Searching Strings

Find text inside a string with strpos() and str_contains().

Syntaxstrpos($haystack, $needle);

To search for text within a string:

  • strpos() returns the position of the first match, or false if not found.
  • str_contains() returns true or false (PHP 8+).
  • str_starts_with() and str_ends_with() test the beginning and end.

Example

Try it yourself
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When to use it

  • Check whether a URL contains 'https://' before marking it as secure.
  • Find the position of '@' in an email address to split username from domain.
  • Use str_contains() to search a log line for a specific error keyword.

More examples

strpos for position searching

strpos() returns the byte offset of the first match, or false if not found; strict !== is essential.

Example · php
<?php
$email = '[email protected]';
$pos   = strpos($email, '@');

if ($pos !== false) {
    $domain = substr($email, $pos + 1);
    echo $domain; // example.com
}

str_contains for simple checks

str_contains() (PHP 8+) returns a bool, eliminating the !== false pattern needed with strpos.

Example · php
<?php
$url = 'https://example.com/page';

if (str_contains($url, 'https://')) {
    echo 'Secure connection.';
}

str_starts_with and str_ends_with

str_starts_with() and str_ends_with() (PHP 8+) replace boilerplate substr/strpos patterns for prefix/suffix checks.

Example · php
<?php
$file = 'report_2024.pdf';

if (str_ends_with($file, '.pdf')) {
    echo 'PDF file detected.';
}
if (str_starts_with($file, 'report_')) {
    echo 'This is a report.';
}

Related

php string replacephp string length

Discussion

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