(PHP 4 >= 4.0.1, PHP 5)
sscanf — Parses input from a string according to a format
The function sscanf() is the input analog of
printf(). sscanf() reads
from the string str and interprets it
according to the specified format, which is
described in the documentation for sprintf().
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.
str
The input string being parsed.
format
The interpreted format for str, which is
described in the documentation for sprintf() with
following differences:
...
Optionally pass in variables by reference that will contain the parsed 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 str,
-1 will be returned.
Example #1 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.
Example #2 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";
?>