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⚙️ | Utility Functions & Other Tools

String Utilities​

Link to PHP documentation

String Length​

Calculates the length of a string.

$my_string = "test";
echo strlen($my_string);
🖥️ Output
4

Uppercase and Lowercase String​

Converts a string to uppercase or lowercase.

$my_var = "toto";
echo strtoupper($my_var) . "\n";

$my_var = "TATA";
echo strtolower($my_var);
🖥️ Output
TOTO
tata

Splitting with explode and Joining with implode​

Splits or joins a string into segments.

$my_var = "toto;tata;tonton";

// Split a string into an array
$my_array = explode(";", $my_var);
var_dump($my_array);

// Join array elements into a string
$my_other_var = implode(";", $my_array);
echo $my_other_var;
🖥️ Output
["toto", "tata", "tonton"]
toto;tata;tonton

Removing Extra Spaces with trim​

$my_var = "   toto    ";
$my_other_var = trim($my_var);
echo $my_other_var;
🖥️ Output
toto

There are also ltrim (left trim) to remove spaces only at the beginning, and rtrim (right trim) to remove spaces only at the end.

Replacing Part of a String with replace​

$my_var = "toto";
$my_other_var = str_replace("o", "a", $my_var);
echo $my_other_var;
🖥️ Output
tata

Integer and Float Utilities​

Converting a Variable to int or float​

$my_var = "10";
$my_int = intval($my_var);
var_dump($my_int);
🖥️ Output
int(10)

Same principle with floatval()

Other utilities​

Checking the type of a variable​

  • is_array() — Determines if a variable is an array
  • is_bool() — Determines if a variable is a boolean
  • is_callable() — Determines if a value can be called as a function in the current scope.
  • is_countable() — Checks if the variable's contents are countable
  • is_float() — Determines if a variable is a float number
  • is_int() — Determines if a variable is an integer number
  • is_numeric() — Determines if a variable is a number or a numeric string
var_dump(is_int(23));
var_dump(is_int("23"));
🖥️ Output
bool(true)
bool(false)

Checking if a variable exists (and if it is empty)​

isset() determines if a variable is considered defined, meaning it is declared and is not null.

$is_my_var_existing = isset($my_var)
var_dump($is_my_var_existing)
🖥️ Output
bool(false)

empty() determines if a variable is considered defined and if its value is equal to false.

$my_array = ["toto", "tata", false]

$is_toto_existing = empty($my_array[0])
$is_uncle_existing = empty($my_array[2])
var_dump($is_toto_existing)
var_dump($is_uncle_existing)
🖥️ Output
bool(false)
bool(true)
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