What is a function?

 A function is a named block of code that performs a specific task, possibly acting
upon a set of values given to it as parameters, and possibly returning a single value
as result.

net2net
 Advantages of function

 Save compile time

 No matter how many times you call them, functions are compiled only once
for the page.
 Improve reliability
 Fix any bugs in one place, rather than everywhere you perform a task
 Improve readability
 Isolating code that performs specific tasks.

net2net
 Calling a Function
 Functions in a PHP program can be either built-in or user-defined.
 All functions are evaluated in the same way:
$some_value = function_name([parameter, ... ]);
 The number of parameters a function requires differs from function to function.
 The parameters supplied to the function may be any valid expression and should
be in the specific order expected by the function.

net2net
 Calling a Function (Contd.)
$length = strlen("PHP"); // $length is now 3
$result = sin(asin(1));
// $result is the sine of arcsin(1), or 1.0
$result = unlink("functions.txt"); // false if unsuccessful
 PHP has a huge array of functions already defined for you to use in your programs
like:
 Database access
 Creating graphics,
 Reading and writing XML files
 Grabbing files from remote systems etc.

net2net
 Defining a Function
 To define a function, use the following syntax:
function [&] function_name([parameter [, ... ]])
{
statement list
}
 The statement list can include HTML.
 You can declare a PHP function that doesn't contain any PHP code.
<?php function column() { ?>
</td><td>
<?php }?>
 The function name should be a valid PHP identifier.

net2net
 Defining a Function (Contd.)
 Function names are case-insensitive
 To return a value from a function, use the return statement.
return expr;
 When a return statement is encountered during execution, control reverts to the
calling statement, and the evaluated results of expr will be returned as the value
of the function.
 If you define your function with the optional ampersand before the name, the
function returns a reference to the returned data rather than a copy of the data.
<?php
function strcat($left, $right) {
$combined_string = $left.$right;
return $combined_string;
}
$first = "net2net ";
$second = " Computer Education";
echo strcat($first, $second);
?>

net2net
 Defining a Function (Contd.)
<?php
function doubler($value)
{
return $value << 1;
}
?>
A pair of 13s is <?php echo doubler(13);?>

net2net
 Inner Functions
 Inner function may be called from anywhere in your program.
 Inner function does not automatically get the outer function's arguments.
 Inner function cannot be called until the outer function has been called.
<?php
function outer ($a)
{
function inner ($b)
{
echo "there $b";
}
echo "$a, hello ";
}
outer("well");
inner("reader");
?>
Output: well, hello there reader

net2net
 Variable Scope
 Functions keep their own sets of variables that are distinct from those of the page
and of other functions.
 The variables defined in a function, including its parameters, are not accessible
outside the function, and, by default, variables defined outside a function are not
accessible inside the function.
$a = 3;
function foo(){
$a += 2;
}
foo();
echo $a;

net2net
 Variable Scope (Contd.)
 The extent to which a variable can be seen in a program is called the scope of the
variable.
 Variables created within a function are inside the scope of the function (i.e., have
function-level scope).
 Variables created outside of functions have global scope and exist anywhere
outside of those functions and objects.

net2net
 Global Variables
 If you want a variable in the global scope to be accessible from within a function,
you can use the global keyword.
global var1, var2, ...
$a = 3;
function foo(){
global $a;
$a += 2;
}
foo();
echo $a;
 Using global is equivalent to creating a reference to the variable in the $GLOBALS
variable.
global $var;
$var = &$GLOBALS['var'];

net2net
 Static Variables
 A static variable is shared between all calls to the function and is initialized during
a script's execution only the first time the function is called.
 To declare a function variable static, use the static keyword at the variable's first
use.
static var [= value][, ... ];

function counter(){
static $count = 0;
return ++$count;
}
print counter(); // 1
print counter(); // 2
print counter(); // 3

net2net
 Passing Parameters by Reference
 Passing by reference allows a function to direct access a variable.
 To be passed by reference, the argument must be a variable.
 Indicate that a particular argument of a function will be passed by reference by
preceding the variable name in the parameter list with an ampersand (&).
function doubler(&$value){
$value <<= 1;
}
$a = 3;
echo $a; // 3
doubler($a);
echo $a; // 6

net2net
 Default Parameters
 To specify a default parameter, assign the parameter value in the function
declaration.
 The value assigned to a parameter as a default value cannot be a complex
expression; it can only be a constant.
function get_preferences($which_preference = "all" )
{
}

net2net
 Variable Parameters
 A function may require a variable number of arguments.
 To declare a function with a variable number of arguments, leave out the
parameter block entirely.
 Following functions can be used in the function to retrieve the parameters passed
to it:
 func_get_args(): returns an array of all parameters provided to the
function.
 func_num_args(): returns the number of parameters provided to the
function.
 func_get_arg(): returns a specific argument from the parameters.
$array = func_get_args();
$count = func_num_args();
$value = func_get_arg(argument_number);

net2net
function count_list()
{
$count = 0;
for($i = 0; $i < func_num_args(); $i++)
{
$count += func_get_arg($i);
}
return $count;
}
echo count_list(1, 5, 9);

Note
foo(func_num_args()); // Won’t work
$count = func_num_args();
foo($count); // Works

net2net
 Missing Parameters
 When you call a function, you can pass any number of arguments to the function.
 Any parameters the function expects that are not passed to it remain unset, and a
warning is issued for each of them:
function takes_two($a, $b){
if(isset($a)) { echo " a is set<br>"; }
if(isset($b)) { echo " b is set<br>"; }
}
echo "With two arguments:<br>";
takes_two(1, 2);
echo "With one argument:<br>";
takes_two(1);
Output:
With two arguments:
a is set
b is set
With one argument:
Warning: Missing argument 2 for takes_two() in
/path/to/script.php on line 6
a is set
net2net
 Return Values
 PHP functions can return only a single value with the return keyword:
function return_one(){
return 42;
}
 To return multiple values, return an array:
function return_two(){
return array("Ram", 35);
}

net2net
 Return Reference
 By default, values are copied out of the function. A function declared with an &
before its name returns a reference (alias) to its return value:
$names = array("Ram", "Seeta", "John", "Mary");
function & find_one($n) {
global $names;
return $names[$n];
}
$person =& find_one(1); // Seeta
$person = "Janaki"; // changes $names[1]

net2net
 Variable Functions
 As with variable variables, you can call a function based on the value of a variable.
switch($which) {
case 'first':
first();
break;
case 'second':
second();
break;
case 'third':
third();
break;
}
Or
$which();

net2net
 Variable Functions (Contd.)
 Use the built-in function function_exists() to determine whether a function
exists for the value of the variable before calling the function:
$yes_or_no = function_exists(function_name);
if(function_exists($which)) {
$which();
}
 Language constructs such as echo() and isset() cannot be called through
variable functions:
$f = 'echo';
$f('hello, world'); // does not work

net2net
 Anonymous Functions
 Also called lambda function.
 Functions without name.
 They are assigned directly to variables and called by the variable name.
 Create an anonymous function using create_function().
 This function takes two parameters – parameter list and body of the function.
 A randomly generated name for the function is returned.
$func_name = create_function(args_string, code_string);

$add = create_function('$a,$b','return $a+$b');

$r = $add(4,5);
echo $r; // 9

net2net
 Quoting String Constants

 Three ways to write a literal string:

 Using single quotes
 Using double quotes
 Using here document (heredoc) derived from the Unix shell.
 If you don’t want to include escape sequences or interpolate variables use single-
quoted string otherwise use double-quoted strings.
 If you want a string that spans many lines, use a heredoc.

net2net
 Variable Interpolation
 Interpolation is the process of replacing variable names in the string with the
values of those variables.
 Double quoted string literals or a heredoc are subject to variable interpolation.
 There are two ways to interpolate variables into strings.
 Simple way:
Just put the variable name in a double-quoted string or heredoc:
$who = 'Ram';
$where = 'Pune';
echo "$who is in $where"; // Ram is in Pune

net2net
 Variable Interpolation (Contd.)
 Complex way:
Surround the variable being interpolated with curly braces.
This method can be used either to disambiguate or to interpolate array lookups.
$n = 12;
echo "You are the {$n}th person"; // You are the 12th person
 Without the curly braces, PHP would try to print the value of the $nth variable.

net2net
 Single-Quoted Strings
 Single-quoted strings do not interpolate variables.
$name = 'Qadir';
$str = 'Hello, $name'; // single-quoted
echo $str; // Hello, $name

net2net
 Single-Quoted Strings (Contd.)
 The only escape sequences that work in single-quoted strings are \', which puts a
single quote in a single-quoted string, and \\, which puts a backslash in a single-
quoted string. Any other occurrence of a backslash is interpreted simply as a
backslash:
$name = 'John De\'Costa'; // escaped single quote
echo $name; // John De'Costa
$path = 'C:\\WINDOWS'; // escaped backslash
echo $path; // C:\WINDOWS
$nope = '\n'; // not an escape
echo $nope; // \n

net2net
 Double-Quoted Strings
 Double-quoted strings interpolate variables and expand many PHP escape sequences.

Escape sequence Character represented

\" Double quotes
\n Newline
\r Carriage return
\t Tab
\\ Backslash
\$ Dollar sign
\{ Left brace
\} Right brace
\[ Left bracket
\] Right bracket
\0 through \777 ASCII character represented by octal value
\x0 through \xFF ASCII character represented by hex value

net2net
 Double-Quoted Strings (Contd.)

 Unknown escape sequence are treated as string literal.

$str = "What is \c this?"; // unknown escape sequence
echo $str ; // What is \c this?

net2net
 Here Documents

 To put multiline strings into your program use a heredoc, as follows:

$poem= <<< End_Of_Poem
Johny Johny Yes Pappa
Eating Sugar No Pappa
Telling Lies No Pappa
Open Your Mouth
Ha Ha Ha
End_Of_Poem;
echo $poem;

net2net
 Here Documents (Contd.)
 If you are using a heredoc in a more complex expression, you need to continue the
expression on the next line.
printf(<<< Template
%s is %d years old.
Template
, "Ram", 35);
 Single and double quotes in a heredoc are passed through:
$dialogue = <<< No_More
"It's not going to happen!" she fumed.
He raised an eyebrow. "Want to bet?"
No_More;
echo $dialogue;

net2net
 Here Documents (Contd.)
 Whitespace in a heredoc is also preserved:
$ws = <<< Enough
boo
hoo
Enough; // $ws = " boo\n hoo\n";
 The newline before the trailing terminator is removed, so these two assignments are
identical:
$s = 'Foo';
$s = <<< End_of_pointless_heredoc
Foo
End_of_pointless_heredoc;
 If you want a newline to end your heredoc-quoted string, you need to add an extra
one yourself.

net2net
 Printing Strings

 There are four ways to send output to the browser.

 The echo construct lets you print many values at once
 The print() prints only one value.
 The printf() function builds a formatted string by inserting values into a
template.
 The print_r() function is useful for debugging—it prints the contents of arrays,
objects, and other things, in a human-readable form.

net2net
 echo
 Use echo to put a string into the HTML of a PHP-generated page.
 Echo behaves like a function but it is a language construct so that you can omit the
parentheses.
e.g. echo "PHP";
echo("PHP");
 To print multiple items separate them with commas:
e.g. echo "First", "second", "third"; // Firstsecondthird
 Multiple items with parentheses is parse error:
e.g. echo("Hello", "world"); // this is a parse error
 As echo is not a function, you can't use it as part of a larger expression:
e.g. if(echo("test")) { // parse error
echo("it worked!");
}

net2net
 print
 The print() function sends one value (its argument) to the browser.
 It returns true if the string was successfully displayed and false otherwise
e.g. if(!print("Hello, world")) // Hello, world
{
die("you're not listening to me!");
}

net2net
 printf
 Outputs a string by substituting values into a template (the format string).
 The first argument to printf() is the format string.
 The remaining arguments are the values to be substituted in.
 A % character in the format string indicates a substitution.
 Each substitution marker in the template consists of a percent sign (%), possibly
followed by modifiers, and ends with a type specifier.

net2net
 The modifiers must appear in the following
 A padding specifier: denotes the character to use to pad the results to the
appropriate string size. Specify 0, a space, or any character prefixed with a single
quote (default is spaces).
 A sign:
 For strings, a minus (-) forces the string to be right-justified (default is left-justify).
 For numbers, a plus (+) forces positive numbers to be printed with a leading plus
sign.
 The minimum number of characters that this element should contain.
 A precision specifier: For floating-point numbers consisting of a period and a number;
this dictates how many decimal digits will be displayed.

net2net
 Type Specifiers
• The type specifier tells printf() what type of data is being substituted.

Specifier Meaning
b The argument is an integer and is displayed as a binary number.
c The argument is an integer and is displayed as the character with that value.
d or I The argument is an integer and is displayed as a decimal number.
e, E, or f The argument is a double and is displayed as a floating-point number.
The argument is a double with precision and is displayed as a floating-point
g or G
number.
o The argument is an integer and is displayed as an octal (base-8) number.
s The argument is a string and is displayed as such.
u The argument is an unsigned integer and is displayed as a decimal number.
The argument is an integer and is displayed as a hexadecimal (base-16)
x
number; lowercase letters are used.
The argument is an integer and is displayed as a hexadecimal (base-16)
X
number; uppercase letters are used.

net2net
 Example Output
printf('%.2f', 27.452); 27.45

printf(' %d %x', 214, 214); 214 d6

printf('James Bond. %03d.', 7); James Bond. 007.

printf('%02d/%02d/%04d',$m,$d,$y); 02/15/2002

printf('%.2f%% Complete', 2.1); 2.10% Complete

printf('I\'ve spent $%5.2f so far', 4.1); I've spent $ 4.10 so far

net2net
 sprintf
 The sprintf() function takes the same arguments as printf() but returns the built-up
string instead of printing it.
e.g. $date = sprintf("%02d/%02d/%04d", $month, $day, $year);

net2net
 print_r and var_dump
 The print_r() displays what is passed to it, rather than casting everything to a
string, as echo and print() do.
 Strings and numbers are simply printed.
 Arrays appear as parenthesized lists of keys and values, prefaced by word Array:
e.g. $a = array('name' => 'Ram', 'age' => 35, 'wife' => 'Seeta');
print_r($a);
Output:
Array([name] => Ram [age] => 35 [wife] => Seeta)

net2net
 print_r and var_dump (Contd.)
 When you pass and object to print_r(), you see the word Object, followed by the
initialized properties of the object displayed as an array:
e.g. class P {
var $name = 'Sham';
// ...
}
$p = new P;
print_r($p);
Output: Object([name] => Sham)

net2net
 print_r and var_dump (Contd.)
 Boolean values and NULL are not meaningfully displayed by print_r():
e.g. print_r(true); // 1
print_r(false); // Blank
print_r(null); // Blank

net2net
 print_r and var_dump (Contd.)
 The var_dump() function displays any PHP value in a human-readable format:
var_dump(true); // bool(true)
var_dump(false); // bool(false);
var_dump(null); // NULL;
var_dump(array('name' => 'Ram' , 'age' => 35));
// array(2){["name"]=> string(4) "Ram" ["age"]=> int(35)}
class P {
var $name = 'Sham';
// ...
}
$p = new P;
var_dump($p);
// object(p)(1){ ["name"]=> string(4) "Sham"}

net2net
 Accessing string characters
 The strlen() function returns the number of characters in a string:
$string = 'Hello, world';
$length = strlen($string); // $length is 12
 You can use array syntax on a string, to access individual characters:
$string = 'Hello';
for($i=0; $i < strlen($string); $i++)
{
printf("The %dth character is %s\n", $i, $string[$i]);
}

net2net
 Removing Whitespace
 You can remove leading or trailing whitespace with the trim(), ltrim(), and
rtrim() functions:
$trimmed = trim(string [,charlist]);
$trimmed = ltrim(string [,charlist]);
$trimmed = rtrim(string [,charlist]);
 trim() returns a copy of string with whitespace removed from the beginning and
the end.
 ltrim() removes whitespace only from the start of the string.
 rtrim() removes whitespace only from the end of the string.
 The optional charlist argument is a string that specifies characters to strip.

net2net
 Removing Whitespace (Contd.)

Character ASCII value Meaning

"" 0x20 Space
"\t" 0x09 Tab
"\n" 0x0A Newline (line feed)
"\r" 0x0D Carriage return
"\0" 0x00 NUL-byte
"\x0B" 0x0B Vertical tab

net2net
 Removing Whitespace (Contd.)
$title = " Programming PHP ";
$str_1 = ltrim($title); // $str_1 is "Programming PHP "
$str_2 = rtrim($title); // $str_2 is " Programming PHP"
$str_3 = trim($title); // $str_3 is "Programming PHP"

$record = " Ram\tSham\t35\tSeeta \n";

$record = trim($record, " \r\n\0\x0B");
// $record is "Ram\tSham\t35\tSeeta"

net2net
 Changing Case
$s = "net2net Computer Education";
print(strtolower($s)); // net2net computer education
print(strtoupper($s)); // NET2NET COMPUTER EDUCATION
print(ucfirst($s)); // Net2net Computer Education
$s = "let us learn PHP";
print(ucwords($s)); // Let Us Learn PHP

net2net
 Exact Comparison
 You can compare two strings for equality with the == and === operators.
 The == operator casts non-string operands to strings.
 The === operator does not cast, and returns false if the types of the arguments
differ.
$o1 = 3;
$o2 = "3";
if($o1 == $o2) {
echo("== returns true<br>");
}
if($o1 === $o2) {
echo("=== returns true<br>");
}
Output: == returns true

net2net
 Exact Comparison (Contd.)
 The comparison operators (<, <=, >, >=) also work on strings:
$him = "Ram";
$her = "Seeta";
if ($him < $her) {
print "$him comes before $her in the alphabet.";
}
Output: Ram comes before Seeta in the alphabet

net2net
 Exact Comparison (Contd.)
 When one argument to a comparison operator is a number, the other argument is
cast to a number.
$string = "PHP Rocks";
$number = 5;
if ($string < $number) {
echo("$string < $number");
}
Output: PHP Rocks < 5

net2net
 strcmp & strcasecmp
 To compare two strings as strings, casting numbers to strings if necessary, use the
strcmp() function:
$relationship = strcmp(string_1, string_2);
 Returns a number:
< 0 if string_1 sorts before string_2
> 0 if string_2 sorts before string_1
= 0 if they are same
$n = strcmp("PHP Rocks", 5); // $n is >0
 strcasecmp() converts strings to lowercase before comparing them.
 Return values are the same as those for strcmp():
$n = strcasecmp("Ram", "raM"); // $n is 0

net2net
 strncmp & strncasecmp
 Compares only the first few characters of the string.
$relationship = strncmp(string_1, string_2, len);
$relationship = strncasecmp(string_1, string_2, len);

net2net
 strnatcmp & strnatcasecmp
 Identifies numeric portions of the strings being compared and sorts the string
parts separately from the numeric parts.

Natural order ASCII order

pic1.jpg pic1.jpg

pic5.jpg pic10.jpg

pig10.jpg pic5.jpg

pic50.jpg pic50.jpg

net2net
 soundex & metaphone
 To test whether two strings are approximately equal.
$soundex_code = soundex($string);
$metaphone_code = metaphone($string);
 The metaphone algorithm is generally more accurate.

net2net
$known = "Fred";
$query = "Phred";
if(soundex($known) == soundex($query)){
print "soundex: $known sounds $query<br>";
}
else{
print "soundex: $known doesn't sound like $query<br>";
}
if(metaphone($known) == metaphone($query)){
print "metaphone: $known sounds $query<br>";
}
else{
print "metaphone: $known doesn't sound like $query<br>";
}
Output:
soundex: Fred doesn't sound like Phred
metaphone: Fred sounds like Phred

net2net
 similar_text & levenshtein
 The similar_text() function returns the number of characters that are
common between two strings.
$in_common = similar_text($str_1, $str_2[, $percentage]);
 The levenshtein algorithm calculates the similarity of two strings based on how
many characters you must add, substitute, or remove to make them the same.
$similarity = levenshtein($str_1, $str_2);
$similarity=levenshtein($str_1, $str_2
[, $cost_ins, $cost_rep, $cost_del]);

net2net
$string_1 = "Rasmus Lerdorf";
$string_2 = "Razmus Lehrdorf";
$common = similar_text($string_1, $string_2, $percent);
printf("They have %d chars in common (%.2f%%).",
$common, $percent);

Output: They have 13 chars in common (89.66%).

$similarity = levenshtein("cat", "cot"); // $similarity is 1

net2net
 substr & substr_count
$piece = substr(string, start [, length ]);
$name = "net2net Computer Education";
$a = substr($name, 6, 4); // $a is "t Co"
$b = substr($name, 11); // $b is "uter Education"

$number = substr_count(big_string, small_string);

$name = "net2net";
$n = substr_count($name, "net"); // $n is 2

net2net
 substr_replace
$string = substr_replace(original, new, start [, length ]);
$greeting = "good morning citizen";
$farewell = substr_replace($greeting, "bye", 5,7);
// $farewell is "good bye citizen"
 Use a length value of 0 to insert without deleting:
$farewell = substr_replace($farewell, "kind ", 9, 0);
// $farewell is "good bye kind citizen"
 Use a replacement of "" to delete without inserting:
$farewell = substr_replace($farewell, "", 8);
// $farewell is "good bye"

net2net
 substr_replace (Contd.)
 To insert at the beginning of the string:
$farewell = substr_replace($farewell,
"now it's time to say ", 0, 0);
// $farewell is "now it's time to say good bye"'
 A negative value for start indicates the number of characters from the end of the
string from which to start the replacement:
$farewell = substr_replace($farewell, "riddance", -3);
// $farewell is "now it's time to say good riddance"
 A negative length indicates the number of characters from the end of the string at
which to stop deleting:
$farewell = substr_replace($farewell, "", -8, -5);
// $farewell is "now it's time to say good dance"

net2net
 strrev, str_repeat & str_pad
$string = strrev(string);
echo strrev("This is a string"); // "gnirts a si sihT"

$repeated = str_repeat(string, count);

echo str_repeat('-', 5); // "- - - - - "

$padded = str_pad(to_pad, length [, with [, pad_type ]]);

$string = str_pad('Ram', 10);
echo "$string:35:Seeta"; // Ram :35:Seeta

net2net
 strrev, str_repeat & str_pad (Contd.)
$string = str_pad('Ram', 10, '.');
echo "{$string}35"; // Ram.......35
 The optional fourth argument can be either STR_PAD_RIGHT (the default),
STR_PAD_LEFT, or STR_PAD_BOTH (to center).
echo '['.str_pad('Ram', 10, '*', STR_PAD_LEFT).']<br>';
echo '['.str_pad('Ram', 10, '*', STR_PAD_BOTH).']';
Output:
[*******Ram]
[****Ram***]

net2net
 explode
$array = explode(separator, string [, limit]);

$input = 'Ram,25,Seeta';
$fields = explode(',', $input);
// $fields is array('Ram', '25', 'Seeta')
$fields = explode(',', $input, 2);
// $fields is array('Ram', '25,Seeta')

net2net
 implode
$string = implode(separator, array);

$fields = array('Ram', '25', 'Seeta');

$string = implode(',', $fields); // $string is 'Ram,25,Seeta'
 The join() function is an alias for implode().

net2net
 strtok
$first_chunk = strtok(string, separator);
$next_chunk = strtok(separator);

$string = "Amar,Akbar,Anthony";
$token = strtok($string, ",");
while ($token !== false) {
echo("$token<br>");
$token = strtok(",");
}

Output:
Amar
Akbar
Anthony

net2net
 sscanf
$array = sscanf(string, template);
$count = sscanf(string, template, var1, ... );

$string = "Ram\tYadav (35)";

$a = sscanf($string, "%s\t%s (%d)");
print_r($a); //Array([0] => Ram [1] => Yadav [2] => 35)

$string = "Ram\tYadav (35)";

$n = sscanf($string, "%s\t%s (%d)", $first, $last, $age);

net2net
 strpos & strrpos
$position = strpos(large_string, small_string);

$record = "Ram,Laxman,35,Seeta";

$pos = strrpos($record, ",");

echo("The last comma in the record is at position $pos");

// The last comma in the record is at position 13

net2net
 strstr
$rest = strstr(large_string, small_string);

$record = "Amar,Akbar,35,Anthony";
$rest = strstr($record, ","); // $rest is ",Akbar,35,Anthony "
 stristr() Case-insensitive strstr()
 strchr() alias for strstr()
 strrchr() find last occurrence of a character in a string

net2net
 strspn & strcspn
$length = strspn(string, charset);

function is_octal ($str)

{
return strspn($str, '01234567') == strlen($str);
}

net2net
 parse_url
 The parse_url() function returns an array of components of a URL:
$array = parse_url(url);

$bits=parse_url('http://me:[email protected]/cgi-bin/board?user=ram');
print_r($bits);

Output: Array(
[scheme] => http
[host] => ex.com
[user] => me
[pass] => secret
[path] => /cgi-bin/board
[query] => user=ram)

net2net
 Regular Expression

• A regular expression is a string that represents a pattern.

• The regular expression functions compare that pattern to another string and checks
whether the string matches the pattern.

• Two types of regular expressions: POSIX and Perl-compatible.

• POSIX regular expressions are less powerful, and sometimes slower, than the Perl-
compatible functions, but can be easier to read.

• Uses of regular expressions:

• Matching - extract information from a string;

• Substituting - new text for matching text;

• Splitting - a string into an array of smaller chunks.

 Regular Expressions (Contd.)

 A caret (^) at the beginning of a regular expression indicates that it must match the
beginning of the string:
ereg('^cow', 'Krishan was a cowhand'); // returns false
ereg('^cow', 'cowabunga!'); // returns true
 A dollar sign ($) at the end of a regular expression means that it must match the
end of the string:
ereg('cow$', 'Krishna was a cowhand'); // returns false
ereg('cow$', 'I Don't have a cow'); // returns true
 Regular Expressions (Contd.)

 A dot (.) in a regular expression matches any single character:

ereg('c.t', 'cat'); // returns true
ereg('c.t', 'cut'); // returns true
ereg('c.t', 'c t'); // returns true
ereg('c.t', 'bat'); // returns false
ereg('c.t', 'ct'); // returns false
 If you want to match one of these metacharacter, you have to escape it with a
backslash:
ereg('\$5\.00', 'Your bill is $5.00 exactly');// returns true
ereg('$5.00', 'Your bill is $5.00 exactly'); // returns false
 If you want to perform a case-insensitive match use the eregi() function.
 Character Classes

 To specify a set of acceptable characters in your pattern, build a character class

yourself by enclosing the acceptable characters in square brackets:
ereg('c[aeiou]t', 'I cut my hand'); // returns true
ereg('c[aeiou]t', 'This crusty cat'); // returns true
ereg('c[aeiou]t', 'What cart?'); // returns false
ereg('c[aeiou]t', '14ct gold'); // returns false
 Character Classes (Contd.)

 You can negate a character class with a caret (^) at the start:
ereg('c[^aeiou]t', 'I cut my hand'); // returns false
ereg('c[^aeiou]t', 'Reboot chthon'); // returns true
ereg('c[^aeiou]t', '14ct gold'); // returns false
 You can define a range of characters with a hyphen (-).
ereg('[0-9]%', 'we are 25% complete'); // returns true
ereg('[0123456789]%', 'we are 25% over'); // returns true
ereg('[a-z]t', '11th') // returns false
ereg('[a-z]t', 'cat'); // returns true
ereg('[a-z]t', 'PIT'); // returns false
ereg('[a-zA-Z]!', '11!'); // returns false
ereg('[a-zA-Z]!', 'stop!'); // returns true
 Alternatives

 Use pipe (|) character to specify alternatives in a regular expression:

ereg('cat|dog', 'the cat rubbed my legs'); // returns true
ereg('cat|dog', 'the dog rubbed my legs'); // returns true
ereg('cat|dog', 'the rabbit rubbed my legs'); // returns false
 '^cat|dog$' - matches a line that either starts with "cat" or ends with "dog".
 '^(cat|dog)$' - matches a line that contains just "cat" or "dog".
 Check for strings that don't start with a capital letter:
ereg('^([a-z]|[0-9])', 'The quick brown fox'); // returns false
ereg('^([a-z]|[0-9])', 'jumped over'); // returns true
ereg('^([a-z]|[0-9])', '10 lazy dogs'); // returns true
 Repeating Sequences

 To specify a repeating pattern, you use a quantifier.

 The quantifier goes after the pattern that's repeated and says how many times to
repeat that pattern.

Quantifier Meaning
? 0 or 1
* 0 or more

+ 1 or more
{n} Exactly n times

{n,m} At least n, no more than m times

{n,} At least n times
 Repeating Sequences

 To repeat a single character put the quantifier after the character:

ereg('ca+t', 'caaaaaaat'); // returns true
ereg('ca+t', 'ct'); // returns false
ereg('ca?t', 'caaaaaaat'); // returns false
ereg('ca*t', 'ct'); // returns true
 Quantifiers with character classes:
ereg('[0-9]{3}-[0-9]{3}-[0-9]{4}', '303-555-1212');
// returns true
ereg('[0-9]{3}-[0-9]{3}-[0-9]{4}', '64-9-555-1234');
// returns false
 subpattern

 Use parentheses to group bits of a regular expression together to be treated as a

single unit called a subpattern
ereg('a (very )+big dog', 'it was a very very big dog');
// returns true
ereg('^(cat|dog)$', 'cat'); // returns true
ereg('^(cat|dog)$', 'dog'); // returns true
 Matching

 If you pass an array as the third argument to ereg function, the array is populated
with any captured substrings:
ereg('([0-9]+)', 'You have 42 magic beans', $captured);
// returns true
 The 0th element of the array is set to the entire string being matched against.
 The 1st element is the substring that matched the 1st subpattern, and the 2nd
element is the substring that matched the 2nd subpattern, and so on.
ereg('y.*e$', 'Sylvie'); //returns true
ereg('y(.*)e$', 'Sylvie', $a);
//returns true, $a is array('Sylvie', 'lvi')
 Replacing

 The ereg_replace() function takes a pattern, a replacement string, and a string

in which to search.
 It returns a copy of the search string, with text that matched the pattern replaced
with the replacement string:
$changed = ereg_replace(pattern, replacement, string);
echo ereg_replace("five", "ten", "I have five mangoes");
// I have ten mangoes

$string = "Learn how to build your own website";

$pattern = " ";
$replacement = "-";
echo ereg_replace($pattern, $replacement, $string);
// Learn-how-to-buld-your-own-website.
 Splitting

 The split() function uses a regular expression to divide a string into smaller
chunks, which are returned as an array.
 Optionally, you can say how many chunks to return:
$chunks = split(pattern, string [, limit ]);
$expression = '3*5+i/6-12';
$terms = split('[/+*-]', $expression);
//$terms is array('3','5','i','6','12)
 If you specify a limit, the last element of the array holds the rest of the string:
$expression = '3*5+i/6-12';
$terms=split('[/+*-]',$expression,3);
// $terms is array('3','5','i/6-12')
 Encoding and Escaping
 Because PHP programs often interact with HTML pages, web addresses (URLs), and
databases, there are functions to help you work with those types of data.
 HTML, web page addresses, and database commands are all strings, but they each
require different characters to be escaped in different ways.
 For example, a space in a web address must be written as %20, while a literal less-
than sign (<) in an HTML document must be written as &lt;.

net2net
 Entity-quoting all special characters
 Special characters in HTML are represented by entities such as &amp; and &lt;.
 The htmlentities() function changes all characters with HTML entity
equivalents into equivalent entities (with the exception of the space character).
 This includes the less-than sign (<), the greater-than sign (>), the ampersand (&),
and accented characters.
$string = htmlentities("Einstürzende Neubauten");
echo $string; // Einstürzende Neubauten
 The entity-escaped version (&uuml; seen by viewing the source) correctly displays
as ü in the rendered web page. The space has not been turned into &nbsp;.

net2net
 Entity-quoting all special characters (contd.)
 The htmlentities() function actually takes up to three arguments:
$output = htmlentities(input, quote_style, charset);
 The charset parameter, if given, identifies the character set (default is ISO-8859-1)
 The quote_style parameter controls whether single and double quotes are turned
into their entity forms.
ENT_COMPAT (the default) converts only double quotes
ENT_QUOTES converts both types of quotes
ENT_NOQUOTES converts neither.

net2net
 Entity-quoting all special characters (contd.)

$input = <<< End

"Stop pulling my hair!" Jane's eyes flashed.<p>
End;
$double = htmlentities($input);
//&quot;Stop pulling my hair!&quot; Jane's eyes flashed.&lt;p&gt;
$both = htmlentities($input, ENT_QUOTES);
//&quot;Stop pulling my hair!&quot; Jane&#039;s eyes flashed.&lt;p&gt;

$neither = htmlentities($input, ENT_NOQUOTES);

// "Stop pulling my hair!" Jane's eyes flashed.&lt;p&gt;

net2net
 Entity-quoting only HTML syntax characters
 The htmlspecialchars() function converts the smallest set of entities possible
to generate valid HTML.
Ampersands (&) are converted to &amp;.
Double quotes (") are converted to &quot;.
Single quotes (') are converted to &#039;
Less-than signs (<) are converted to &lt;.
Greater-than signs (>) are converted to &gt;.
$output = htmlspecialchars(input, [quote_style, [charset]]);
 The quote_style and charset arguments have the same meaning that they do for
htmlentities().

net2net
 Removing HTML Tags
 The strip_tags() function removes HTML tags from a string:
$input = '<p>Howdy, &quot;Cowboy&quot;</p>';
$output = strip_tags($input);
// $output is 'Howdy, &quot;Cowboy&quot;'
 The function may take a second argument that specifies a string of tags to leave in
the string. List only the opening forms of the tags.
$input = 'The <b>bold</b> tags will <i>stay</i><p>';
$output = strip_tags($input, '<b>');
// $output is 'The <b>bold</b> tags will stay'

net2net
 SQL
 Most database systems require that string literals in your SQL queries be escaped.
 Single quotes, double quotes, NUL-bytes, and backslashes need to be preceded by
a backslash.
 The addslashes() function adds these slashes, and the stripslashes()
function removes them.

$string = <<< The_End

"It's never going to work," she cried,
as she hit the backslash (\) key.
The_End;
echo addslashes($string);
\"It\'s never going to work,\" she cried,
as she hit the backslash (\\) key.
echo stripslashes($string);
"It's never going to work," she cried,
as she hit the backslash (\) key.

net2net