Oracle Database Tips by Donald Burleson

Now that the basics of PHP have been described, useful functions used throughout this book can be revealed. This is in listing form only without much explaining, as this is not a reference book for PHP. The definition of the functions is taken from the PHP on-line manual, without any change.

echo ( string arg1 [, string argn...])

Outputs all parameters.

print ( string arg)

Outputs arg

printf ( string format [, mixed args [, mixed ...]])

Produces output according to format, described in the online documentation for sprintf().

string sprintf ( string format [, mixed args [, mixed ...]])

Returns a string produced according to the formatting string format. The format string is composed of zero or more directives: ordinary characters (excluding %) that are copied directly to the result, and conversion specifications, each of which results in fetching its own parameter. This applies to both sprintf()and printf().

Each conversion specification consists of a percent sign (%) followed by one or more of these elements, in order:

• An optional sign specifierforces a sign (- or +) to be used on a number. By default, only the - sign is used on a number if it is negative. This specifier forces positive numbers to have the + sign attached as well and is added in PHP 4.3.0.
   

• An optional padding specifiersays what character will be used for padding the results to the right string size. This may be a space character or a 0 (zero character). The default is to pad with spaces. An alternate padding character can be specified by prefixing it with a single quote (').
   

• An optional alignment specifiersays if the result should be left-justified or right-justified. The default is right-justified; a - character here will make it left-justified.
   

• An optional number, a width specifiersays how many characters (minimum) this conversion should result in.
   

• An optional precision specifiersays how many decimal digits should be displayed for floating-point numbers. When using this specifier on a string, it acts as a cutoff point, setting a maximum character limit to the string.
   

• A type specifiersays what type the argument data should be treated as.  Possible types:
   

• % - a literal percent character. No argument is required.
   

• b - the argument is treated as an integer, and presented as a binary number.
   

• c - the argument is treated as an integer, and presented as the character with that ASCII value.
   

• d - the argument is treated as an integer, and presented as a (signed) decimal number.
   

• e - the argument is treated as scientific notation (e.g. 1.2e+2).
   

• u - the argument is treated as an integer, and presented as an unsigned decimal number.
   

• f - the argument is treated as a float, and presented as a floating-point number.
   

• - the argument is treated as an integer, and presented as an octal number.
   

• s - the argument is treated as and presented as a string.
   

• x - the argument is treated as an integer and presented as a hexadecimal number (with lowercase letters).
   

• X - the argument is treated as an integer and presented as a hexadecimal number (with uppercase letters).

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