The Text Helper file contains functions that assist in working with Text. The following functions are available: A random string string Generates a random string based on the type and length you specify. Useful for creating passwords or generating random hashes. The first parameter specifies the type of string, the second parameter specifies the length. The following choices are available: Note When you use crypto, you must
set an even number to the second parameter. Since v4.2.2, if you set an odd number, InvalidArgumentException will be thrown. Usage example: <?php
echo random_string('alnum', 16);
An incremented string string Increments a string by appending a number to it or increasing the number. Useful for creating “copies” or a file or duplicating database content which has unique titles or slugs. Usage example: <?php
echo increment_string('file', '_'); // "file_1"
echo increment_string('file', '-', 2); // "file-2"
echo increment_string('file_4'); // "file_5"
Alternated string(s) mixed Allows two or more items to be alternated between, when cycling through a loop. Example: <?php
for ($i = 0; $i < 10; $i++) {
echo alternator('string one', 'string two');
}
You can add as many parameters as you want, and with each iteration of your loop the next item will be returned. <?php
for ($i = 0; $i < 10; $i++) {
echo alternator('one', 'two', 'three', 'four', 'five');
}
Note To use multiple separate calls to this function simply call the function with no arguments to re-initialize. A string with normalized slashes string Converts double slashes in a string to a single slash, except those found in URL protocol prefixes (e.g., http://). Example: <?php
$string = '//example.com//index.php';
echo reduce_double_slashes($string); // results in "//example.com/index.php"
String(s) with stripped slashes mixed Removes any slashes from an array of strings. Example: <?php
$str = [
'question' => "Is your name O\\'reilly?",
'answer' => "No, my name is O\\'connor.",
];
$str = strip_slashes($str);
The above will return the following array: <?php
[
'question' => "Is your name O'reilly?",
'answer' => "No, my name is O'connor.",
];
Note For historical reasons, this function will also accept and handle string inputs. This however makes it just an alias for stripslashes(). Reduced string string Reduces multiple instances of a particular character occurring directly after each other. Example: <?php
$string = 'Fred, Bill,, Joe, Jimmy';
$string = reduce_multiples($string, ','); // results in "Fred, Bill, Joe, Jimmy"
If the third parameter is set to true it will remove occurrences of the character at the beginning and the end of the string. Example: <?php
$string = ',Fred, Bill,, Joe, Jimmy,';
$string = reduce_multiples($string, ', ', true); // results in "Fred, Bill, Joe, Jimmy"
String with quotes converted to HTML entities string Converts single and double quotes in a string to the corresponding HTML entities. Example: <?php
$string = "Joe's \"dinner\"";
$string = quotes_to_entities($string); // results in "Joe's "dinner""
String with quotes stripped string Removes single and double quotes from a string. Example: <?php
$string = "Joe's \"dinner\"";
$string = strip_quotes($string); // results in "Joes dinner"
Word-limited string string Truncates a string to the number of words specified. Example: <?php
$string = 'Here is a nice text string consisting of eleven words.';
$string = word_limiter($string, 4);
// Returns: Here is a nice
The third parameter is an optional suffix added to the string. By default it adds an ellipsis. Character-limited string string Truncates a string to the number of characters specified. It maintains the integrity of words so the character count may be slightly more or less than what you specify. Example: <?php
$string = 'Here is a nice text string consisting of eleven words.';
$string = character_limiter($string, 20);
// Returns: Here is a nice text string
Available Functions
Parameters: Returns: Return type: Parameters: Returns: Return type: Parameters: Returns: Return type: Parameters: Returns: Return type: Parameters: Returns: Return type: Parameters: Returns: Return type: Parameters: Returns: Return type: Parameters: Returns: Return type: Parameters: Returns: Return type: Parameters: Returns: Return type:
The third parameter is an optional suffix added to the string, if undeclared this helper uses an ellipsis.
Note
If you need to truncate to an exact number of characters, please see the ellipsize() function below.
ascii_to_entities($str)
|
A string with ASCII values converted to entities |
string |
Converts ASCII values to character entities, including high ASCII and MS Word characters that can cause problems when used in a web page, so that they can be shown consistently regardless of browser settings or stored reliably in a database. There is some dependence on your server’s supported character sets, so it may not be 100% reliable in all cases, but for the most part, it should correctly identify characters outside the normal range (like accented characters).
Example:
<?php $string = ascii_to_entities($string);
entities_to_ascii($str[, $all = true])
|
A string with HTML entities converted to ASCII characters |
string |
This function does the opposite of ascii_to_entities(). It turns character entities back into ASCII.
convert_accented_characters($str)
|
A string with accented characters converted |
string |
Transliterates high ASCII characters to low ASCII equivalents. Useful when non-English characters need to be used where only standard ASCII characters are safely used, for instance, in URLs.
Example:
<?php $string = convert_accented_characters($string);
Note
This function uses a companion config file app/Config/ForeignCharacters.php to define the to and from array for transliteration.
word_censor($str, $censored[, $replacement = ''])
|
Censored string |
string |
Enables you to censor words within a text string. The first parameter will contain the original string. The second will contain an array of words which you disallow. The third (optional) parameter can contain a replacement value for the words. If not specified they are replaced with pound signs: ####.
Example:
<?php $disallowed = ['darn', 'shucks', 'golly', 'phooey']; $string = word_censor($string, $disallowed, 'Beep!');
highlight_code($str)
|
String with code highlighted via HTML |
string |
Colorizes a string of code (PHP, HTML, etc.). Example:
<?php $string = highlight_code($string);
The function uses PHP’s highlight_string() function, so the colors used are the ones specified in your php.ini file.
highlight_phrase($str, $phrase[, $tag_open = '<mark>'[, $tag_close = '</mark>']])
|
String with a phrase highlighted via HTML |
string |
Will highlight a phrase within a text string. The first parameter will contain the original string, the second will contain the phrase you wish to highlight. The third and fourth parameters will contain the opening/closing HTML tags you would like the phrase wrapped in.
Example:
<?php $string = 'Here is a nice text string about nothing in particular.'; echo highlight_phrase($string, 'nice text', '<span style="color:#990000;">', '</span>');
The above code prints:
Here is a <span style="color:#990000;">nice text</span> string about nothing in particular.
Note
This function used to use the <strong> tag by default. Older browsers might not support the new HTML5 mark tag, so it is recommended that you insert the following CSS code into your stylesheet if you need to support such browsers:
mark { background: #ff0; color: #000; };
word_wrap($str[, $charlim = 76])
|
Word-wrapped string |
string |
Wraps text at the specified character count while maintaining complete words.
Example:
<?php $string = 'Here is a simple string of text that will help us demonstrate this function.'; echo word_wrap($string, 25); /* * Would produce: * Here is a simple string * of text that will help us * demonstrate this * function. * * Excessively long words will be split, but URLs will not be. */
ellipsize($str, $max_length[, $position = 1[, $ellipsis = '…']])
|
Ellipsized string |
string |
This function will strip tags from a string, split it at a defined maximum length, and insert an ellipsis.
The first parameter is the string to ellipsize, the second is the number of characters in the final string. The third parameter is where in the string the ellipsis should appear from 0 - 1, left to right. For example. a value of 1 will place the ellipsis at the right of the string, .5 in the middle, and 0 at the left.
An optional fourth parameter is the kind of ellipsis. By default, … will be inserted.
Example:
<?php $str = 'this_string_is_entirely_too_long_and_might_break_my_design.jpg'; echo ellipsize($str, 32, .5);
Produces:
this_string_is_e…ak_my_design.jpg
excerpt($text, $phrase = false, $radius = 100, $ellipsis = '...')
|
Excerpt. |
string |
This function will extract $radius number of characters before and after the central $phrase with an ellipsis before and after.
The first parameter is the text to extract an excerpt from, the second is the central word or phrase to count before and after. The third parameter is the number of characters to count before and after the central phrase. If no phrase passed, the excerpt will include the first $radius characters with the ellipsis at the end.
Example:
<?php $text = 'Ut vel faucibus odio. Quisque quis congue libero. Etiam gravida eros lorem, eget porttitor augue dignissim tincidunt. In eget risus eget mauris faucibus molestie vitae ultricies odio. Vestibulum id ultricies diam. Curabitur non mauris lectus. Phasellus eu sodales sem. Integer dictum purus ac enim hendrerit gravida. Donec ac magna vel nunc tincidunt molestie sed vitae nisl. Cras sed auctor mauris, non dictum tortor. Nulla vel scelerisque arcu. Cras ac ipsum sit amet augue laoreet laoreet. Aenean a risus lacus. Sed ut tortor diam.'; echo excerpt($text, 'Donec');
Produces:
... non mauris lectus. Phasellus eu sodales sem. Integer dictum purus ac enim hendrerit gravida. Donec ac magna vel nunc tincidunt molestie sed vitae nisl. Cras sed auctor mauris, non dictum tortor. ...