sscanf
(PHP 4 >= 4.0.1, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)
Parses input from a string according to a format
Description
The function sscanf() is the input analog of printf(). sscanf() reads from the string string and interprets it according to the specified format.
Any whitespace in the format string matches any whitespace in the input string. This means that even a tab (\t) in the format string can match a single space character in the input string.
Parameters
stringThe input
stringbeing parsed.varsOptionally pass in variables by reference that will contain the parsed values.
Return Values
If only two parameters were passed to this function, the values parsed will be returned as an array. Otherwise, if optional parameters are passed, the function will return the number of assigned values. The optional parameters must be passed by reference.
If there are more substrings expected in the format than there are available within string, null will be returned.
When optional parameters are used and the end of the input string is reached before any value has been parsed, -1 is returned.
Examples
sscanf() Example
<?php
// getting the serial number
list($serial) = sscanf("SN/2350001", "SN/%d");
// and the date of manufacturing
$mandate = "January 01 2000";
list($month, $day, $year) = sscanf($mandate, "%s %d %d");
echo "Item $serial was manufactured on: $year-" . substr($month, 0, 3) . "-$day\n";
?>If optional parameters are passed, the function will return the number of assigned values.
sscanf() - using optional parameters
<?php
// get author info and generate DocBook entry
$auth = "24\tLewis Carroll";
$n = sscanf($auth, "%d\t%s %s", $id, $first, $last);
echo "<author id='$id'>
<firstname>$first</firstname>
<surname>$last</surname>
</author>\n";
?>