PHP reference

str_pad

Pads a string to a given length.

Syntax

str_pad(string $string, int $length, string $pad_string = " ", int $pad_type = STR_PAD_RIGHT): string

Parameter	Type	Description
$string	string	The source string.
$length	int	The desired length of the result.
$pad_string	string	Optional. What to pad with; a space by default.
$pad_type	int	Optional. `STR_PAD_LEFT`, `STR_PAD_RIGHT` or `STR_PAD_BOTH`.

stringThe padded string.

Leading zeros in a number:

<?php
 
echo str_pad('7', 3, '0', STR_PAD_LEFT);

Output:

Aligning in a column:

<?php
 
echo str_pad('Tea', 10, '.'), '250', "\n";
echo str_pad('Coffee', 10, '.'), '400';

Output:

Tea.......250
Coffee....400

If the string is already longer than the given length, it is returned unchanged — nothing is cut off.

Strings — Working with strings in PHP — quotes, concatenation, length, searching, replacing and multibyte functions.