($str,"abcab"); // This function does not count overlapped substrings
?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
If the start and length parameters exceeds the string length, this function 
will output a warning: 

<?php
 echo $str = "This is nice";substr_count($str,"is",3,9);
?>

This will output a warning because the length value exceeds the string length (3+9 is greater than 12)

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Replace "Hello" with "world":

<?php
echo substr_replace("Hello","world",0);
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The substr_replace() function replaces a part of a string with another string.
Note: If the start parameter is a negative number and length is less than or equal to start, length becomes 0.
Note: This function is binary-safe.

Syntax

substr_replace(string,replacement,start,length)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to check
  
replacement
Required. Specifies the string to insert
  
start
Required. Specifies where to start replacing in the string
    
A positive number - Start replacing at the specified position in the string
    
Negative number - Start replacing at the specified position from the end of the string
    
0 - Start replacing at the first character in the string
 
    
  
length
Optional. Specifies how many characters should be replaced. Default is the same length as the string.
    
A positive number - The length of string to be replaced
    
A negative number - How many characters should be left at end of string  after replacing
    
0 - Insert instead of replace
 
  
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the replaced string. If the string is an array then the array is returned

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
As of PHP 4.3.3, all parameters now accept arrays

More Examples

Example
Start replacing at the 6th position in the string (replace "world" with 
"earth"):

<?php
echo substr_replace("Hello world","earth",6);
?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
Start replacing at the 5th position from the end of the string (replace "world" with "earth"):

<?php
echo substr_replace("Hello world","earth",-5);
?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
Insert "Hello" at the beginning of "world":

<?php
echo substr_replace("world","Hello ",0,0);
?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
Replace multiple strings at once. Replace "AAA" in each string with "BBB":

<?php$replace = array("1: AAA","2: AAA","3: AAA");echo implode("<br>",substr_replace($replace,'BBB',3,3));
 ?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Remove characters from both sides of a string ("He" in "Hello" and "d!" in 
"World"):

<?php
$str = "Hello World!";
 echo $str . "<br>";
echo trim($str,"Hed!");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The trim() function removes whitespace and other predefined characters from both sides of a string.
Related functions: 
ltrim() - Removes whitespace or other predefined characters from the left side of a string
rtrim() - Removes whitespace or other predefined characters from the right side of a string

Syntax

trim(string,charlist)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to check
  
charlist
Optional. Specifies which characters to remove from the string. If omitted, all of the following characters are removed:
    
"\0" - NULL
    
"\t" - tab
    
"\n" - new line
    
"\x0B" - vertical tab
    
"\r" - carriage return
    
" " - ordinary white space
 
  
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the modified string

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
The charlist parameter was added in PHP 4.1


More Examples

Example
Remove whitespaces from both sides of a string:

<?php
$str = "    Hello World!    ";
echo "Without trim: " . $str;
echo "<br>";
echo "With trim: " . trim($str);
?>
The HTML output of the code above will be (View Source):

 <!DOCTYPE html><html>
<body>
Without trim:  Hello World! <br>With trim: Hello World!
</body>
</html>
The browser output of the code above will be:

Without trim: Hello World!
With trim: Hello World!

Try it Yourself »

Example
Remove newlines (\n) from both sides of the string:

<?php
$str = "\n\n\nHello World!\n\n\n";
echo "Without trim: " . $str;
echo "<br>";
echo "With trim: " . trim($str);
?>
The HTML output of the code above will be (View Source):

 <!DOCTYPE html><html>
<body>
Without trim:
Hello World!
<br>With trim: Hello World!
</body>
</html>
The browser output of the code above will be:

Without trim: Hello World!
With trim: Hello World!

Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Convert the first character of "hello" to uppercase: 

<?phpecho ucfirst("hello world!");?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The ucfirst() function converts the first character of a string to uppercase.
Related functions:
lcfirst() - converts the first character of a string to lowercase
ucwords() - converts the first character of each word in a string to uppercase
strtoupper() - converts a string to uppercase
strtolower() - converts a string to lowercase

Syntax

ucfirst(string)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to convert

Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the converted string

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Convert the first character of each word to uppercase: 

<?php
echo ucwords("hello world");
?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The ucwords() function converts the first character of each word in a string to uppercase.
Note: This function is binary-safe.
Related functions:
ucfirst() - converts the first character of a string to uppercase
lcfirst() - converts the first character of a string to lowercase
strtoupper() - converts a string to uppercase
strtolower() - converts a string to lowercase

Syntax

ucwords(string, delimiters)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to convert
  
delimiters
Optional. Specifies the word separator character
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the converted string

  
PHP Version:
  
4+

  
Changelog:
  
PHP 5.4 - Added the delimiters parameter

More Examples

Example
Convert the first character of each word to uppercase, with a custom word 
separator added: 

<?php
echo ucwords("hello|world", "|");
?>

Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Write some text to a text file named "test.txt":

 <?php$number = 9;$str = "Beijing";$file = fopen("test.txt","w");
 echo vfprintf($file,"There are %u million bicycles in %s.",array($number,$str));
 ?>
The output of the code above will be:

 40

The following text will be written to the file "test.txt":

There are 9 million bicycles in Beijing.


Definition and Usage
The vfprintf() function writes a formatted string to a 
specified output stream (example: file or database).
Unlike fprintf(), the arguments in vfprintf(), are placed in an array. The 
array elements will be inserted at the percent (%) 
signs in the main string. This function works "step-by-step". At the first % sign, 
the first array element is inserted, at the second % sign, the second array element is inserted, etc.
Note: If there are more % signs than arguments, you must use 
placeholders. A placeholder is inserted after the % sign, and consists of the 
argument- number and "\$". See example two.
Tip: Related functions: fprintf(), 
printf(), 
sprintf(), vprintf() and
vsprintf().

Syntax

vfprintf(stream,format,argarray)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
stream
Required. Specifies where to write/output the string
  
format
Required. Specifies the string and how to format the variables in it.Possible format values:
%% - Returns a percent sign
%b - Binary number
%c - The character according to the ASCII value
%d - Signed decimal number (negative, zero or positive)
%e - Scientific notation using a lowercase (e.g. 1.2e+2)
%E - Scientific notation using a uppercase (e.g. 1.2E+2)
%u - Unsigned decimal number (equal to or greather than zero)
%f - Floating-point number (local settings aware)
%F - Floating-point number (not local settings aware)
%g - shorter of %e and %f
%G - shorter of %E and %f
%o - Octal number
%s - String
%x - Hexadecimal number (lowercase letters)
%X - Hexadecimal number (uppercase letters)

 Additional format values. These are placed between the % and the letter (example %.2f):
 
+ (Forces both + and - in front of numbers. By default, only negative numbers are marked)
    
' (Specifies what to use as padding. Default is space. Must be used  together with the width specifier.  Example: %'x20s (this uses "x" as padding)
    
- (Left-justifies the variable value)
    
[0-9] (Specifies the minimum width held of to the variable value)
    
.[0-9] (Specifies the number of decimal digits or maximum string length)
 
 Note: If multiple additional format values are used, they must be in the same order as above.
  
argarray
Required. An array with arguments to be inserted at the % signs in the format string
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the length of the written string

  
PHP Version:
  
5+


More Examples

Example
Write some text to a file: 

<?php
$num1 = 123;
$num2 = 456;
$file = fopen("test.txt","w");
vfprintf($file,"%f%f",array($num1,$num2));
?>
The following text will be written to the file "test.txt":

123.000000456.000000

Example
Use of placeholders: 

<?php
$number = 123;
$file = fopen("test.txt","w");
vfprintf($file,"With 2 decimals: %1\$.2f
\nWith no decimals: %1\$u",array($number));
?>
The following text will be written to the file "test.txt":

With 2 decimals: 123.00
With no decimals: 123

Example
Using printf() to demonstrate all possible format values:

<?php$num1 = 123456789;$num2 = -123456789;$char = 50; // The ASCII Character 50 is 2// Note: The format value "%%" returns a percent signprintf("%%b = %b <br>",$num1); // Binary numberprintf("%%c = %c <br>",$char); // The ASCII Characterprintf("%%d = %d <br>",$num1); // Signed decimal numberprintf("%%d = %d <br>",$num2); // Signed decimal numberprintf("%%e = %e <br>",$num1); // Scientific notation (lowercase)
 printf("%%E = %E <br>",$num1); // Scientific notation (uppercase)printf("%%u = %u <br>",$num1); // Unsigned decimal number (positive)printf("%%u = %u <br>",$num2); // Unsigned decimal number (negative)printf("%%f = %f <br>",$num1); // Floating-point number (local settings aware)printf("%%F = %F <br>",$num1); // Floating-point number (not local settings aware)printf("%%g = %g <br>",$num1); // Shorter of %e and %fprintf("%%G = %G <br>",$num1); // Shorter of %E and %fprintf("%%o = %o <br>",$num1); // Octal numberprintf("%%s = %s <br>",$num1); // Stringprintf("%%x = %x <br>",$num1); // Hexadecimal number (lowercase)printf("%%X = %X <br>",$num1); // Hexadecimal number (uppercase)printf("%%+d = %+d <br>",$num1); // Sign specifier (positive)
 printf("%%+d = %+d <br>",$num2); // Sign specifier (negative)?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Output a formatted string:

<?php$number = 9;$str = "Beijing";vprintf("There are %u million bicycles in %s.",array($number,$str));?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The vprintf() function outputs a formatted string.
Unlike printf(), the arguments in vprintf(), are placed in an array. The 
array elements will be inserted at the percent (%) 
signs in the main string. This function works "step-by-step". At the first % sign, 
the first array element is inserted, at the second % sign, the second array element is inserted, etc.
Note: If there are more % signs than arguments, you must use 
placeholders. A placeholder is inserted after the % sign, and consists of the 
argument- number and "\$". See example two.
Tip: Related functions: sprintf(),
printf(),
vsprintf(),
fprintf() and
vfprintf()

Syntax

vprintf(format,argarray)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
format
Required. Specifies the string and how to format the variables in it.Possible format values:
%% - Returns a percent sign
%b - Binary number
%c - The character according to the ASCII value
%d - Signed decimal number (negative, zero or positive)
%e - Scientific notation using a lowercase (e.g. 1.2e+2)
%E - Scientific notation using a uppercase (e.g. 1.2E+2)
%u - Unsigned decimal number (equal to or greather than zero)
%f - Floating-point number (local settings aware)
%F - Floating-point number (not local settings aware)
%g - shorter of %e and %f
%G - shorter of %E and %f
%o - Octal number
%s - String
%x - Hexadecimal number (lowercase letters)
%X - Hexadecimal number (uppercase letters)

 Additional format values. These are placed between the % and the letter (example %.2f):
 
+ (Forces both + and - in front of numbers. By default, only negative numbers are marked)
    
' (Specifies what to use as padding. Default is space. Must be used  together with the width specifier.  Example: %'x20s (this uses "x" as padding)
    
- (Left-justifies the variable value)
    
[0-9] (Specifies the minimum width held of to the variable value)
    
.[0-9] (Specifies the number of decimal digits or maximum string length)
 
 Note: If multiple additional format values are used, they must be in the same order as above.
  
argarray
Required. An array with arguments to be inserted at the % signs in the format string
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the length of the outputted string

  
PHP Version:
  
4.1.0+


More Examples

Example
Using the format value %f:

<?php
$num1 = 123;
$num2 = 456;
vprintf("%f%f",array($num1,$num2));
?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
Use of placeholders: 

<?php
$number = 123;
vprintf("With 2 decimals: %1\$.2f
<br>With no decimals: %1\$u",array($number));
?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
Using printf() to demonstrate all possible format values: 

<?php$num1 = 123456789;$num2 = -123456789;$char = 50; // The ASCII Character 50 is 2// Note: The format value "%%" returns a percent signprintf("%%b = %b <br>",$num1); // Binary numberprintf("%%c = %c <br>",$char); // The ASCII Characterprintf("%%d = %d <br>",$num1); // Signed decimal numberprintf("%%d = %d <br>",$num2); // Signed decimal numberprintf("%%e = %e <br>",$num1); // Scientific notation (lowercase)
printf("%%E = %E <br>",$num1); // Scientific notation (uppercase)printf("%%u = %u <br>",$num1); // Unsigned decimal number (positive)printf("%%u = %u <br>",$num2); // Unsigned decimal number (negative)printf("%%f = %f <br>",$num1); // Floating-point number (local settings aware)printf("%%F = %F <br>",$num1); // Floating-point number (not local settings aware)printf("%%g = %g <br>",$num1); // Shorter of %e and %fprintf("%%G = %G <br>",$num1); // Shorter of %E and %fprintf("%%o = %o <br>",$num1); // Octal numberprintf("%%s = %s <br>",$num1); // Stringprintf("%%x = %x <br>",$num1); // Hexadecimal number (lowercase)printf("%%X = %X <br>",$num1); // Hexadecimal number (uppercase)printf("%%+d = %+d <br>",$num1); // Sign specifier (positive)
printf("%%+d = %+d <br>",$num2); // Sign specifier (negative)?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
A demonstration of string specifiers: 

 <?php$str1 = "Hello";$str2 = "Hello world!";vprintf("[%s]<br>",array($str1));
 vprintf("[%8s]<br>",array($str1));vprintf("[%-8s]<br>",array($str1));
 vprintf("[%08s]<br>",array($str1)); vprintf("[%'*8s]<br>",array($str1));
 vprintf("[%8.8s]<br>",array($str2)); ?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Write a formatted string to a variable:

<?php$number = 9;$str = "Beijing";$txt = vsprintf("There are %u million bicycles in %s.",array($number,$str));echo $txt;?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The vsprintf() function writes a formatted string to a variable.
Unlike sprintf(), the arguments in vsprintf(), are placed in an array. The 
array elements will be inserted at the percent (%) 
signs in the main string. This function works "step-by-step". At the first % sign, 
the first array element is inserted, at the second % sign, the second array 
element is inserted, etc.
Note: If there are more % signs than arguments, you must use 
placeholders. A placeholder is inserted after the % sign, and consists of the 
argument- number and "\$". See example two.
Tip: Related functions: fprintf(), 
vfprintf(),
printf(), 
sprintf() and vprintf().

Syntax

vsprintf(format,argarray)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
format
Required. Specifies the string and how to format the variables in it.Possible format values:
%% - Returns a percent sign
%b - Binary number
%c - The character according to the ASCII value
%d - Signed decimal number (negative, zero or positive)
%e - Scientific notation using a lowercase (e.g. 1.2e+2)
%E - Scientific notation using a uppercase (e.g. 1.2E+2)
%u - Unsigned decimal number (equal to or greather than zero)
%f - Floating-point number (local settings aware)
%F - Floating-point number (not local settings aware)
%g - shorter of %e and %f
%G - shorter of %E and %f
%o - Octal number
%s - String
%x - Hexadecimal number (lowercase letters)
%X - Hexadecimal number (uppercase letters)

 Additional format values. These are placed between the % and the letter (example %.2f):
 
+ (Forces both + and - in front of numbers. By default, only negative numbers are marked)
    
' (Specifies what to use as padding. Default is space. Must be used  together with the width specifier.  Example: %'x20s (this uses "x" as padding)
    
- (Left-justifies the variable value)
    
[0-9] (Specifies the minimum width held of to the variable value)
    
.[0-9] (Specifies the number of decimal digits or maximum string length)
 
 Note: If multiple additional format values are used, they must be in the same order as above.
  
argarray
Required. An array with arguments to be inserted at the % signs in the format string
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns array values as a formatted string

  
PHP Version:
  
4.1.0+


More Examples

Example
Using the format value %f:

<?php
$num1 = 123;
$num2 = 456;
$txt = vsprintf("%f%f",array($num1,$num2));
echo $txt;
?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
Use of placeholders: 

 <?php
$number = 123;
$txt = vsprintf("With 2 decimals: %1\$.2f
<br>With no decimals: %1\$u",array($number));
echo $txt;
?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
Using sprintf() to demonstrate all possible format values: 

 <?php$num1 = 123456789;$num2 = -123456789;$char = 50; // The ASCII Character 50 is 2// Note: The format value "%%" returns a percent signecho sprintf("%%b = %b",$num1)."<br>"; // Binary numberecho sprintf("%%c = %c",$char)."<br>"; // The ASCII Character
 echo sprintf("%%d = %d",$num1)."<br>"; // Signed decimal numberecho sprintf("%%d = %d",$num2)."<br>"; // Signed decimal numberecho sprintf("%%e = %e",$num1)."<br>"; // Scientific notation (lowercase)echo sprintf("%%E = %E",$num1)."<br>"; // Scientific notation (uppercase)echo sprintf("%%u = %u",$num1)."<br>"; // Unsigned decimal number (positive)
 echo sprintf("%%u = %u",$num2)."<br>"; // Unsigned decimal number (negative)
 echo sprintf("%%f = %f",$num1)."<br>"; // Floating-point number (local settings aware)echo sprintf("%%F = %F",$num1)."<br>"; // Floating-point number (not local sett aware)echo sprintf("%%g = %g",$num1)."<br>"; // Shorter of %e and %fecho sprintf("%%G = %G",$num1)."<br>"; // Shorter of %E and %fecho sprintf("%%o = %o",$num1)."<br>"; // Octal number
 echo sprintf("%%s = %s",$num1)."<br>"; // Stringecho sprintf("%%x = %x",$num1)."<br>"; // Hexadecimal number (lowercase)echo sprintf("%%X = %X",$num1)."<br>"; // Hexadecimal number (uppercase)echo sprintf("%%+d = %+d",$num1)."<br>"; // Sign specifier (positive)echo sprintf("%%+d = %+d",$num2)."<br>"; // Sign specifier (negative)?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
A demonstration of string specifiers: 

<?php$str1 = "Hello";$str2 = "Hello world!";echo vsprintf("[%s]",array($str1))."<br>";
 echo vsprintf("[%8s]",array($str1))."<br>";echo vsprintf("[%-8s]",array($str1))."<br>";
 echo vsprintf("[%08s]",array($str1))."<br>"; echo vsprintf("[%'*8s]",array($str1))."<br>";
 echo vsprintf("[%8.8s]",array($str2))."<br>"; ?>
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

PHP String Reference

Example
Wrap a string into new lines when it reaches a specific length:

<?php
$str = "An example of a long word is: Supercalifragulistic";
echo wordwrap($str,15,"<br>\n");
?>
Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The wordwrap() function wraps a string into new lines when it reaches a specific length.
Note: This function may leave white spaces at the beginning of a line.

Syntax

wordwrap(string,width,break,cut)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the string to break up into lines
  
width
Optional. Specifies the maximum line width. Default is 75
  
break
Optional. Specifies the characters to use as break. Default is "\n"
  
cut

 Optional. Specifies whether words longer than the specified width should be wrapped:
 
    
FALSE - Default. No-wrap
    
TRUE - Wrap
 
   
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Returns the string broken into lines on success, or FALSE on failure.

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0.2+

  
Changelog:
  
The cut parameter was added in PHP 4.0.3


More Examples

Example
Using all parameters:

<?php
$str = "An example of a long word is: Supercalifragulistic";
echo wordwrap($str,15,"<br>\n",TRUE);
?>
Try it Yourself »

Example
Wrap a string into new lines:

 <?php
$str = "An example of a long word is: Supercalifragulistic";
echo wordwrap($str,15);
?>
The HTML output of the code above will be (View Source):

 <!DOCTYPE html><html>
<body>
An example of a
long word is:
Supercalifragulistic
</body>
</html>

The browser output of the code above will be:

An example of a long word is: Supercalifragulistic 
Try it Yourself »

PHP String Reference

Variable Handling Functions
The PHP variable handling functions are part of the PHP core. No installation is required to use these functions.


  
Function
Description
  
boolval()
Returns the boolean value of a variable
  
debug_zval_dump()
Dumps a string representation of an internal zend value to output
  
doubleval()
Alias of floatval()
  
empty()
Checks whether a variable is empty
  
floatval()
Returns the float value of a variable
  
get_defined_vars()
Returns all defined variables, as an array
  
get_resource_type()
Returns the type of a resource
  
gettype()
Returns the type of a variable
  
intval()
Returns the integer value of a variable
  
is_array()
Checks whether a variable is an array
  
is_bool()
Checks whether a variable is a boolean
  
is_callable()
Checks whether the contents of a variable can be called as a function
  
is_countable()
Checks whether the contents of a variable is a countable value
  
is_double()
Alias of is_float()
  
is_float()
Checks whether a variable is of type float
  

    
is_int()
    
Checks whether a variable is of type integer
  
is_integer()
Alias of is_int()
   
is_iterable()
Checks whether the contents of a variable is an iterable value
  
is_long()
Alias of is_int()
  
is_null()
Checks whether a variable is NULL
  
is_numeric()
Checks whether a variable is a number or a numeric string
  
is_object()
Checks whether a variable is an object
  
is_real()
Alias of is_float()
  
is_resource()
Checks whether a variable is a resource
  
is_scalar()
Checks whether a variable is a scalar
  
is_string()
Checks whether a variable is of type string
  
isset()
Checks whether a variable is set (declared and not NULL)
  
print_r()
Prints the information about a variable in a human-readable way
  
serialize()
Converts a storable representation of a value
  
settype()
Converts a variable to a specific type
  
strval()
Returns the string value of a variable
  
unserialize()
Converts serialized data back into actual data
  
unset()
Unsets a variable
  
var_dump()
Dumps information about one or more variables
  
var_export()
Returns structured information (valid PHP code) about a variable
  



PHP Variable Handling Reference

Example
Return the boolean value of different variables:

<?php
  echo "0: " .(boolval(0) ? 'true' : 'false') . "<br>";echo "4: " .(boolval(42) 
  ? 'true' : 'false') . "<br>";echo '": ' .(boolval(") ? 'true' : 'false') 
  . "<br>";echo '"Hello": ' .(boolval("Hello") ? 'true' : 'false') . "<br>";
  echo '"0": ' .(boolval("0") ? 'true' : 'false') . "<br>";echo "[3, 5]: " 
  .(boolval([3, 5]) ? 'true' : 'false') . "<br>";echo "[]: " .(boolval([]) ? 
  'true' : 'false') . "<br>";?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The boolval() function returns the boolean value of a variable.

Syntax

  boolval(variable);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
variable
Required. Specifies the variable to check. Must be a scalar type
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The boolean value of the variable
  

  
Return Type:
  
Boolean

  
PHP Version:
  
5.5+


PHP Variable Handling Reference

PHP Variable Handling Reference

Example
Dump a string representation of an internal zend value to output:

<?php
  $a = "Hello 
  world!";echo debug_zval_dump($a) . "<br>";?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The debug_zval_dump() function dumps a string representation of an internal zend value to output.

Syntax

  debug_zval_dump(variable);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
variable
Required. Specifies the variable to be evaluated
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Nothing
  

  
Return Type:
  
-

  
PHP Version:
  
4.2+


PHP Variable Handling Reference

PHP Variable Handling Reference

Example
Return the float value of different variables:

<?php
  $a = "1234.56789";echo doubleval($a) . "<br>";$b = 
  "1234.56789Hello";echo doubleval($b) . "<br>";$c = 
  "Hello1234.56789";echo doubleval($c) . "<br>";?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The doubleval() function returns the float value of a variable.
This function is an alias of floatval().

Syntax

  doubleval(variable);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
variable
Required. Specifies the variable to check. Must be a scalar type
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The float value of the variable on success, 0 on 
 failure. An empty array will return 0, and a non-empty array will return 1
  

  
Return Type:
  
Float

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+


PHP Variable Handling Reference

PHP Variable Handling Reference

Example
Check whether the contents of a variable is a countable value or not:

<?php
  $a = "Hello";echo "a is " . is_countable($a) . "<br>";
  $b = array("red", "green", "blue");echo "b is 
  " . is_countable($b) . "<br>";$c = 
  array("Peter"=>"35", "Ben"=>"37", "Joe"=>"43");echo "c is " . is_countable($c) . 
  "<br>";$d = [1, 2, 3];echo "d is " . is_countable($d) . "<br>";?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The is_countable() function checks whether the contents of a variable is a countable value or not.
This function returns true (1) if the variable is countable, otherwise it returns false/nothing.

Syntax

is_countable(variable);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
variable
Required. Specifies the variable to check
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if variable is countable, FALSE otherwise
  

  
Return Type:
  
Boolean

  
PHP Version:
  
7.3+


PHP Variable Handling Reference

PHP Variable Handling Reference

Example
Check whether a variable is empty. Also check whether the variable is 
set/declared:

<?php
  $a = 0;// True because $a is emptyif (empty($a)) {  echo 
  "Variable 'a' is empty.<br>";}// True because $a is setif (isset($a)) 
  {  echo "Variable 'a' is set";}?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The empty() function checks whether a variable is empty or not.
This function returns false if the variable exists and is not empty, otherwise it returns 
true.
The following values evaluates to empty:
0
0.0
"0"
"
NULL
FALSE
array()

Syntax

  empty(variable);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
variable
Required. Specifies the variable to check
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
FALSE if variable exists and is not empty, TRUE otherwise
  

  
Return Type:
  
Boolean

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.5: Support for expressions, not only variablesPHP 5.4: 
  Non-numeric offsets of strings returns TRUE


PHP Variable Handling Reference

PHP Variable Handling Reference

Example
Return the float value of different variables:

<?php
  $a = "1234.56789";echo floatval($a) . "<br>";$b = 
  "1234.56789Hello";echo floatval($b) . "<br>";$c = 
  "Hello1234.56789";echo floatval($c) . "<br>";?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The floatval() function returns the float value of a variable.

Syntax

  floatval(variable);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
variable
Required. Specifies the variable to check. Must be a scalar type
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The float value of the variable on success, 0 on 
 failure. An empty array will return 0, and a non-empty array will return 1
  

  
Return Type:
  
Float

  
PHP Version:
  
4.2+


PHP Variable Handling Reference

PHP Variable Handling Reference

Example
Return all defined variables, as an array:

<?php
  $a = array("red", "green", "blue");$arr = get_defined_vars();
  print_r($arr["a"]);?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The get_defined_vars() function returns all defined variables, as an array.

Syntax

  get_defined_vars();
Parameter Values
None.
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
All the defined variables as a multidimensional array
  

  
Return Type:
  
Array

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0.4+


PHP Variable Handling Reference

PHP Variable Handling Reference

Example
Return the resource type:

<?php
  $file = fopen("test.txt","r");echo get_resource_type($file);?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The get_resource_type() function returns the type of a resource.

Syntax

  get_resource_type(resource);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
resource
Required. Specifies the resource to check
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The type as a string on success, if type is not 
 identified it returns "unknown", if resource is not a resource it returns NULL and 
 generates an error  
  

  
Return Type:
  
String

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0.2+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.3: If resource is not a resource it returns NULL. Earlier, 
  the returned value was FALSE


PHP Variable Handling Reference

PHP Variable Handling Reference

Example
Return the type of different variables:

<?php
  $a = 3;echo gettype($a) . "<br>";$b = 3.2;echo 
  gettype($b) . "<br>";
  $c = "Hello";echo gettype($c) . "<br>";$d = array();echo 
  gettype($d) . "<br>";$e = array("red", "green", "blue");echo 
  gettype($e) 
  . "<br>";$f = NULL;echo gettype($f) . "<br>";
  $g = false;echo gettype($g) . "<br>";?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The gettype() function returns the type of a variable.

Syntax

  gettype(variable);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
variable
Required. Specifies the variable to check
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The type as a string. Can be one of the following values: 
 "boolean", "integer", "double", "string", "array", "object", "resource", 
 "NULL", "unknown type"
  

  
Return Type:
  
String

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 7.2: Closed resources are now returned as "resource (closed)". 
  Earlier, the returned value was "unknown type".


PHP Variable Handling Reference

PHP Variable Handling Reference

Example
Return the integer value of different variables:

<?php
  $a = 32;echo intval($a) . "<br>";$b = 3.2;echo intval($b) . "<br>";
  $c = "32.5";echo intval($c) . "<br>";$d = array();echo 
  intval($d) . "<br>";$e = array("red", "green", "blue");echo intval($e) 
  . "<br>";?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The intval() function returns the integer value of a variable.

Syntax

intval(variable, base);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
variable
Required. Specifies the variable to check
  
base
Optional. Specifies the base to use for the conversion. Only has effect 
    if variable is a string. Default base is 
    10
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The integer value of the variable on success, 0 
 on failure. An empty array will return 0, and a non-empty array will return 1
  

  
Return Type:
  
Integer

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.1: When an object is passed to variable, it throws E_NOTICE 
  and returns 1


PHP Variable Handling Reference

PHP Variable Handling Reference

Example
Check whether a variable is an array or not:

<?php
  $a = "Hello";echo "a is " . is_array($a) . "<br>";
  $b = array("red", "green", "blue");echo "b is 
  " . is_array($b) . "<br>";$c = 
  array("Peter"=>"35", "Ben"=>"37", "Joe"=>"43");echo "c is " . is_array($c) . 
  "<br>";$d = "red, green, blue";echo "d is " . is_array($d) . "<br>";?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The is_array() function checks whether a variable is an array or not.
This function returns true (1) if the variable is an array, otherwise it returns false/nothing.

Syntax

is_array(variable);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
variable
Required. Specifies the variable to check
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if variable is an array, FALSE otherwise
  

  
Return Type:
  
Boolean

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+


PHP Variable Handling Reference

PHP Variable Handling Reference

Example
Check whether a variable is a boolean or not:

<?php
  $a = 1;echo "a is " . is_bool($a) . "<br>";
  $b = 0;echo "b is 
  " . is_bool($b) . "<br>";$c = 
  true;echo "c is " . is_bool($c) . 
  "<br>";$d = false;echo "d is " . is_bool($d) . "<br>";?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The is_bool() function checks whether a variable is a boolean or not.
This function returns true (1) if the variable is a boolean, otherwise it returns false/nothing.

Syntax

is_bool(variable);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
variable
Required. Specifies the variable to check
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if variable is a boolean, FALSE otherwise
  

  
Return Type:
  
Boolean

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+


PHP Variable Handling Reference

PHP Variable Handling Reference

Example
Check whether the contents of a variable can be called as a function or not:

<?php
  function test1(){}echo "test1 is callable: " . is_callable("test1");
  echo "<br>";echo "test2 is callable: " . is_callable("test2");?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The is_callable() function checks whether the contents of a variable can be called as a function or not.
This function returns true (1) if the variable is callable, otherwise it returns false/nothing.

Syntax

is_callable(variable, syntax_only, name );
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
variable
Required. Specifies the variable to check
  
syntax_only
Optional. If set to TRUE, the function only verifies if variable 
    is a function or method. It will reject variables that are not strings, or 
    arrays without a valid structure to be used as a callback. Default is false
  
name
Optional. Returns a "callable name" (only for classes)
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if variable is callable, FALSE otherwise
  

  
Return Type:
  
Boolean

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0.6+


PHP Variable Handling Reference

PHP Variable Handling Reference

Example
Check whether a variable is of type float or not:

<?php
  $a = 32;echo "a is " . is_double($a) . "<br>";$b = 0;echo "b is 
  " . is_double($b) . "<br>";$c = 32.5;echo "c is " . is_double($c) . 
  "<br>";$d = "32";echo "d is " . is_double($d) . "<br>";$e = 
  true;echo "e is " . is_double($e) . "<br>";$f = "null";echo "f 
  is " . is_double($f) . "<br>";$g = 1.e3;echo "g is " . is_double($g) 
  . "<br>";
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The is_double() function checks whether a variable is of type float or not.
This function is an alias of is_float().

Syntax

is_double(variable);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
variable
Required. Specifies the variable to check
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if variable is a float, FALSE otherwise
  

  
Return Type:
  
Boolean

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+


PHP Variable Handling Reference

PHP Variable Handling Reference

Example
Check whether a variable is of type float or not:

<?php
  $a = 32;echo "a is " . is_float($a) . "<br>";$b = 0;echo "b is 
  " . is_float($b) . "<br>";$c = 32.5;echo "c is " . is_float($c) . 
  "<br>";$d = "32";echo "d is " . is_float($d) . "<br>";$e = 
  true;echo "e is " . is_float($e) . "<br>";$f = "null";echo "f 
  is " . is_float($f) . "<br>";$g = 1.e3;echo "g is " . is_float($g) 
  . "<br>";
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The is_float() function checks whether a variable is of type float or not.
This function returns true (1) if the variable is of type float, otherwise it returns false.

Syntax

is_float(variable);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
variable
Required. Specifies the variable to check
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if variable is a float, FALSE otherwise
  

  
Return Type:
  
Boolean

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+


PHP Variable Handling Reference

PHP Variable Handling Reference

Example
Check whether a variable is of type integer or not:

<?php
  $a = 32;echo "a is " . is_int($a) . "<br>";$b = 0;echo "b is " 
  . is_int($b) . "<br>";$c = 32.5;echo "c is " . is_int($c) . "<br>";
  $d = "32";echo "d is " . is_int($d) . "<br>";$e = true;
  echo "e is " . is_int($e) . "<br>";$f = "null";echo "f is " . 
  is_int($f) . "<br>";
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The is_int() function checks whether a variable is of type integer or not.
This function returns true (1) if the variable is of type integer, otherwise it returns false.

Syntax

is_int(variable);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
variable
Required. Specifies the variable to check
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if variable is an integer, FALSE otherwise
  

  
Return Type:
  
Boolean

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+


PHP Variable Handling Reference

PHP Variable Handling Reference

Example
Check whether a variable is of type integer or not:

<?php
  $a = 32;echo "a is " . is_integer($a) . "<br>";$b = 0;echo "b is " 
  . is_integer($b) . "<br>";$c = 32.5;echo "c is " . is_integer($c) . "<br>";
  $d = "32";echo "d is " . is_integer($d) . "<br>";$e = true;
  echo "e is " . is_integer($e) . "<br>";$f = "null";echo "f is " . 
  is_integer($f) . "<br>";
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The is_integer() function checks whether a variable is of type integer or not.
This function is an alias of is_int().

Syntax

is_integer(variable);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
variable
Required. Specifies the variable to check
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if variable is an integer, FALSE otherwise
  

  
Return Type:
  
Boolean

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+


PHP Variable Handling Reference

PHP Variable Handling Reference

Example
Check whether the contents of a variable is an iterable value or not:

<?php
  $a = "Hello";echo "a is " . is_iterable($a) . "<br>";
  $b = array("red", "green", "blue");echo "b is 
  " . is_iterable($b) . "<br>";$c = 
  array("Peter"=>"35", "Ben"=>"37", "Joe"=>"43");echo "c is " . is_iterable($c) . 
  "<br>";$d = [1, 2, 3];echo "d is " . is_iterable($d) . "<br>";?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The is_iterable() function checks whether the contents of a variable is an 
iterable value or not.
This function returns true (1) if the variable is iterable, otherwise it returns false/nothing.

Syntax

is_iterable(variable);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
variable
Required. Specifies the variable to check
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if variable is iterable, FALSE otherwise
  

  
Return Type:
  
Boolean

  
PHP Version:
  
7.1+


PHP Variable Handling Reference

PHP Variable Handling Reference

Example
Check whether a variable is of type integer or not:

<?php
  $a = 32;echo "a is " . is_long($a) . "<br>";$b = 0;echo "b is " 
  . is_long($b) . "<br>";$c = 32.5;echo "c is " . is_long($c) . "<br>";
  $d = "32";echo "d is " . is_long($d) . "<br>";$e = true;
  echo "e is " . is_long($e) . "<br>";$f = "null";echo "f is " . 
  is_long($f) . "<br>";
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The is_long() function checks whether a variable is of type integer or not.
This function is an alias of is_int().

Syntax

is_long(variable);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
variable
Required. Specifies the variable to check
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if variable is an integer, FALSE otherwise
  

  
Return Type:
  
Boolean

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+


PHP Variable Handling Reference

PHP Variable Handling Reference

Example
Check whether a variable is NULL or not:

<?php
  $a = 0;echo "a is " . is_null($a) . "<br>";$b = null;echo "b 
  is " . is_null($b) . "<br>";$c = "null";echo "c is " . is_null($c) 
  . "<br>";$d = NULL;echo "d is " . is_null($d) . "<br>";
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The is_null() function checks whether a variable is NULL or not.
This function returns true (1) if the variable is NULL, otherwise it returns false/nothing.

Syntax

is_null(variable);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
variable
Required. Specifies the variable to check
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if variable is NULL, FALSE otherwise
  

  
Return Type:
  
Boolean

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0.4+


PHP Variable Handling Reference

PHP Variable Handling Reference

Example
Check whether a variable is a number or a numeric string, or not:

<?php
  $a = 32;echo "a is " . is_numeric($a) . "<br>";$b = 0;echo "b 
  is " . is_numeric($b) . "<br>";$c = 32.5;echo "c is " . is_numeric($c) 
  . "<br>";$d = "32";echo "d is " . is_numeric($d) . "<br>";
  $e = true;echo "e is " . is_numeric($e) . "<br>";$f = null;
  echo "f is " . is_numeric($f) . "<br>";
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The is_numeric() function checks whether a variable is a number or a numeric 
string.
This function returns true (1) if the variable is a number or a numeric 
string, otherwise it returns false/nothing.

Syntax

is_numeric(variable);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
variable
Required. Specifies the variable to check
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if variable is a number or a numeric string, FALSE otherwise
  

  
Return Type:
  
Boolean

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+


PHP Variable Handling Reference

PHP Variable Handling Reference

Example
Check whether a variable is an object or not:

<?php
  function get_cars($obj) {  if (!is_object($obj)) {    
  return false;  }return $obj->cars;}$obj = new 
  stdClass();$obj->cars = array("Volvo", "BMW", "Audi");var_dump(get_cars(null));
  echo "<br>";var_dump(get_cars($obj));?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The is_object() function checks whether a variable is an object.
This function returns true (1) if the variable is an object, otherwise it returns false/nothing.

Syntax

is_object(variable);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
variable
Required. Specifies the variable to check
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if variable is an object, FALSE otherwise
  

  
Return Type:
  
Boolean

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 7.2: This function now returns true for unserialized objects without a class 
  definition. Earlier false was returned


PHP Variable Handling Reference

PHP Variable Handling Reference

Example
Check whether a variable is of type float or not:

<?php
  $a = 32;echo "a is " . is_real($a) . "<br>";$b = 0;echo "b is 
  " . is_real($b) . "<br>";$c = 32.5;echo "c is " . is_real($c) . 
  "<br>";$d = "32";echo "d is " . is_real($d) . "<br>";$e = 
  true;echo "e is " . is_real($e) . "<br>";$f = "null";echo "f 
  is " . is_real($f) . "<br>";$g = 1.e3;echo "g is " . is_real($g) 
  . "<br>";
 ?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The is_real() function checks whether a variable is of type float or not.
This function is an alias of is_float().

Syntax

is_real(variable);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
variable
Required. Specifies the variable to check
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if variable is a float, FALSE otherwise
  

  
Return Type:
  
Boolean

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+


PHP Variable Handling Reference

PHP Variable Handling Reference

Example
Check whether a variable is a resource or not:

<?php
  $file = fopen("test.txt","r");if (is_resource($file)) {  echo 
  "File is open";} else {  echo "Error open file";}?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The is_resource() function checks whether a variable is a resource or not.
Note: The is_resource() function will return FALSE if the 
resource has been closed.
This function returns true (1) if the variable is a resource, otherwise it returns false/nothing.

Syntax

is_resource(variable);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
variable
Required. Specifies the variable to check
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if variable is a resource, FALSE otherwise
  

  
Return Type:
  
Boolean

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+


PHP Variable Handling Reference

PHP Variable Handling Reference

Example
Check whether a variable is a scalar or not:

<?php
  $a = "Hello";echo "a is " . is_scalar($a) . "<br>";$b = 0;echo "b is 
  " . is_scalar($b) . "<br>";$c = 32;echo "c is " . is_scalar($c) . 
  "<br>";$d = NULL;echo "d is " . is_scalar($d) . "<br>";
  $e = array("red", "green", "blue");echo "e is " . is_scalar($e) . "<br>";?>

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Definition and Usage
The is_scalar() function checks whether a variable is a scalar or not.
This function returns true (1) if the variable is a scalar, otherwise it returns false/nothing.
Integers, floats, strings, or boolean can be scalar variables. Arrays, 
objects, and resources are not.

Syntax

is_scalar(variable);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
variable
Required. Specifies the variable to check
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if variable is a scalar, FALSE otherwise
  

  
Return Type:
  
Boolean

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0.5+


PHP Variable Handling Reference

PHP Variable Handling Reference

Example
Check whether a variable is of type string or not:

<?php
  $a = "Hello";echo "a is " . is_string($a) . "<br>";$b = 0;echo "b is 
  " . is_string($b) . "<br>";$c = 32;echo "c is " . is_string($c) . 
  "<br>";$d = "32";echo "d is " . is_string($d) . "<br>";$e = 
  true;echo "e is " . is_string($e) . "<br>";$f = "null";echo "f 
  is " . is_string($f) . "<br>";$g = ";echo "g is " . is_string($g) 
  . "<br>";
 ?>

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Definition and Usage
The is_string() function checks whether a variable is of type string or not.
This function returns true (1) if the variable is of type string, otherwise it returns false/nothing.

Syntax

is_string(variable);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
variable
Required. Specifies the variable to check
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if variable is a string, FALSE otherwise
  

  
Return Type:
  
Boolean

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+


PHP Variable Handling Reference

PHP Variable Handling Reference

Example
Check whether a variable is empty. Also check whether the variable is 
set/declared:

<?php
  $a = 0;// True because $a is setif (isset($a)) {  echo 
  "Variable 'a' is set.<br>";}$b = null;// False because $b is 
  NULLif (isset($b)) {  echo "Variable 'b' is set.";}?>

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Definition and Usage
The isset() function checks whether a variable is set, which means that it 
has to be declared and is not NULL.
This function returns true if the variable exists and is not NULL, otherwise it returns 
false.
Note: If multiple variables are supplied, then this function 
will return true only if all of the variables are set. 
Tip: A variable can be unset with the unset() function.

Syntax

  isset(variable, ....);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
variable
Required. Specifies the variable to check
  
...
Optional. Another variable to check
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE if variable exists and is not NULL, FALSE otherwise
  

  
Return Type:
  
Boolean

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 5.4: Non-numeric offsets of strings now returns FALSE


PHP Variable Handling Reference

PHP Variable Handling Reference

Example
Print the information about some variables in a more human-readable way:

<?php
  $a = array("red", "green", "blue");print_r($a);echo "<br>";
  $b = array("Peter"=>"35", "Ben"=>"37", "Joe"=>"43");print_r($b);?>

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Definition and Usage
The print_r() function prints the information about a variable in a more 
human-readable way.

Syntax

  print_r(variable, return);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
variable
Required. Specifies the variable to return information about  
  
return
Optional. When set to true, this function will return the information 
    (not print it). Default is false
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
If variable is integer, float, or string, the 
 value itself will be printed. If variable is array or object, this 
 function returns keys and elements. If the return parameter is set to 
 TRUE, this function returns a string
  

  
Return Type:
  
True or String

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+


PHP Variable Handling Reference

PHP Variable Handling Reference

Example
Convert a storable representation of a value:

<?php
  $data = serialize(array("Red", "Green", "Blue"));echo $data;?>

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Definition and Usage
The serialize() function converts a storable representation of a value. 
To serialize data means to convert a value to a sequence of bits, so that it 
can be stored in a file, a memory buffer, or transmitted across a network. 

Syntax

  serialize(value);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
value
Required. Specifies the value to be serialized
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
A string that contains a byte-stream representation of
 value. The string can be stored anywhere
  

  
Return Type:
  
String

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+


PHP Variable Handling Reference

PHP Variable Handling Reference

Example
Convert variables to specific types:

<?php
  $a = "32"; // string settype($a, "integer"); // $a is now integer$b = 32; 
  // integer settype($b, "string"); // $b is now string$c = true; // 
  boolean settype($c, "integer"); // $c is now integer (1)?>

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Definition and Usage
The settype() function converts a variable to a specific type. 

Syntax

  settype(variable, type);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
variable
Required. Specifies the variable to convert
  
type
Required. Specifies the type to convert variable to. The 
    possible types are: boolean, bool, integer, int, float, double, string, 
    array, object, null  
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success, FALSE on failure
  

  
Return Type:
  
Boolean

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+


PHP Variable Handling Reference

PHP Variable Handling Reference

Example
Return the string value of different variables:

<?php
  $a = "Hello";echo strval($a) . "<br>";$b = "1234.56789";echo 
  strval($b) . "<br>";$c = 
  "1234.56789Hello";echo strval($c) . "<br>";$d = 
  "Hello1234.56789";echo strval($d) . "<br>";
  $e = 
  1234;echo strval($e) . "<br>";?>

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Definition and Usage
The strval() function returns the string value of a variable.

Syntax

  strval(variable);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
variable
Required. Specifies the variable to check
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The string value of the variable on success
  

  
Return Type:
  
String

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+


PHP Variable Handling Reference

PHP Variable Handling Reference

Example
Convert serialized data back into actual data:

<?php
  $data = serialize(array("Red", "Green", "Blue"));echo $data 
  . "<br>";$test = unserialize($data);var_dump($test);?>

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Definition and Usage
The unserialize() function converts serialized data back into actual data. 

Syntax

  unserialize(string, options);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the serialized string
  
options
Optional. Specifies options to be provided to the function, as an 
    associative array. Can be either an array of class names which should be 
    accepted, false to accept no classes, or true to accept all classes. True is 
    default.
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The converted value. Can be a boolean, integer, float, 
 string, array or object. FALSE, and an E_NOTICE on failure
  

  
Return Type:
  
Boolean, integer, float, string, array or object

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 7.0: Added the options parameter


PHP Variable Handling Reference

PHP Variable Handling Reference

Example
Unset variables:

<?php
  $a = "Hello world!";echo 
  "The value of variable 'a' before unset: " . $a . "<br>";
  unset($a);echo 
  "The value of variable 'a' after unset: " . $a;?>

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Definition and Usage
The unset() function unsets a variable.

Syntax

  unset(variable, ....);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
variable
Required. Specifies the variable to unset
  
...
Optional. Another variable to unset
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
None
  

  
Return Type:
  
None

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+


PHP Variable Handling Reference

PHP Variable Handling Reference

Example
Dump information about different variables:

<?php
  $a = 32;echo var_dump($a) . "<br>";$b = "Hello 
  world!";echo var_dump($b) . "<br>";$c = 32.5;echo 
  var_dump($c) . "<br>";$d = array("red", "green", 
  "blue");echo var_dump($d) . "<br>";
  $e = array(32, "Hello world!", 32.5, array("red", "green", "blue"));echo 
  var_dump($e) . "<br>";// Dump two variablesecho 
  var_dump($a, $b) . "<br>";?>

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Definition and Usage
The var_dump() function dumps information about one or more variables. The 
information holds type and value of the variable(s).

Syntax

  var_dump(var1, var2, ...);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
var1, var2, ...
Required. Specifies the variable(s) to dump information from
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Nothing
  

  
Return Type:
  
-

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+


PHP Variable Handling Reference

PHP Variable Handling Reference

Example
Output structured information about variables:

<?php
  $a = 32;echo var_export($a) . "<br>";$b = "Hello 
  world!";echo var_export($b) . "<br>";$c = 32.5;echo 
  var_export($c) . "<br>";$d = array("red", "green", 
  "blue");echo var_export($d) . "<br>";
  $e = array(32, "Hello world!", 32.5, array("red", "green", "blue"));
  echo var_export($e) . "<br>";?>

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Definition and Usage
The var_export() function outputs or returns structured information about a variable. 
This function works similar to var_dump(), 
except that the returned value for this function is valid PHP code.

Syntax

  var_export(variable, return);
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
variable
Required. Specifies the variable to check
  
return
Optional. If set to true, it returns the variable representation instead 
    of outputting it
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
If return is set to TRUE, it returns the 
 variable representation. Otherwise, it returns NULL
  

  
Return Type:
  
Mixed

  
PHP Version:
  
4.2+


PHP Variable Handling Reference

XML Parser Introduction
The XML functions lets you parse, but not validate, XML documents.
XML is a data format for standardized structured document exchange. More 
information on XML can be found in our 
XML Tutorial.
This extension uses the Expat XML parser.
Expat is an event-based parser, it views an XML document as a series of 
events. When an event occurs, it calls a specified function to handle it.
Expat is a non-validating parser, and ignores any DTDs linked to a document. 
However, if the document is not well formed it will end with an error message.
Because it is an event-based, non validating parser, Expat is fast and well 
suited for web applications.
The XML parser functions lets you create XML parsers and define handlers for XML 
events.
Installation
The XML functions are part of the PHP core. There is no installation needed to use these functions.

XML Parser Functions


  
Function
Description
  
utf8_decode()
Decodes an UTF-8 string to ISO-8859-1
  
utf8_encode()
Encodes an ISO-8859-1 string to UTF-8
  
xml_error_string()
Returns an error string from the XML parser
  
xml_get_current_byte_index()
Returns the current byte index from the XML parser
  
xml_get_current_column_number()
Returns the current column number from the XML parser
  
xml_get_current_line_number()
Returns the current line number from the XML parser
  
xml_get_error_code()
Returns an error code from the XML parser
  
xml_parse()
Parses an XML document
  
xml_parse_into_struct()
Parses XML data into an array
  
xml_parser_create_ns()
Creates an XML parser with namespace support
  
xml_parser_create()
Creates an XML parser
  
xml_parser_free()
Frees an XML parser
  
xml_parser_get_option()
Returns options from an XML parser
  
xml_parser_set_option()
Sets options in an XML parser
  
xml_set_character_data_handler()
Sets up the character data handler for the XML parser
  
xml_set_default_handler()
Sets up the default data handler for the XML parser
  
xml_set_element_handler()
Sets up start and end element handlers for the XML parser
  
xml_set_end_namespace_decl_handler()
Sets up the end namespace declaration handler
  
xml_set_external_entity_ref_handler()
Sets up the external entity reference handler for the XML parser 
  
xml_set_notation_decl_handler()
Sets up notation declaration handler for the XML parser
  
xml_set_object()
Allows to use XML parser within an object
  
xml_set_processing_instruction_handler()
Sets up processing instruction handler
  
xml_set_start_namespace_decl_handler()
Sets up the start namespace declaration handler
  
xml_set_unparsed_entity_decl_handler()
Sets handler function for unparsed entity declarations


XML Parser Constants


  
Constant
  
XML_ERROR_NONE (integer)
  
XML_ERROR_NO_MEMORY (integer)
  
XML_ERROR_SYNTAX (integer)
  
XML_ERROR_NO_ELEMENTS (integer)
  
XML_ERROR_INVALID_TOKEN (integer)
  
XML_ERROR_UNCLOSED_TOKEN (integer)
  
XML_ERROR_PARTIAL_CHAR (integer)
  
XML_ERROR_TAG_MISMATCH (integer)
  
XML_ERROR_DUPLICATE_ATTRIBUTE (integer)
  
XML_ERROR_JUNK_AFTER_DOC_ELEMENT (integer)
  
XML_ERROR_PARAM_ENTITY_REF (integer)
  
XML_ERROR_UNDEFINED_ENTITY (integer)
  
XML_ERROR_RECURSIVE_ENTITY_REF (integer)
  
XML_ERROR_ASYNC_ENTITY (integer)
  
XML_ERROR_BAD_CHAR_REF (integer)
  
XML_ERROR_BINARY_ENTITY_REF (integer)
  
XML_ERROR_ATTRIBUTE_EXTERNAL_ENTITY_REF (integer)
  
XML_ERROR_MISPLACED_XML_PI (integer)
  
XML_ERROR_UNKNOWN_ENCODING (integer)
  
XML_ERROR_INCORRECT_ENCODING (integer)
  
XML_ERROR_UNCLOSED_CDATA_SECTION (integer)
  
XML_ERROR_EXTERNAL_ENTITY_HANDLING (integer)
  
XML_OPTION_CASE_FOLDING (integer)
  
XML_OPTION_TARGET_ENCODING (integer)
  
XML_OPTION_SKIP_TAGSTART (integer)
  
XML_OPTION_SKIP_WHITE (integer)
  
XML_SAX_IMPL (string)




PHP XML Parser Reference

Example
Decode a UTF-8 string to ISO-8859-1:

<?php
  $text = "\xE0";echo utf8_encode($text) ."<br>";echo 
  utf8_decode($text);?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The utf8_decode() function decodes a UTF-8 string to ISO-8859-1.
This function decodes a string, previously encoded with the 
utf8_encode() function, back to ISO-8859-1.

Syntax

utf8_decode(string)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies a UTF-8 encoded string to decode
 
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The decoded string on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP XML Parser Reference

PHP XML Parser Reference

Example
Encode an ISO-8859-1 string to UTF-8:

<?php
  $text = "\xE0";echo utf8_encode($text);?>

Try it Yourself »

Definition and Usage
The utf8_encode() function encodes an ISO-8859-1 string to UTF-8.
Unicode is a universal standard, and has been developed to describe all 
possible characters of all languages plus a lot of symbols with one unique 
number for each character/symbol. 
However, it is not always possible to transfer a Unicode character to another 
computer reliably. UTF-8 has been developed to transfer a Unicode character from 
one computer to another.

Syntax

utf8_encode(string)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
string
Required. Specifies the ISO-8859-1 string to encode
 
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The encoded string on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP XML Parser Reference

PHP XML Parser Reference

Example
On error, return the XML parser error description, line number and column number:

<?php
// Invalid xml file
$xmlfile = 'test.xml';
$xmlparser = xml_parser_create();

// Open the file and read data
$fp = fopen($xmlfile, 'r');
while ($xmldata = fread($fp, 4096)) {
  // parse the data chunk
  if (!xml_parse($xmlparser,$xmldata,feof($fp))) {
    die( print "ERROR: "
    . xml_error_string(xml_get_error_code($xmlparser))
    . "<br>Line: "
    . xml_get_current_line_number($xmlparser)
    . "<br>Column: "
    . xml_get_current_column_number($xmlparser)
    . "<br>");
  }
  }
xml_parser_free($xmlparser);
?>

The output of the code above could be:

ERROR: Mismatched tag
Line: 5
Column: 41

Definition and Usage
The xml_error_string() function returns the XML parser error description.

Syntax

xml_error_string(code)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
code
Required. Specifies an error code from the xml_get_error_code() function
 
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The error description on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP XML Parser Reference

PHP XML Parser Reference

Example
On error, return the XML parser error description, line number, column number 
and byte index:

<?php
// Invalid xml file
$xmlfile = 'test.xml';
$xmlparser = xml_parser_create();

// Open the file and read data
$fp = fopen($xmlfile, 'r');
while ($xmldata = fread($fp, 4096)) {
  // parse the data chunk
  if (!xml_parse($xmlparser,$xmldata,feof($fp))) {
    die( print "ERROR: "
    . xml_error_string(xml_get_error_code($xmlparser))
    . "<br>Line: "
    . xml_get_current_line_number($xmlparser)
    . "<br>Column: "
    . xml_get_current_column_number($xmlparser)
    . "<br>Byte Index: "
    . xml_get_current_byte_index($xmlparser)
    . "<br>");
  }
  }
xml_parser_free($xmlparser);
?>

The output of the code above could be:

ERROR: Mismatched tag
Line: 5
Column: 41Byte Index: 72

Definition and Usage
The xml_get_current_byte_index() function returns the byte index for an XML parser.

Syntax

xml_get_current_byte_index(parser)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
parser
Required. Specifies the XML parser to use
 
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The current byte index on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP XML Parser Reference

PHP XML Parser Reference

Example
On error, return the XML parser error description, line number and column number:

<?php
// Invalid xml file
$xmlfile = 'test.xml';
$xmlparser = xml_parser_create();

// Open the file and read data
$fp = fopen($xmlfile, 'r');
while ($xmldata = fread($fp, 4096)) {
  // parse the data chunk
  if (!xml_parse($xmlparser,$xmldata,feof($fp))) {
    die( print "ERROR: "
    . xml_error_string(xml_get_error_code($xmlparser))
    . "<br>Line: "
    . xml_get_current_line_number($xmlparser)
    . "<br>Column: "
    . xml_get_current_column_number($xmlparser)
    . "<br>");
  }
  }
xml_parser_free($xmlparser);
?>

The output of the code above could be:

ERROR: Mismatched tag
Line: 5
Column: 41

Definition and Usage
The xml_get_current_column_number() function returns the current column number for an XML parser.

Syntax

xml_get_current_column_number(parser)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
parser
Required. Specifies the XML parser to use
 
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The current column number on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP XML Parser Reference

PHP XML Parser Reference

Example
On error, return the XML parser error description, line number and column number:

<?php
// Invalid xml file
$xmlfile = 'test.xml';
$xmlparser = xml_parser_create();

// Open the file and read data
$fp = fopen($xmlfile, 'r');
while ($xmldata = fread($fp, 4096)) {
  // parse the data chunk
  if (!xml_parse($xmlparser,$xmldata,feof($fp))) {
    die( print "ERROR: "
    . xml_error_string(xml_get_error_code($xmlparser))
    . "<br>Line: "
    . xml_get_current_line_number($xmlparser)
    . "<br>Column: "
    . xml_get_current_column_number($xmlparser)
    . "<br>");
  }
  }
xml_parser_free($xmlparser);
?>

The output of the code above could be:

ERROR: Mismatched tag
Line: 5
Column: 41

Definition and Usage
The xml_get_current_line_number() function returns the current line number for an XML parser.

Syntax

xml_get_current_line_number(parser)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
parser
Required. Specifies the XML parser to use
 
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The current line number on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP XML Parser Reference

PHP XML Parser Reference

Example
On error, return the XML parser error code, line number and column number:

<?php
// Invalid xml file
$xmlfile = 'test.xml';
$xmlparser = xml_parser_create();

// Open the file and read data
$fp = fopen($xmlfile, 'r');
while ($xmldata = fread($fp, 4096)) {
  // parse the data chunk
  if (!xml_parse($xmlparser,$xmldata,feof($fp))) {
    die( print "ERROR: "
    . xml_get_error_code($xmlparser)
    . "<br>Line: "
    . xml_get_current_line_number($xmlparser)
    . "<br>Column: "
    . xml_get_current_column_number($xmlparser)
    . "<br>");
  }
  }
xml_parser_free($xmlparser);
?>

The output of the code above could be:

ERROR: 76
Line: 5
Column: 41

Definition and Usage
The xml_get_error_code() function returns the XML parser error code.

Syntax

xml_get_error_code(parser)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
parser
Required. Specifies the XML parser to use
 
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The error code on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP XML Parser Reference

PHP XML Parser Reference

Example
Create an XML parser and parse an XML document (note.xml):

  <?php// Create an XML parser$parser=xml_parser_create();
  function char($parser,$data) {echo $data;}
  xml_set_character_data_handler($parser,"char");$fp=fopen("note.xml","r");
  while ($data=fread($fp,4096)) {  // Parse XML data  
  xml_parse($parser,$data,feof($fp)) or   die (sprintf("XML Error: %s 
  at line %d",   xml_error_string(xml_get_error_code($parser)),  
  xml_get_current_line_number($parser)));}xml_parser_free($parser);fclose($fp);
?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The xml_parse() function parses an XML document.
Tip: To create an XML parser, use the 
xml_parser_create() function.

Syntax

xml_parse(parser, data, end)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
parser
Required. Specifies the XML parser to use
  
data
Required. Specifies the data to parse
  
end
Optional. If set to TRUE, the data in the data parameter is the last piece of data sent in this parse.
    Note: Entity errors are reported at the end of the parse - and will only show if the 
    end parameter is TRUE
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+


More Examples

Example
Using the same XML file but displaying the XML data in another way:

<?php
  $parser=xml_parser_create();function start($parser,$element_name,$element_attrs) 
  {switch($element_name) {case "NOTE":echo "NOTE<br>";break;
  case "TO":echo "To: ";break;case "FROM":echo "From: ";
  break;case "HEADING":echo "Heading: ";break;case "BODY":
  echo "Message: ";}}function stop($parser,$element_name) {
  echo "<br>";}function char($parser,$data) {echo $data;}
  xml_set_element_handler($parser,"start","stop");
  xml_set_character_data_handler($parser,"char");$fp=fopen("note.xml","r");
  while ($data=fread($fp,4096)) {xml_parse($parser,$data,feof($fp)) or
  die (sprintf("XML Error: %s at line %d", xml_error_string(xml_get_error_code($parser)),
  xml_get_current_line_number($parser)));}xml_parser_free($parser);
  fclose($fp);
?>

Run Example »

PHP XML Parser Reference

PHP XML Parser Reference

Example
Parse XML data into an array (from note.xml):

  <?php$xmlparser = xml_parser_create();$fp = fopen("note.xml", 
  "r");$xmldata = fread($fp, 4096);// Parse XML data into an array
  xml_parse_into_struct($xmlparser,$xmldata,$values);xml_parser_free($xmlparser);
  print_r($values);fclose($fp);
?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The xml_parse_into_struct() function parses XML data into an array.
This function parses the XML data into 2 arrays:
Value array - containing the data from the parsed XML
Index array - containing pointers to the location of the values in the Value array

Syntax

xml_parse_into_struct(parser, data, values, index)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
parser
Required. Specifies the XML parser to use
  
data
Required. Specifies the XML data to parse
  
values
Required. Specifies an array with the values of the XML data
  
index
Optional. Specifies an array with pointers to the location of the values 
    in values
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
1 on success. 0 on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP XML Parser Reference

PHP XML Parser Reference

Example
Create an XML parser with namespace support:

  <?php// Create an XML parser with namespace support$parser=xml_parser_create_ns();
  xml_parser_free($parser);?>



Definition and Usage
The xml_parser_create_ns() function creates an XML parser with namespace 
support.
Tip: To free the xml parser, use the 
xml_parser_free() function.
Tip: To create an XML parser without namespace support, use the
xml_parser_create() function instead.

Syntax

xml_parser_create(encoding, separator)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
encoding
Optional. Specifies the character encoding for input/output in PHP 4. 
    From PHP 5 it specifies the character encoding only for output. In PHP 5.0.0 and 5.0.1, 
    the default output charset is ISO-8859-1. From PHP 5.0.2, the default 
    output charset is UTF-8. The possible values are ISO-8859-1, UTF-8 and 
    US-ASCII
  
separator
Optional. Specifies the output separator for tag name and namespace. 
    Default is " : "
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
A resource handle to be used by other XML functions on 
 success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0.5+

Complete PHP XML Reference

PHP XML Parser Reference

Example
Create an XML parser and parse an XML document (note.xml):

  <?php// Create an XML parser$parser=xml_parser_create();
  function char($parser,$data) {echo $data;}
  xml_set_character_data_handler($parser,"char");$fp=fopen("note.xml","r");
  while ($data=fread($fp,4096)) {  // Parse XML data  
  xml_parse($parser,$data,feof($fp)) or   die (sprintf("XML Error: %s 
  at line %d",   xml_error_string(xml_get_error_code($parser)),  
  xml_get_current_line_number($parser)));}xml_parser_free($parser);fclose($fp);
?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The xml_parser_create() function creates an XML parser.
Tip: To free the xml parser, use the 
xml_parser_free() function.
Tip: To create an XML parser with namespace support, use the 
xml_parser_create_ns() function instead.

Syntax

xml_parser_create(encoding)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
encoding
Optional. Specifies the character encoding for input/output in PHP 4. 
    From PHP 5 it specifies the character encoding only for output. In PHP 5.0.0 and 5.0.1, 
    the default output charset is ISO-8859-1. From PHP 5.0.2, the default 
    output charset is UTF-8
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
A resource handle to be used by other XML functions on 
 success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP XML Parser Reference

PHP XML Parser Reference

Example
Create an XML parser, parse an XML document (note.xml), 
then free the XML parser:

  <?php// Create an XML parser$parser=xml_parser_create();
  function char($parser,$data) {echo $data;}
  xml_set_character_data_handler($parser,"char");$fp=fopen("note.xml","r");
  while ($data=fread($fp,4096)) {  // Parse XML data  
  xml_parse($parser,$data,feof($fp)) or   die (sprintf("XML Error: %s 
  at line %d",   xml_error_string(xml_get_error_code($parser)),  
  xml_get_current_line_number($parser)));}// Free XML parserxml_parser_free($parser);fclose($fp);
?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The xml_parser_free() function frees an XML parser.
Tip: To create an XML parser use the 
xml_parser_create() function.

Syntax

xml_parser_free(parser)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
parser
Required. Specifies the XML parser to free
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP XML Parser Reference

PHP XML Parser Reference

Example
Get options from an XML parser:

  <?php$parser=xml_parser_create();
  echo "XML_OPTION_CASE_FOLDING: " . xml_parser_get_option($parser, XML_OPTION_CASE_FOLDING) 
  . <br>;echo "XML_OPTION_TARGET_ENCODING: " . xml_parser_get_option($parser, XML_OPTION_TARGET_ENCODING);
  xml_parser_free($parser);?>

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Definition and Usage
The xml_parser_get_option() function gets options from an XML parser.

Syntax

xml_parser_get_option(parser, option)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
parser
Required. Specifies the XML parser to use
  
option
Required. Specifies the option to get. Possible values:
    
XML_OPTION_CASE_FOLDING - Specifies if case-folding is enabled.  Can be 1 (TRUE) or 0 (FALSE). 
    1 is default
    
XML_OPTION_TARGET_ENCODING - Specifies the target encoding  in this XML parser. 
    Set to the same as the xml_parser_create() 
    function by default (ISO-8859-1, US-ASCII or UTF-8)
      
XML_OPTION_SKIP_TAGSTART - Specifies how many characters that is 
      skipped in the beginning of a tag name
      
XML_OPTION_SKIP_WHITE - Specifies whether values consisting of 
      whitespace characters are skipped. Can be 1 (TRUE) or 0 (FALSE)
 
  
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The option's value on success. FALSE and an error on 
 failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

  
PHP Changelog:
  
PHP 7.1: Added XML_OPTION_SKIP_TAGSTART and XML_OPTION_SKIP_WHITE to the
  option parameter 

PHP XML Parser Reference

PHP XML Parser Reference

Example
Set an option in the XML parser:

  <?php$parser=xml_parser_create();
  xml_parser_set_option($parser, XML_OPTION_CASE_FOLDING, 0);
  xml_parser_free($parser);?>



Definition and Usage
The xml_parser_set_option() function sets options in an XML parser.

Syntax

xml_parser_set_option(parser, option, value)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
parser
Required. Specifies the XML parser to use
  
option
Required. Specifies the option to set. Possible values:
    
XML_OPTION_CASE_FOLDING - Specifies if case-folding is enabled.  Can be 1 (TRUE) or 0 (FALSE). 
    1 is default
    
XML_OPTION_SKIP_TAGSTART - Specifies how many characters should be  skipped in the beginning of a tag name
    
XML_OPTION_SKIP_WHITE - Specifies whether to skip values consisting  of whitespace characters. Can be 1 (TRUE) or 0 (FALSE)
    
XML_OPTION_TARGET_ENCODING - Specifies the target encoding  in this XML parser. 
    Set to the same as the xml_parser_create() 
    function by default (ISO-8859-1, US-ASCII or UTF-8)
 
  
  
value
Required. Specifies options new value
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP XML Parser Reference

PHP XML Parser Reference

Example
Create an XML parser, set character data handler, and parse an XML document (note.xml):

  <?php// Create an XML parser$parser=xml_parser_create();
  function char($parser,$data) {echo $data;}// Set the 
  character data handler
  xml_set_character_data_handler($parser,"char");$fp=fopen("note.xml","r");
  while ($data=fread($fp,4096)) {  // Parse XML data  
  xml_parse($parser,$data,feof($fp)) or   die (sprintf("XML Error: %s 
  at line %d",   xml_error_string(xml_get_error_code($parser)),  
  xml_get_current_line_number($parser)));}xml_parser_free($parser);fclose($fp);
?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The xml_set_character_data_handler() function sets the character data handler for the XML parser.
This function specifies what function to be called when the parser finds character data in the XML file.
Note: The handler parameter can also be an array containing an object reference and a method name.

Syntax

xml_set_character_data_handler(parser, handler)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
parser
Required. Specifies the XML parser to use
  
handler
Required. Specifies a function to be used as an event handler. The function must have two parameters:
    
    
$parser - A variable containing the XML parser calling the 
    handler
    
$data - A variable containing the character data from the XML 
    file as a string
    
    
    
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on 
 success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP XML Parser Reference

PHP XML Parser Reference

Example
Create an XML parser, set default data handler, and parse an XML document (note.xml):

  <?php// Create an XML parser$parser=xml_parser_create();
  function def($parser,$data) {echo $data;}// Set the 
  default data handler
xml_set_default_handler($parser,"def");$fp=fopen("note.xml","r");
  while ($data=fread($fp,4096)) {  // Parse XML data  
  xml_parse($parser,$data,feof($fp)) or   die (sprintf("XML Error: %s 
  at line %d",   xml_error_string(xml_get_error_code($parser)),  
  xml_get_current_line_number($parser)));}xml_parser_free($parser);fclose($fp);
?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The xml_set_default_handler() function sets the default data handler for the XML parser.
This function specifies what function to be called whenever the parser finds data in the XML file.
Note: The handler parameter can also be an array containing an object reference and a method name. 

Syntax

xml_set_default_handler(parser, handler)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
parser
Required. Specifies the XML parser to use
  
handler
Required. Specifies a function to be used as an event handler. The function must have two parameters:     
    
$parser - A variable containing the XML parser calling the 
    handler
    
$data - A variable containing the character data from the XML 
    file as a string
    
    
    
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on 
 success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP XML Parser Reference

PHP XML Parser Reference

Example
Specify functions to be called at the start and end of an element in the XML 
document (note.xml):
<?php
  $parser=xml_parser_create();function start($parser,$element_name,$element_attrs) 
  {  switch($element_name) {    case "NOTE":    echo "NOTE<br>";    break;
     
  case "TO":    echo "To: ";    break;    case "FROM":    echo "From: ";
     
  break;    case "HEADING":    echo "Heading: ";    break;    case "BODY":
     
  echo "Message: ";  }}function stop($parser,$element_name) {
  echo "<br>";}function char($parser,$data) {echo $data;}
    //  Specify functions to be called at the start and end of an 
    element in the XML documentxml_set_element_handler($parser,"start","stop");
  xml_set_character_data_handler($parser,"char");$fp=fopen("note.xml","r");
  while ($data=fread($fp,4096)) {  xml_parse($parser,$data,feof($fp)) or
    die (sprintf("XML Error: %s at line %d",   xml_error_string(xml_get_error_code($parser)),
   
  xml_get_current_line_number($parser)));}xml_parser_free($parser);
  fclose($fp);
?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage

The xml_set_element_handler() function specifies functions to be called at 
the start and end of an element in the XML document.
Note: The start and end parameters can also be an array containing an 
object reference and a method name.
Syntax

xml_set_element_handler(parser, start, end)



Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
parser
Required. Specifies the XML parser to use
  
start
Required. Specifies a function to be called at the start of an element. The function must have three parameters:
    
      
$parser - A variable containing the XML parser calling the handler
      
$name - A variable containing the name of the elements, that triggers this function, from the XML file as a string
      
$data - An array containing the elements attributes from the XML file as a string
    
    
    
  
end
Required. Specifies a function to be called at the end of an element. 
    The function must have two parameters:
    
      
$parser - A variable containing the XML parser calling the handler
      
$name - A variable containing the name of the elements, that triggers this function, from the XML file as a string
    
    
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP XML Parser Reference

PHP XML Parser Reference

Definition and Usage
The xml_set_end_namespace_decl_handler() function sets up the end namespace declaration handler.
This function specifies what function to be called when leaving the scope of 
a namespace declaration. This will be called, for each namespace declaration, 
after the handler for the end tag of the element in which the namespace was 
declared.
Note: The handler parameter can also be an array containing an object reference and a method name.

Syntax

xml_set_end_namespace_decl_handler(parser, handler)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
parser
Required. Specifies the XML parser to use
  
handler
Required. Specifies a function to be used as an event handler. The function must have two parameters:
    
    
$parser - A variable containing the XML parser calling the 
    handler
    
$prefix - A variable containing a string used to reference the namespace 
    within an XML object
    
    
    
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on 
 success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0.5+

PHP XML Parser Reference

PHP XML Parser Reference

Example
Create an XML parser, set character data handler, set external entity 
reference handler, and parse an XML document:

  <?php// Create an XML parser$parser=xml_parser_create();
  function char($parser,$data) {echo $data;}function ext_ent_handler($parser,$ent,$base,$sysID,$pubID)  
  {
  echo "$ent<br>";
  echo "$sysID<br>";
  echo "$pubID<br>";
  }
  // Set the 
  character data handler
  xml_set_character_data_handler($parser,"char");// Set the 
  external entity reference handlerxml_set_external_entity_ref_handler($parser, "ext_ent_handler");$fp=fopen("note_entity.xml","r");
  while ($data=fread($fp,4096)) {  // Parse XML data  
  xml_parse($parser,$data,feof($fp)) or   die (sprintf("XML Error: %s 
  at line %d",   xml_error_string(xml_get_error_code($parser)),  
  xml_get_current_line_number($parser)));}xml_parser_free($parser);fclose($fp);
?>



Definition and Usage
The xml_set_external_entity_ref_handler() function specifies a function to be called when the parser finds an external entity in the XML document.
Note: The handler parameter can also be an array containing an object reference and a method name.

Syntax

xml_set_external_entity_ref_handler(parser, handler)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
parser
Required. Specifies the XML parser to use
  
handler
Required. Specifies a function to be used as an event handler. The function must 
    accept five parameters:
    
    
$parser - A variable containing the XML parser calling the handler
      
$name - A variable containing the name of the external entity
      
$base - The base for resolving the system identifier (system_id) of the external entity. Currently, this is always 
      an empty string
      
$system_id - The system identifier as specified in the entity declaration
      
$public_id - The public identifier as specified in the entity declaration
    
    
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on 
 success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP XML Parser Reference

PHP XML Parser Reference

Example
Create an XML parser, set character data handler, set notation declaration handler, and parse an XML document:

  <?php// Create an XML parser$parser=xml_parser_create();
  function char($parser,$data) {echo $data;}function not_decl_handler($parser,$not,$base,$sysID,$pubID)  
  {
  echo "$not<br>";
  echo "$sysID<br>";
  echo "$pubID<br>";
  }
  // Set the 
  character data handler
  xml_set_character_data_handler($parser,"char");// Set the 
  notation declaration handlerxml_set_notation_decl_handler($parser, "not_decl_handler");$fp=fopen("note_notation.xml","r");
  while ($data=fread($fp,4096)) {  // Parse XML data  
  xml_parse($parser,$data,feof($fp)) or   die (sprintf("XML Error: %s 
  at line %d",   xml_error_string(xml_get_error_code($parser)),  
  xml_get_current_line_number($parser)));}xml_parser_free($parser);fclose($fp);
?>



Definition and Usage
The xml_set_notation_decl_handler() function specifies a function to be called 
when the parser finds a notation declaration in the XML document.
Note: The handler parameter can also be an array containing an object reference and a method name.

Syntax

xml_set_notation_decl_handler(parser, handler)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
parser
Required. Specifies the XML parser to use
  
handler
Required. Specifies a function to be used as an event handler. The function must 
    accept five parameters:
    
    
$parser - A variable containing the XML parser calling the handler
      
$name - A variable containing the name of the notation
      
$base - The base for resolving the system identifier (system_id) of the external entity. Currently, this is always 
      an empty string
      
$system_id - The system identifier of the external notation declaration
      
$public_id - The public identifier of the external notation declaration
    
    
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on 
 success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP XML Parser Reference

PHP XML Parser Reference

Example
Use XML parser within an object:

  <?phpclass XMLParser{private $parser;function 
  __construct() {  $this->parser = xml_parser_create();  
  xml_set_object($this->parser, $this);  xml_set_element_handler($this->parser, 
  "start_tag", "end_tag");  xml_set_character_data_handler($this->parser, 
  "cdata");}function __destruct() {  xml_parser_free($this->parser);  
  unset($this->parser);}function parse($data) {  xml_parse($this->parser, $data);
  }
  function start_tag($parser, $tag, $attributes) {  var_dump($tag, 
  $attributes); }function cdata($parser, $cdata) {  
  var_dump($cdata);}function end_tag($parser, $tag) {  var_dump($tag);}}
  $xml_parser = new XMLParser();$xml_parser->parse("<p 
  id='test'>Hello World!</p>");?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The xml_set_object() function allows a XML parser to be used within an object.

Syntax

xml_set_object(parser, object)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
parser
Required. Specifies the XML parser to use
  
object
Required. Specifies the object where to use the XML parser
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on 
 success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP XML Parser Reference

PHP XML Parser Reference

Example
Create an XML parser, set character data handler, set PI handler, and parse an XML document 
(note_pi.xml):

<?php$parser=xml_parser_create();

function char($parser,$data) {
  echo $data;
  }

function pi_handler($parser, $target, $data) {
  echo "Target: $target<br />";
  echo "Data: $data<br />";
  }

xml_set_character_data_handler($parser,"char");// Set up PI 
  handler
xml_set_processing_instruction_handler($parser, "pi_handler");
$fp=fopen("note_pi.xml","r");

while ($data=fread($fp,4096)) {
  xml_parse($parser,$data,feof($fp)) or 
  die (sprintf("XML Error: %s at line %d", 
  xml_error_string(xml_get_error_code($parser)),
  xml_get_current_line_number($parser)));
  }
xml_parser_free($parser);
  ?>

Run Example »

Definition and Usage
The xml_set_processing_instruction_handler() function specifies a function to be called 
when the parser finds a processing instruction (PI) in the XML document.
A PI is enclosed in <? and ?> and contains a a 
target followed by data.
Example: In this case the PI associates a style sheet 
with an XML document:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<?xml-stylesheet href="default.xsl" type="text/xml"?>
<note>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>

Note: The handler parameter can also be an array containing an 
object reference and a method name.

Syntax

xml_set_processing_instruction_handler(parser, handler)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
parser
Required. Specifies the XML parser to use
  
handler
Required. Specifies a function to be used as an event handler. The function must 
    accept three parameters:
    
    
$parser - A variable containing the XML parser calling the handler
      
$target - A variable containing the PI target
      
$data - A variable containing the PI data
    
    
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP XML Parser Reference

PHP XML Parser Reference

Definition and Usage
The xml_set_start_namespace_decl_handler() function sets up the start namespace 
declaration handler.
This function specifies what function to be called when  
a namespace is declared.
Note: The handler parameter can also be an array containing an object reference and a method name.

Syntax

xml_set_start_namespace_decl_handler(parser, handler)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
parser
Required. Specifies the XML parser to use
  
handler
Required. Specifies a function to be used as an event handler. The function must have three parameters:
    
    
$parser - A variable containing the XML parser calling the 
    handler
    
$prefix - A variable containing a reference to the namespace 
    within an XML object
      
$uri - The URI of the namspace
    
    
    
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on 
 success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0.5+

PHP XML Parser Reference

PHP XML Parser Reference

Example
Create an XML parser, set character data handler, set unparsed entity declaration handler, and parse an XML document:

  <?php$parser=xml_parser_create();

function char($parser,$data) {
  echo $data;
  }

function unparsed_ent_handler($parser,$entname,$base,$sysID,$pubID,$notname) 
  {
  print "$entname<br>";
  print "$sysID<br>";
  print "$pubID<br>";
  print "$notname<br>";
  }

xml_set_character_data_handler($parser,"char");// Set up unparsed 
  entity declaration handler
xml_set_unparsed_entity_decl_handler($parser,"unparsed_ent_handler");

$fp=fopen("test.xml","r");

while ($data=fread($fp,4096)) {
  xml_parse($parser,$data,feof($fp)) or 
  die (sprintf("XML Error: %s at line %d", 
  xml_error_string(xml_get_error_code($parser)),
  xml_get_current_line_number($parser)));
  }
xml_parser_free($parser);fclose($fp);
?>



Definition and Usage
The xml_set_unparsed_entity_decl_handler() function specifies a function to be called 
when the parser an unparsed entity in the XML document.
Note: The handler parameter can also be an array containing an 
object reference and a method name.

Syntax

xml_set_unparsed_entity_decl_handler(parser, handler)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
parser
Required. Specifies the XML parser to use
  
handler
Required. Specifies a function to be called if the XML parser encounters 
    an external entity declaration with an NDATA declaration. The function must 
    accept six parameters:
    
    
$parser - A variable containing the XML parser calling the handler
      
$entity_name - A variable containing the name of the entity
      
$base - The base for resolving the system identifier (system_id) of the external entity. Currently, this is always 
      an empty string
      
$system_id - The system identifier of the external entity
      
$public_id - The public identifier of the external entity
      
$notation_name - The name of the notation of this entity
    
    
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on 
 success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.0+

PHP XML Parser Reference

Zip Introduction
The Zip files functions allows you to read ZIP files.

Requirements
The ZIP extension requires 
libzip.

Installation
Linux Systems
For these functions to work, you have to compile PHP with --enable-zip.
PHP 5.6: Use the
--with-libzip=DIR configure option to use a system libzip installation. 
libzip version 0.11 is required, with 0.11.2 or later recommended.
PHP 7.3: Building against the bundled libzip is discouraged, but still 
possible by adding --without-libzip to the configuration. 
Windows Systems
Before PHP 5.3: Users must enable "php_zip.dll" inside of "php.ini" for 
these functions to work.
From PHP 5.3: The ZIP extension is built-in.

Zip Functions


  
Function
Description
  
zip_close()
Closes a ZIP file archive
  
zip_entry_close()
Closes a ZIP directory entry
  
zip_entry_compressedsize()
Returns the compressed file size of a ZIP directory entry
  
zip_entry_compressionmethod()
Returns the compression method of a ZIP directory entry
  
zip_entry_filesize()
Returns the actual file size of a ZIP directory entry
  
zip_entry_name()
Returns the name of a ZIP directory entry
  
zip_entry_open()
Opens a directory entry in a ZIP file for reading
  
zip_entry_read()
Reads from an open directory entry in the ZIP file
  
zip_open()
Opens a ZIP file archive
  
zip_read()
Reads the next file in a open ZIP file archive




PHP Zip Reference

Example
Open, read, and close a ZIP file archive:

<?php
$zip = zip_open("test.zip");
zip_read($zip);

// some code

zip_close($zip);
?>



Definition and Usage
The zip_close() function closes a ZIP file archive opened by the
zip_open() function.

Syntax

zip_close(zip)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
zip
Required. Specifies the ZIP file to close (opened with zip_open() )
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
Nothing

  
PHP Version:
  
4.1.0+

PHP Zip Reference

PHP Zip Reference

Example
Close a ZIP directory entry opened by zip_entry_open():

<?php
$zip = zip_open("test.zip");

if ($zip) {
  while ($zip_entry = zip_read($zip)) {
    if (zip_entry_open($zip, $zip_entry)) {
      // some code      
  // Close directory entry
      zip_entry_close($zip_entry);
    }
  }
zip_close($zip);
}
?>



Definition and Usage
The zip_entry_close() function closes a ZIP directory entry opened by zip_entry_open().

Syntax

zip_entry_close(zip_entry)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
zip_entry
Required. Specifies the ZIP directory entry returned by zip_read()
 
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.1.0+

PHP Zip Reference

PHP Zip Reference

Example
Open a ZIP file archive and get the name and compressed size of the directory entries:

<?php
$zip = zip_open("test.zip");

if ($zip) {
  while ($zip_entry = zip_read($zip)) {    echo "<p>";
      // Get name 
  of directory entry    echo "Name: " . zip_entry_name($zip_entry) . "<br>";
      // Get 
  compressed size     echo "Compressed size: " . zip_entry_compressedsize($zip_entry);
    echo "</p>";
  }
  zip_close($zip);
  }
?>

The output of the code depends on the contents of the ZIP archive:

Name: ziptest.txt
Compressed 
  size: 56

Name: htmlziptest.html
Compressed 
  size: 101 


Definition and Usage
The zip_entry_compressedsize() function returns the compressed file size of a 
ZIP directory entry.

Syntax

zip_entry_compressedsize(zip_entry)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
zip_entry
Required. Specifies the ZIP directory entry returned by zip_read()
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The compressed size

  
PHP Version:
  
4.1.0+

PHP Zip Reference

PHP Zip Reference

Example
Open a ZIP file archive and get the name and compression method of the directory entries:

<?php
$zip = zip_open("test.zip");

if ($zip) {
  while ($zip_entry = zip_read($zip)) {    echo "<p>";
      // Get name 
  of directory entry    echo "Name: " . zip_entry_name($zip_entry) . "<br>";
      // Get 
  compression method     echo "Compression method: " . zip_entry_compressionmethod($zip_entry);
    echo "</p>";
  }
  zip_close($zip);
  }
?>

The output of the code depends on the contents of the ZIP archive:

Name: ziptest.txt
Compression method: deflated

Name: htmlziptest.html
Compression method: deflated 


Definition and Usage
The zip_entry_compressionmethod() function returns the compression method of a 
ZIP directory entry.

Syntax

zip_entry_compressionmethod(zip_entry)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
zip_entry
Required. Specifies the ZIP directory entry returned by zip_read()
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The compression method

  
PHP Version:
  
4.1.0+

PHP Zip Reference

PHP Zip Reference

Example
Open a ZIP file archive and get the name and file size of the directory entries:

<?php
$zip = zip_open("test.zip");

if ($zip) {
  while ($zip_entry = zip_read($zip)) {    echo "<p>";
      // Get name 
  of directory entry    echo "Name: " . zip_entry_name($zip_entry) . "<br>";
      // Get filesize 
  of directory entry     echo "Filesize: " . zip_entry_filesize($zip_entry);
    echo "</p>";
  }
  zip_close($zip);
  }
?>

The output of the code depends on the contents of the ZIP archive:

Name: ziptest.txt
Filesize: 59

Name: htmlziptest.html
Filesize: 124



Definition and Usage
The zip_entry_filesize() function returns the actual file size of a ZIP 
directory entry.

Syntax

zip_entry_filesize(zip_entry)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
zip_entry
Required. Specifies the ZIP directory entry returned by zip_read()
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The size of the directory entry

  
PHP Version:
  
4.1.0+

PHP Zip Reference

PHP Zip Reference

Example
Open a ZIP file archive and get the names of the directory entries:

<?php
$zip = zip_open("test.zip");

if ($zip) {
  while ($zip_entry = zip_read($zip)) {    // Get name 
  of directory entry 
    echo "Name: " . zip_entry_name($zip_entry) . "<br>";
  }
  zip_close($zip);
  }
?>

The output of the code depends on the contents of the ZIP archive:

Name: ziptest.txt
Name: htmlziptest.html


Definition and Usage
The zip_entry_name() function returns the name of a ZIP directory entry.

Syntax

zip_entry_name(zip_entry)
Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
zip_entry
Required. Specifies the zip directory entry returned by zip_read()
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The name of the directory entry

  
PHP Version:
  
4.1.0+

PHP Zip Reference

PHP Zip Reference

Example
Open a ZIP file archive, open directory entry for reading, and read from the open directory entry:

<?php
$zip = zip_open("test.zip");

if ($zip) {
  while ($zip_entry = zip_read($zip)) {
    echo "<p>Name: " . zip_entry_name($zip_entry) . "<br>";    
  // Open directory entry for reading
    if (zip_entry_open($zip, $zip_entry)) {
      echo "File Contents:<br>";      
  // Read open directory entry
      $contents = zip_entry_read($zip_entry);
      echo "$contents<br>";
      zip_entry_close($zip_entry);
      }
  echo "</p>";
  }
zip_close($zip);}
?>

The output of the code depends on the contents of the ZIP archive:

Name: ziptest.txt
File Contents:
Hello World! This is a test.

Name: htmlziptest.html
File Contents:
Hello World!
This is a test for the zip functions in PHP.



Definition and Usage
The zip_entry_open() function opens a directory entry in a ZIP file for reading.

Syntax

zip_entry_open(zip, zip_entry, mode)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
zip
Required. Specifies the ZIP resource opened with zip_open()
  
zip_entry
Required. Specifies the ZIP directory entry to open (opened with zip_read())
  
mode
Optional. Specifies the type of access you require to the ZIP archive. Note: 
    Currently, mode is always "rb", because ZIP support in PHP is read only
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
TRUE on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.1.0+

PHP Zip Reference

PHP Zip Reference

Example
Open a ZIP file archive, open directory entry for reading, and read from the open directory entry:

<?php
$zip = zip_open("test.zip");

if ($zip) {
  while ($zip_entry = zip_read($zip)) {
    echo "<p>Name: " . zip_entry_name($zip_entry) . "<br>";
    // Open directory entry for reading    if (zip_entry_open($zip, $zip_entry)) {
      echo "File Contents:<br>";      
  // Read open directory entry
      $contents = zip_entry_read($zip_entry);
      echo "$contents<br>";
      zip_entry_close($zip_entry);
      }
  echo "</p>";
  }
zip_close($zip);}
?>

The output of the code depends on the contents of the ZIP archive:

Name: ziptest.txt
File Contents:
Hello World! This is a test.

Name: htmlziptest.html
File Contents:
Hello World!
This is a test for the zip functions in PHP.



Definition and Usage
The zip_entry_read() function reads from an open directory entry.

Syntax

zip_entry_read(zip_entry, length)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
zip_entry
Required. Specifies the directory entry returned by zip_read()
  
length
Optional. Specifies the number of (uncompressed) bytes to return. Default is 1024
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
The data read or " on end of file. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.1.0+

PHP Zip Reference

PHP Zip Reference

Example
Open, read, and close a ZIP file archive:

<?php
$zip = zip_open("test.zip");
zip_read($zip);

// some code

zip_close($zip);
?>



Definition and Usage
The zip_open() function opens a ZIP file archive.

Syntax

zip_open(zip)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
zip
Required. Specifies the ZIP file to open
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
A resource handle on success. FALSE on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.1.0+

PHP Zip Reference

PHP Zip Reference

Example
Open, read, and close a ZIP file archive:

<?php
$zip = zip_open("test.zip");
zip_read($zip);

// some code

zip_close($zip);
?>



Definition and Usage
The zip_read() function reads the next file in a open ZIP file archive.
Tip: The resource returned by zip_read() can be used by the zip_entry_*() functions.

Syntax

zip_read(zip)

Parameter Values
 
  
Parameter
Description
  
  
zip
Required. Specifies a ZIP file opened with zip_open()
  
Technical Details


 
Return Value:
 
A resource containing a file within the ZIP archive on 
 success. FALSE if there is no more entries to read or on failure

  
PHP Version:
  
4.1.0+

PHP Zip Reference

Supported Timezones
Below is a complete list of the timezones supported by PHP, which are useful with several PHP date functions.
Africa
America
Antarctica
Arctic
Asia
  
Atlantic
  
Australia
  
Europe
  
Indian
Pacific

Africa


  

    
Africa/Abidjan
    
Africa/Accra
    
Africa/Addis_Ababa
    
Africa/Algiers
    
Africa/Asmara
  
Africa/Asmera
Africa/Bamako
Africa/Bangui
Africa/Banjul
Africa/Bissau
    
Africa/Blantyre
Africa/Brazzaville
Africa/Bujumbura
Africa/Cairo
Africa/Casablanca
    
  
Africa/Ceuta
Africa/Conakry
Africa/Dakar
Africa/Dar_es_Salaam
Africa/Djibouti
    
  
Africa/Douala
Africa/El_Aaiun
Africa/Freetown
Africa/Gaborone
Africa/Harare
    
  
Africa/Johannesburg
Africa/Juba
Africa/Kampala
Africa/Khartoum
Africa/Kigali
  
Africa/Kinshasa
Africa/Lagos
Africa/Libreville
Africa/Lome
Africa/Luanda
  
Africa/Lubumbashi
Africa/Lusaka
Africa/Malabo
Africa/Maputo
Africa/Maseru
    
Africa/Mbabane
Africa/Mogadishu
Africa/Monrovia
Africa/Nairobi
Africa/Ndjamena
    
  
Africa/Niamey
Africa/Nouakchott
Africa/Ouagadougou
Africa/Porto-Novo
Africa/Sao_Tome
    
  
Africa/Timbuktu
Africa/Tripoli
Africa/Tunis
Africa/Windhoek
 
    


America


  

    
America/Adak
    
America/Anchorage
    
America/Anguilla
  
America/Antigua
America/Araguaina
America/Argentina/Buenos_Aires
    
America/Argentina/Catamarca
America/Argentina/ComodRivadavia
America/Argentina/Cordoba
    
    
America/Argentina/Jujuy
America/Argentina/La_Rioja
America/Argentina/Mendoza
    
    
America/Argentina/Rio_Gallegos
America/Argentina/Salta
America/Argentina/San_Juan
    
  
America/Argentina/San_Luis
America/Argentina/Tucuman
America/Argentina/Ushuaia
    
  
America/Aruba
America/Asuncion
America/Atikokan
    
  
America/Atka
America/Bahia
America/Bahia_Banderas
    
  
America/Barbados
America/Belem
America/Belize
    
  
America/Blanc-Sablon
America/Boa_Vista
America/Bogota
    
  
America/Boise
America/Buenos_Aires
America/Cambridge_Bay
    
  
America/Campo_Grande
America/Cancun
America/Caracas
    
  
America/Catamarca
America/Cayenne
America/Cayman
    
  
America/Chicago
America/Chihuahua
America/Coral_Harbour
    
  
America/Cordoba
America/Costa_Rica
America/Creston
    
  
America/Cuiaba
America/Curacao
America/Danmarkshavn
    
  
America/Dawson
America/Dawson_Creek
America/Denver
    
  
America/Detroit
America/Dominica
America/Edmonton
    
  
America/Eirunepe
America/El_Salvador
America/Ensenada
    
  
America/Fort_Wayne
America/Fortaleza
America/Glace_Bay
    
  
America/Godthab
America/Goose_Bay
America/Grand_Turk
    
  
America/Grenada
America/Guadeloupe
America/Guatemala
    
  
America/Guayaquil
America/Guyana
America/Halifax
    
  
America/Havana
America/Hermosillo
America/Indiana/Indianapolis
    
  
America/Indiana/Knox
America/Indiana/Marengo
America/Indiana/Petersburg
    
  
America/Indiana/Tell_City
America/Indiana/Vevay
America/Indiana/Vincennes
    
  
America/Indiana/Winamac
America/Indianapolis
America/Inuvik
    
  
America/Iqaluit
America/Jamaica
America/Jujuy
    
  
America/Juneau
America/Kentucky/Louisville
America/Kentucky/Monticello
    
  
America/Knox_IN
America/Kralendijk
America/La_Paz
    
  
America/Lima
America/Los_Angeles
America/Louisville
    
  
America/Lower_Princes
America/Maceio
America/Managua
    
  
America/Manaus
America/Marigot
America/Martinique
    
  
America/Matamoros
America/Mazatlan
America/Mendoza
    
  
America/Menominee
America/Merida
America/Metlakatla
    
  
America/Mexico_City
America/Miquelon
America/Moncton
    
  
America/Monterrey
America/Montevideo
America/Montreal
    
  
America/Montserrat
America/Nassau
America/New_York
    
    
America/Nipigon
America/Nome
America/Noronha
    
    
America/North_Dakota/Beulah
America/North_Dakota/Center
America/North_Dakota/New_Salem
    
    
America/Ojinaga
America/Panama
America/Pangnirtung
    
    
America/Paramaribo
America/Phoenix
America/Port-au-Prince
    
  
America/Port_of_Spain
America/Porto_Acre
America/Porto_Velho
    
  
America/Puerto_Rico
America/Rainy_River
America/Rankin_Inlet
    
  
America/Recife
America/Regina
America/Resolute
    
  
America/Rio_Branco
America/Rosario
America/Santa_Isabel
    
  
America/Santarem
America/Santiago
America/Santo_Domingo
    
  
America/Sao_Paulo
America/Scoresbysund
America/Shiprock
    
  
America/Sitka
America/St_Barthelemy
America/St_Johns
    
  
America/St_Kitts
America/St_Lucia
America/St_Thomas
    
  
America/St_Vincent
America/Swift_Current
America/Tegucigalpa
    
    
America/Thule
America/Thunder_Bay
America/Tijuana
    
  
America/Toronto
America/Tortola
America/Vancouver
    
  
America/Virgin
America/Whitehorse
America/Winnipeg
    
    
America/Yakutat
America/Yellowknife
 
    
 

Antarctica


  

    
Antarctica/Casey
    
Antarctica/Davis
    
Antarctica/DumontDUrville
    
Antarctica/Macquarie
    
Antarctica/Mawson
  
Antarctica/McMurdo
Antarctica/Palmer
Antarctica/Rothera
Antarctica/South_Pole
Antarctica/Syowa
    
Antarctica/Vostok
 
 
 
 
    


Arctic

  

    
Arctic/Longyearbyen


Asia


  

    
Asia/Aden
    
Asia/Almaty
    
Asia/Amman
    
Asia/Anadyr
    
Asia/Aqtau
  
Asia/Aqtobe
Asia/Ashgabat
Asia/Ashkhabad
Asia/Baghdad
Asia/Bahrain
    
Asia/Baku
Asia/Bangkok
Asia/Beirut
Asia/Bishkek
Asia/Brunei
    
  
Asia/Calcutta
Asia/Choibalsan
Asia/Chongqing
Asia/Chungking
Asia/Colombo
    
  
Asia/Dacca
Asia/Damascus
Asia/Dhaka
Asia/Dili
Asia/Dubai
    
  
Asia/Dushanbe
Asia/Gaza
Asia/Harbin
Asia/Hebron
Asia/Ho_Chi_Minh
  
Asia/Hong_Kong
Asia/Hovd
Asia/Irkutsk
Asia/Istanbul
Asia/Jakarta
  
Asia/Jayapura
Asia/Jerusalem
Asia/Kabul
Asia/Kamchatka
Asia/Karachi
    
Asia/Kashgar
Asia/Kathmandu
Asia/Katmandu
Asia/Khandyga
Asia/Kolkata
    
  
Asia/Krasnoyarsk
Asia/Kuala_Lumpur
Asia/Kuching
Asia/Kuwait
Asia/Macao
    
  
Asia/Macau
Asia/Magadan
Asia/Makassar
Asia/Manila
Asia/Muscat
    
  
Asia/Nicosia
Asia/Novokuznetsk
Asia/Novosibirsk
Asia/Omsk
Asia/Oral
    
  
Asia/Phnom_Penh
Asia/Pontianak
Asia/Pyongyang
Asia/Qatar
Asia/Qyzylorda
    
  
Asia/Rangoon
Asia/Riyadh
Asia/Saigon
Asia/Sakhalin
Asia/Samarkand
    
  
Asia/Seoul
Asia/Shanghai
Asia/Singapore
Asia/Taipei
Asia/Tashkent
    
  
Asia/Tbilisi
Asia/Tehran
Asia/Tel_Aviv
Asia/Thimbu
Asia/Thimphu
    
  
Asia/Tokyo
Asia/Ujung_Pandang
Asia/Ulaanbaatar
Asia/Ulan_Bator
Asia/Urumqi
    
  
Asia/Ust-Nera
Asia/Vientiane
Asia/Vladivostok
Asia/Yakutsk
Asia/Yekaterinburg
    
  
Asia/Yerevan
 
 
 
 
    


Atlantic


  

    
Atlantic/Azores
    
Atlantic/Bermuda
    
Atlantic/Canary
    
Atlantic/Cape_Verde
    
Atlantic/Faeroe
  
Atlantic/Faroe
Atlantic/Jan_Mayen
Atlantic/Madeira
Atlantic/Reykjavik
Atlantic/South_Georgia
    
Atlantic/St_Helena
Atlantic/Stanley
 
 
 
    
 

Australia


  

    
Australia/ACT
    
Australia/Adelaide
    
Australia/Brisbane
    
Australia/Broken_Hill
    
Australia/Canberra
  
Australia/Currie
Australia/Darwin
Australia/Eucla
Australia/Hobart
Australia/LHI
    
Australia/Lindeman
Australia/Lord_Howe
Australia/Melbourne
Australia/North
Australia/NSW
    
    
Australia/Perth
Australia/Queensland
Australia/South
Australia/Sydney
Australia/Tasmania
    
    
Australia/Victoria
Australia/West
Australia/Yancowinna
 
 
    


Europe


  

    
Europe/Amsterdam
    
Europe/Andorra
    
Europe/Athens
    
Europe/Belfast
    
Europe/Belgrade
  
Europe/Berlin
Europe/Bratislava
Europe/Brussels
Europe/Bucharest
Europe/Budapest
    
Europe/Busingen
Europe/Chisinau
Europe/Copenhagen
Europe/Dublin
Europe/Gibraltar
    
    
Europe/Guernsey
Europe/Helsinki
Europe/Isle_of_Man
Europe/Istanbul
Europe/Jersey
    
    
Europe/Kaliningrad
Europe/Kiev
Europe/Lisbon
Europe/Ljubljana
Europe/London
    
    
Europe/Luxembourg
Europe/Madrid
Europe/Malta
Europe/Mariehamn
Europe/Minsk
    
    
Europe/Monaco
Europe/Moscow
Europe/Nicosia
Europe/Oslo
Europe/Paris
    
    
Europe/Podgorica
Europe/Prague
Europe/Riga
Europe/Rome
Europe/Samara
    
    
Europe/San_Marino
Europe/Sarajevo
Europe/Simferopol
Europe/Skopje
Europe/Sofia
    
    
Europe/Stockholm
Europe/Tallinn
Europe/Tirane
Europe/Tiraspol
Europe/Uzhgorod
    
    
Europe/Vaduz
Europe/Vatican
Europe/Vienna
Europe/Vilnius
Europe/Volgograd
    
    
Europe/Warsaw
Europe/Zagreb
Europe/Zaporozhye
Europe/Zurich
 
    


Indian


  

    
Indian/Antananarivo
    
Indian/Chagos
    
Indian/Christmas
    
Indian/Cocos
    
Indian/Comoro
  
Indian/Kerguelen
Indian/Mahe
Indian/Maldives
Indian/Mauritius
Indian/Mayotte
    
Indian/Reunion
 
 
 
 
    
    

Pacific


  

    
Pacific/Apia
    
Pacific/Auckland
    
Pacific/Chatham
    
Pacific/Chuuk
    
Pacific/Easter
  
Pacific/Efate
Pacific/Enderbury
Pacific/Fakaofo
Pacific/Fiji
Pacific/Funafuti
    
Pacific/Galapagos
Pacific/Gambier
Pacific/Guadalcanal
Pacific/Guam
Pacific/Honolulu
    
    
Pacific/Johnston
Pacific/Kiritimati
Pacific/Kosrae
Pacific/Kwajalein
Pacific/Majuro
    
    
Pacific/Marquesas
Pacific/Midway
Pacific/Nauru
Pacific/Niue
Pacific/Norfolk
    
    
Pacific/Noumea
Pacific/Pago_Pago
Pacific/Palau
Pacific/Pitcairn
Pacific/Pohnpei
    
    
Pacific/Ponape
Pacific/Port_Moresby
Pacific/Rarotonga
Pacific/Saipan
Pacific/Samoa
    
    
Pacific/Tahiti
Pacific/Tarawa
Pacific/Tongatapu
Pacific/Truk
Pacific/Wake
    
    
Pacific/Wallis
Pacific/Yap