WORKING WITH STRINGS
1.Determining the Length of a String
Determining string length is a repeated action within countless applications. The
.PHP function strlen() accomplishes this task quite nicely. This function returns
the length of a string, where each character in the string is equivalent to one unit.
Its prototype follows:
strlen(string str)
eg:
<?php
echo strlen("Helloworld!");
?>
Outputs
11
2.Comparing Two Strings
String comparison is arguably one of the most important features of the string-
handling capabilities of any language. Although there are many ways in which two
strings can be compared for equality, PHP provides four functions for performing
this task: strcmp(), strcasecmp(), strspn(), and strcspn().
3. Comparing Two Strings Case Sensitively
The strcmp() function performs a binary-safe, case-sensitive comparison of two
strings. Its prototype follows:
It will return one of three possible values based on the comparison outcome:
• 0 if str1 and str2 are equal
• -1 if str1 is less than str2
• 1 if str2 is less than str1
Eg:
<?php
$pswd = "supersecret";
$pswd2 = "supersecret2";
if (strcmp($pswd, $pswd2) != 0) {
echo "Passwords do not match!";
} else {
echo "Passwords match!";
}
?>
4. Comparing Two Strings Case Insensitively
The strcasecmp() function operates exactly like strcmp(), except that its
comparison is case insensitive.
Its prototype follows:
int strcasecmp(string str1, string str2)
eg:
The following example compares two e-mail addresses, an ideal use for
strcasecmp() because case does not determine an e-mail address’s uniqueness:
<?php
$email1 = "admin@example.com";
$email2 = "ADMIN@example.com";
if (! strcasecmp($email1, $email2))
echo "The email addresses are identical!";
?>
In this example, the message is output because strcasecmp() performs a case-
insensitive comparison of $email1 and $email2 and determines that they are
indeed identical.
5. Manipulating String Case
Four functions are available to aid you in manipulating the case of characters in a
string: strtolower(), strtoupper(), ucfirst(), and ucwords().
Converting a String to All Lowercase
The strtolower() function converts a string to all lowercase letters, returning the
modified string. Nonalphabetical characters are not affected.
Its prototype follows:
string strtolower(string str)
eg:-
<?php
$url = "http://WWW.EXAMPLE.COM/";
echo strtolower($url);
?>
6. Converting a String to All Uppercase
This is accomplished with the function strtoupper(). Its prototype follows:
string strtoupper(string str)
eg:-
<?php
$msg = "I annoy people by capitalizing e-mail text.";
echo strtoupper($msg);
?>
Output
I ANNOY PEOPLE BY CAPITALIZING E-MAIL TEXT.
7. Capitalizing the First Letter of a String
The ucfirst() function capitalizes the first letter of the string str, if it is alphabetical.
Its prototype
follows:
string ucfirst(string str)
eg:-
<?php
$sentence = "the newest version of PHP was released today!";
echo ucfirst($sentence);
?>
Output
The newest version of PHP was released today!
8. Capitalizing Each Word in a String
The ucwords() function capitalizes the first letter of each word in a string. Its
prototype follows:
string ucwords(string str)
eg:-
<?php
$title = "O'Malley wins the heavyweight championship!";
echo ucwords($title);
?>
Output
O'Malley Wins The Heavyweight Championship!
