Table of Contents
Introduction
Part I PHP Internals
1 Strings
1.1 Matching Patterns (Regular Expressions)
1.2 Cleaning Up Whitespace
1.3 Expanding and Compressing Tabs
1.4 Converting Text Between Macintosh, UNIX, and PC Format
1.5 Parsing CSV (Comma-Separated Values)
1.6 Truncating Text to Fit Within a Specific Space
1.7 Padding Arrays of Data to Display as Columns
1.8 Checking the Spelling of a Word
1.9 Matching Similar Strings
1.10 Performing Proper Capitalization on Titles
1.11 Generating Unique Identifiers
1.12 Counting the Number of Times Certain Words Appear
2 Numbers
2.1 Retrieving a Number from a String
2.2 Printing Proper Plural Text
2.3 Converting Numbers into Roman Numerals
2.4 Calculating Interest
2.5 Simulating Dice
2.6 Latitude/Longitude Calculations
2.7 Metric/English Conversion
2.8 Temperature Conversion
2.9 Statistics Package Creation
3 Time and Date
3.1 Calculating the Difference Between Two Dates
3.2 Determining Last Day of a Given Month
3.3 Leap Year Calculation
3.4 Handling Time Zones
3.5 Handling Time Stamps Within Databases or in Files
3.6 Determining Number of Business Days
3.7 Generating a Calendar for a Given Month
4 Variables
4.1 Determining Whether a Variable Is Equal to Another
4.2 Accessing a Variable Outside a Function, from Within it (Global Variables)
4.3 Keeping a Persistent Value Within a Function (Static Variables)
4.4 Having One Variable Refer to Another (References)
4.5 Using a Variable to Hold the Name of Another Variable
4.6 Declaring a Constant Instead of a Variable
4.7 Coalescing a List of Values to Determine the First Non-False Value
5 Arrays
5.1 Superglobal Arrays and Their Usage
5.2 Stack Implementation
5.3 Queue Implementation
5.4 Sorting with User-Defined Comparisons
5.5 Sorting with Alternative Algorithms
5.6 Recursive Handling of Multidimensional Arrays
5.7 Performing Set Operations on Arrays
5.8 Matrix Math Execution Using Arrays
6 Functions
6.1 Setting Optional Parameters
6.2 Creating Recursive Functions
6.3 Calling Functions Using a Function Name Stored in a Variable
6.4 Dynamically Creating a Function (Lambda-Style)
6.5 Using an Array of Functions for Processing
6.6 Passing or Returning a Value by Reference
6.7 Using an Arbitrary Number of Parameters
6.8 Requiring a Parameter to Be a Certain Type
7 Classes and Objects
7.1 Automatically Loading Class Source Files
7.2 Protecting Object Data (public/private/protected)
7.3 Automatically Running Code On Creation or Destruction of an Object
7.4 Accessing a Class’s Members Without Instantiation
7.5 Extending a Class Definition
7.6 Creating an Abstract Class
7.7 Using Object Interfaces
7.8 Dynamic and Overloaded Variable Names
7.9 Overloading Methods
7.10 Linked List Implementation
7.11 Binary Tree Implementation
8 Files and Directories
8.1 Generating a Full Directory Listing
8.2 Natural Display of File Sizes
8.3 Renaming All Files Within a Directory
8.4 Search for Filenames Within a Directory Tree
8.5 Handling Relative and Absolute File Paths
8.6 Reading a File Via HTTP or FTP
8.7 Watching the Contents of a File As It Grows (Simulating UNIX tail -f)
8.8 Generating a Difference Report Between Two Files
8.9 Locking a File for Exclusive Use
8.10 Caching Remote Files Locally
8.11 Compressing and Uncompressing Files
8.12 Automatically Including Certain Files from the Parent Tree
Part II Application
9 Web Page Creation/XHTML/CSS
9.1 Creating a Multilayer Drop-Down Menu
9.2 Highlighting What Section of a Website the User Is In
9.3 Displaying Dynamic Progress Bars
9.4 Simulating Graphical Charts with XHTML/CSS
9.5 Pagination of Results on a Web Page
9.6 Caching Web Page Output for Server Optimization
9.7 Localizing a Web Page for Different Languages
9.8 Using Ajax with PHP to Create an Interactive Web Page
10 Web Form Handling
10.1 Easily Obtaining Form Data
10.2 Obtaining Multidimensional Arrays of Form Data
10.3 Using GET and POST Form Data Together
10.4 Accepting Uploaded Files
10.5 Generating Select Statements
10.6 Requiring Certain Fields to Be Filled Out
10.7 Manipulating Text for Display on Bulletin Boards (BBCode)
10.8 Accepting and Displaying User Data Giving Warnings for Links
10.9 Preventing Multiple Form Submissions
11 Data Validation and Standardization
11.1 Phone Numbers
11.2 ZIP Codes
11.3 Social Security Numbers (SSNs)
11.4 Numbers
11.5 Credit Card Numbers
11.6 Dates
11.7 Email Accounts
11.8 URLs
12 Sessions and User Tracking
12.1 Using Cookies to Remember Data
12.2 Saving User Data with Sessions
12.3 Customizing Display Settings for a User
12.4 Creating a Library for Tracking a User Through Your Website
12.5 Implementing a Simple Shopping Cart
12.6 Passing Session Data Between Two Servers
12.7 Parsing Specific Browser Information from Log Files
13 Web Services and Other Protocols
13.1 Submitting a POST HTTP Request with cURL
13.2 Communicating with an LDAP Server
13.3 Using Web Services Via SOAP
13.4 Connecting to an FTP Server
13.5 Creating a PHP-Based FTP Client
13.6 Using Sockets to Connect to an Internet Server
13.7 Creating Your Own Basic Web Server
14 Relational Databases
14.1 Communicating with MySQL
14.2 Communicating with Oracle
14.3 Communicating with PostgreSQL
14.4 Communicating with Sybase
14.5 Communicating with Microsoft SQL Server
14.6 Communicating with SQLite
14.7 Communicating with Databases Through ODBC
14.8 Using an Abstraction Layer to Communicate with a Database (PDO)
14.9 Implementing an SQLite Based Blog
15 Other Data Storage Methods
15.1 Creating and Reading CSV files
15.2 Using Custom Text Files for Storage
15.3 Accessing and Updating DBM-Style Databases
15.4 Storing Data Via Serialize and Unserialize
15.5 Automatically Creating and Updating PHP Include Files
16 Email
16.1 Sending Email (Text/HTML/Dual Format/Inline Images/Attachments)
16.2 Determining Whether an Email Account Exists
16.3 Creating a Mass Email Mailer
16.4 Implementing Basic Mailing List Software
16.5 Protecting Email Addresses from Spam Collectors
16.6 Creating a Watchdog Process to Send Email If a Web Page Changes
17 XML
17.1 Parsing an XML File to Retrieve Data
17.2 Performing Searches Through XML with XPath
17.3 Validating an XML Document
17.4 Transforming XML into XHTML with XSLT
17.5 Creating an RSS File
17.6 Creating an RSS Display Script for Websites
18 Images
18.1 Generating Composite Images with Text
18.2 Drawing Tips and Tricks
18.3 Using Transparent Backgrounds in Images
18.4 Creating a Graph/Chart Library
18.5 Automatically Creating a Photo Gallery from Digital Camera Files (Exif Data)
19 Error Reporting and Debugging
19.1 Defining a Custom Error Handler
19.2 Using Exceptions to Handle Errors
19.3 Timing the Execution of Your Script
19.4 Using Shutdown Functions to Gracefully Handle Script Failures
19.5 Generating Detailed Backtracing for Error Reporting
20 User Authentication and Encryption
20.1 Generating Random Passwords
20.2 Using Encryption to Protect Data
20.3 Simple CAPTCHA for Real User Detection
20.4 Authenticating Users
Part III Appendixes
A Migrating to PHP 5
B SPL
C Common PHP Error Messages
Index
