Strings

Introduction

PHP has several functions to manipulate strings procedurally. However, this can be a hassle when it comes to using multiple functions to manipulate a single string. The situation gets worse when you have multibyte characters, as you will have to switch between functions.

$text = 'Something to translate';
$text = strtr($text, $translation);
$text = htmlspecialchars($text);
$text = nl2br($text);
echo $text;

The Str component allows you to perform these same functions using OOP. This will make living with PHP strings easier by:

  • providing a simple chained API to string operations
  • not mixing up the needle haystack stuff
  • allowing you to extend and add your own methods in seconds

How to use

Below is an example of how to perform the functions in the previous example using the Str component:

use Solital\Core\Resource\Str\Str;

$str = new Str('Something to translate');
$str->translate(["translate" => "another language"])
$str->specialchars()
$str->nl2br();

echo $str->value();

// Or use `__toString()`

echo $str;

If you don't want to create a new instance, you can use the str() helper:

echo str('Something to translate')
    ->translate(["translate" => "another language"])
    ->specialchars()
    ->nl2br();

The Str class is fully compatible with multibyte characters.

Chained methods

The methods below must be used by creating an instance of the Str class.

value()

Returns the current value of this string

$str = new Str('foo');
echo $str->value();

after()

Get the string after the first occurence of the substring.

$str = new Str("This is a test");
$str->after("This is");
echo $str->value();

before()

Get the string before the first occurence of the substring.

$str = new Str("This is a test");
$str->before("a test");
echo $str->value();

addCslashes()

Quote string with slashes in a C style

$str = new Str('testescape');
$str->addCslashes('acep');
echo $str->value();

addSlashes()

Quote string with slashes

$str = new Str("aa'bb");
$str->addSlashes();
echo $str->value();

chunkSplit()

Splits the string into smaller chunks

$str = new Str('foobar');
$str->chunkSplit(2, ':');
echo $str->value();

concat()

Appends another string to this string.

$str = new Str('foo');
$str->concat('bar');
echo $str->value();

ireplace()

Case-insensitive version of Str::replace().

$str = new Str('foo=bar');
$str->ireplace(['FOO' => 'bar']);
echo $str->value();

ltrim()

Strip whitespace (or other characters) from the beginning of a string.

$str = new Str('_-_foo');
$str->ltrim('_-');
echo $str->value();

nl2br()

Converts new lines to <br /> elements.

$str = new Str(["foo\nbar" . PHP_EOL, "foo<br />\nbar<br />" . PHP_EOL]);
$str->nl2br();
echo $str->value();

pad()

Pad the string to a certain length with another string.

  • $pad_length: If the value of pad_length is negative, less than, or equal to the length of current string, no padding takes place
  • $pad_string: String to pad the current string with
  • $pad_type: Optional, can be STR_PAD_RIGHT, STR_PAD_LEFT, or STR_PAD_BOTH. If $pad_type is not specified it is assumed to be STR_PAD_RIGHT
$str = new Str('foo');
$str->pad(16, '-.-;', STR_PAD_RIGHT);
echo $str->value();

removeAccents()

Replace characters with accents with normal characters.

$str = new Str("àèìÒ");
$str->removeAccents();
echo $str->value();

repeat()

Repeats the string.

$str = new Str('foo');
$str->repeat(5);
echo $str->value();

replace()

Replaces the occurences of keys with their values.

$str = new Str('foo can be bar but foo does not have to');
$str->replace(['foo' => 'fOo', 'DoEs Not' => 'fail', 'to' => '2']);
echo $str->value();

reverse()

Reverses current string.

$str = new Str('knitS raW pupilS regaL');
$str->reverse();
echo $str->value();

rot13()

Perform the ROT13 transform on current string.

The ROT13 encoding simply shifts every letter by 13 places in the alphabet while leaving non-alpha characters untouched. Encoding and decoding are done by the same function, passing an encoded string as argument will return the original version.

$str = new Str('foobar');
$str->rot13();
echo $str->value();

rtrim()

Strip whitespace (or other characters) from the end.

$str = new Str('ofoooooo');
$str->rtrim('o');
echo $str->value();

shorten()

Truncate String (shorten) with or without ellipsis.

$str = new Str('foo bar foobar pebkac fubar');
$str->shorten(10);
echo $str->value();

shuffle()

Randomly shuffles the string.

$str = new Str('foo bar foobar pebkac fubar');
$original = $str->value();
$str->shuffle();
echo $str->value();
echo $original;

slug()

Generate a URL friendly slug from the given string.

$str = new Str('foo bar foobar pebkac fubar');
$str->slug();
echo $str->value();

specialchars()

Convert special characters to HTML entities.

  • $decode: If true, convert special HTML entities back to characters.
$str = new Str('<p>This should <br>not be wrapped</p>');
$str->specialchars();
echo $str->value();

stripTags()

Strip HTML and PHP tags.

  • $allowable_tags: List of allowed tags.
$str = new Str('<html><div><p><br/><br></p></div></html>');
$str->stripTags();
echo $str->value();

translate()

Translate characters or replace substrings.

$str = new Str(':foo :bar');
$str->translate([':foo' => ':bar', ':bar' => ':newbar']);
echo $str->value();

trim()

Strips whitespace (or other characters) from the beginning and end of the string.

$str = new Str('offsoooooo');
$str->trim('o');
echo $str->value();

toUpper()

Make a string uppercase.

$str = new Str('my string');
$str->toUpper();
echo $str->value();

toLower()

Make a string uppercase.

$str = new Str('MY STRING');
$str->toLower();
echo $str->value();

undo()

Undoes the last $steps operations.

$str = new Str(' foo is bar ');
$str->rtrim();
$str->ltrim();
$str->replace(array(' is ' => '_is_'));
$str->undo(1);
echo $str->value();

Not chainable methods

The methods below must be used statically.

compare()

Binary safe string comparison.

  • < 0 if this string is less than target string
  • > 0 if this string is greater than target string
  • == 0 if both strings are equal
echo Str::compare('my_string', 'mystring');

compareInsensitive()

Binary safe case-insensitive string comparison.

  • < 0 if this string is less than target string
  • > 0 if this string is greater than target string
  • == 0 if both strings are equal
echo Str::compareInsensitive('my_string', 'mystring');

contains()

Does current string contain a subtring?

echo Str::contains('my_string', 'string');

countChars()

Return information about characters used in a string.

$res = Str::countChars('abababcabc');
pre($res);

endsWith()

Checks if haystack ends with needle

echo Str::endsWith('foo is bar sometimes', 'sometimes');

position()

Find the position of the first occurrence of a substring in a string.

echo Str::position('foo is bar sometimes', ' is ', 0);

startsWith()

Checks if haystack begins with needle

echo Str::startsWith('foo is bar sometimes', 'foo');

uniqueChars()

Returns a string containing all unique characters (in current string).

echo Str::uniqueChars('abcabdabcd');

wordCount()

Counts the number of words inside string.

  • $charlist: Optional list of additional characters which will be considered as 'word'.
echo Str::wordCount('foo is here 3 times foo foo');

word()

Returns the list of words inside string.

  • $charlist: Optional list of additional characters which will be considered as 'word'.
echo Str::word('foo foo bar foo');

What to see next?

  1. ← Session
  2. Validation →
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