When some people start out in a new language, they are in it for the long haul. Other people sometimes just need to touch on it without getting into the details. PHP is one of those languages where you can do things in a quick and dirty way without getting into the details. I have written a simple class for the kind of person that just wants to get a few things done quickly that is familiar with VBScripting. The class is mainly a wrapper class that allows you to perform VBScript style methods on strings in PHP. For instance, you can use VBScript::Left($string, $length) instead of using PHP’s substr($string, 0, $length). Enjoy!
<?php
/*****************************************************************************\
Author: Jeff Gibeau
WebSite: http://www.NorthAtlantaWebDesign.com
Purpose:
A string operation wrapper class that allows you to use VBScript style methods
in place of PHP style methods. Recreates all methods from:
http://www.w3schools.com/VBscript/vbscript_ref_functions.asp#string
\*****************************************************************************/
class VBString
{
//Returns the position of the first occurrence of one string within another.
//The search begins at the first character of the string.
function InStr($haystack, $needle, $startPosition = 0)
{
return strpos($haystack, $needle, $startPosition);
}
//Returns the position of the first occurrence of one string within another.
//The search begins at the last character of the string.
function InStrRev($haystack, $needle, $startPosition = 0)
{
if(floatval(phpversion()) >= 5)
return strrpos($haystack, $needle, $startPosition);
else
return strrpos($haystack, $needle);
}
//Converts a specified string to lowercase.
function LCase($string)
{
return strtolower($string);
}
//Returns a specified number of characters from the left side of a string.
function Left($string, $length)
{
return substr($string, 0, $length);
}
//Returns the number of characters in a string.
function Len($string)
{
return strlen($string);
}
//Removes spaces on the left side of a string.
function LTrim($string)
{
return ltrim($string);
}
//Removes spaces on the right side of a string.
function RTrim($string)
{
return rtrim($string);
}
//Removes spaces on both the left and the right side of a string.
function Trim($string)
{
return trim($string);
}
//Returns a specified number of characters from a string.
function Mid($string, $start, $length = "")
{
if(!empty($length))
return substr($string, $start, $length);
else
return substr($string, $start);
}
//Replaces a specified part of a string with another string a specified
//number of times.
function Replace($haystack, $needle, $replaceWith, $start = -1, $count = -1)
{
$returnVal = $haystack;
if($start != -1)
{
if($count != -1 && floatval(phpversion()) >= 5)
{
$returnVal = substr($haystack, 0, $start) . str_replace($needle, $replaceWith, substr($haystack, $start), $count);
}
else
{
$returnVal = substr($haystack, 0, $start) . str_replace($needle, $replaceWith, substr($haystack, $start));
}
}
else
{
if($count != -1 && floatval(phpversion()) >= 5)
{
$returnVal = str_replace($needle, $replaceWith, $haystack, $count);
}
else
{
$returnVal = str_replace($needle, $replaceWith, $haystack);
}
}
return $returnVal;
}
//Returns a specified number of characters from the right side of a string.
function Right($string, $count)
{
return substr($string, ($count * -1));
}
//Returns a string that consists of a specified number of spaces.
function Space($numSpaces)
{
$returnVal = '';
for($i = 0; $i < $numSpaces; $i++)
$returnVal .= ' ';
return $returnVal;
}
//Compares two strings and returns a value that represents the result of
//the comparison.
function StrComp($string1, $string2)
{
return strcmp($string1, $string2);
}
//Returns a string that contains a repeating character of a specified length.
function String($length, $character)
{
$returnVal = '';
while(strlen($returnVal) < $length)
$returnVal .= $character;
return substr($returnVal, 0, $length);
}
//Reverses a string.
function StrReverse($string)
{
return strrev($string);
}
//Converts a specified string to uppercase.
function UCase($string)
{
return strtoupper($string);
}
}
?>
Using this class
<?php
require_once 'vbstring_class.php';
$string1 = ' The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. ';
$string2 = 'he';
$string3 = 'hat';
$nl = "\n";
echo '
<style>
* { font-family:courier; }
span.answer { color:red; background:#eeeeee;border:1px solid #ccc; }
</style>
<pre>
';
//VBString::InStr
echo 'VBString::InStr("'.$string1.'", "'.$string2.'") -> <span class="answer">'. VBString::InStr($string1, $string2).'</span>'.$nl;
//VBString::InStrRev
echo 'VBString::InStrRev("'.$string1.'", "'.$string2.'") -> <span class="answer">'. VBString::InStrRev($string1, $string2).'</span>'.$nl;
//VBString::LCase
echo 'VBString::LCase("'.$string1.'") -> <span class="answer">"'. VBString::LCase($string1).'"</span>'.$nl;
//VBString::Left
echo 'VBString::Left("'.$string1.'", 5) -> <span class="answer">"'.VBString::Left($string1, 5).'"</span>'.$nl;
//VBString::Len
echo 'VBString::Len("'.$string1.'") -> <span class="answer">'.VBString::Len($string1).'</span>'.$nl;
//VBString::LTrim
echo 'VBString::LTrim("'.$string1.'") -> <span class="answer">"'.VBString::LTrim($string1).'"</span>'.$nl;
//VBString::RTrim
echo 'VBString::RTrim("'.$string1.'") -> <span class="answer">"'.VBString::RTrim($string1).'"</span>'.$nl;
//VBString::Trim
echo 'VBString::Trim("'.$string1.'") -> <span class="answer">"'.VBString::Trim($string1).'"</span>'.$nl;
//VBString::Mid
echo 'VBString::Mid("'.$string1.'", 5, 5) -> <span class="answer">"'.VBString::Mid($string1, 5, 5).'"</span>'.$nl;
//VBString::Replace
echo 'VBString::Replace("'.$string1.'", "'.$string2.'", "'.$string3.'", 5) -> <span class="answer">"'.VBString::Replace($string1, $string2, $string3, 5).'"</span>'.$nl;
//VBString::Right
echo 'VBString::Right("'.$string1.'", 5) -> <span class="answer">"'.VBString::Right($string1, 5).'"</span>'.$nl;
//VBString::Space
echo 'VBString::Space(10) -> <span class="answer">"'.VBString::Space(10).'"</span>'.$nl;
//VBString::StrComp
echo 'VBString::StrComp("'.$string1.'", "'.$string1.'") -> <span class="answer">"'.VBString::StrComp($string1, $string1).'"</span>'.$nl;
//VBString::String
echo 'VBString::String(10, "*") -> <span class="answer">"'.VBString::String(10, "*").'"</span>'.$nl;
//VBString::StrReverse
echo 'VBString::StrReverse("'.$string1.'") -> <span class="answer">"'.VBString::StrReverse($string1).'"</span>'.$nl;
//VBString::UCase
echo 'VBString::UCase("'.$string1.'") -> <span class="answer">"'. VBString::UCase($string1).'"</span>'.$nl;
echo '</pre>';
?>
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