With the release of PHP 5 web developers need a guide to developing with PHP 5 to both learn its complex new features and more fully implement the long-standing features on which PHP's success is built. PHP 5 in Practice is a reference guide that provides developers with easy-to-use and easily extensible code to solve common PHP problems. It focuses on providing real code solutions to problems, allowing the reader to learn by seeing exactly what is happening behind the scenes to get your solution. Because a real-life situation will rarely match the book's example problems precisely, PHP 5 in Practice explains the solution well enough that you will understand it and can learn how to truly solve your own problem.

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