wordwrap() is a string processing function used in PHP to automatically break lines. Its function is to wrap long texts in line with the specified number of characters. It allows setting the maximum number of characters per line, line breaks and whether to force break in the middle of a word. For example, using wordwrap($text, 40, "\n") can wrap text with up to 40 characters per line, separated by default by spaces; if you need to force the long word to be disconnected, $cut = true should be set; labels should be used when wrapping lines on web pages; Chinese text is recommended to be handled in combination with other functions. Common application scenarios include formatting email text, controlling the log output width, and displaying long text input by users.

Sometimes when processing text output, especially when generating plain text or email content, you will find that some lines are particularly long, which are ugly or do not meet the format requirements. At this time, wordwrap() function comes in handy, it can help you automatically break lines.

What is wordwrap?

wordwrap() is a built-in string processing function in PHP, which is used to wrap a long text with a specified number of characters. You can set up to how many characters per line, and you can also choose whether to force the break outside the length (even if there are no spaces in the middle).

Its basic syntax is like this:

 wordwrap(string $string, int $width = 75, string $break = "\n", bool $cut = false): string

• $string : The original text to be processed
• $width : The maximum number of characters per line, the default is 75
• $break : line break, usually \n
• $cut : Whether to allow disconnection between words, the default is false

How to use wordwrap to break the line?

Suppose you have a very long paragraph of text, such as an article summary read from a database, and you want to display it in 40 characters per line. Direct output may cause a certain line to be particularly long, affecting the reading experience. At this time, you can use wordwrap() to help.

For example:

 $text = "This is a very long line that needs to be wrapped properly so it looks better on the screen.";
echo wordwrap($text, 40, "\n");

The output result will become like this:

 This is a very long line that needs to be
wrapped properly so it looks better on
the screen.

As you can see, it will break at the appropriate space position instead of squeezing the entire line together.

Pay attention to some key points

When using wordwrap() , there are a few points that are easy to ignore but are very important:

• By default, it will not break in the middle of the word : if there is a super long word (such as a URL) and you do not set $cut = true , then this line may still exceed your expected width.
• Selection of newline characters : If you are showing it on a web page, remember to change it to <br> instead of \n , otherwise the browser will ignore newlines.
• Chinese support problem : Chinese characters are not separated by spaces like English, so if you want to wrap lines every 20 Chinese characters, it is recommended to use mb_str_split() or use a loop to process it yourself.

Take an example of forced disconnection:

 $url = "https://www.example.com/verylongurlwithnoparams";
echo wordwrap($url, 20, "<br>", true);

This way, even if the URL has no spaces, it will be forced to cut into no more than 20 characters per line.

Practical application scenarios

Some common usage scenarios include:

• Format the content of the text when sending an email
• Control line width when outputting log or command line information
• Display long text entered by users in certain interfaces that do not support automatic line wrapping

For example, it is a good habit to do wordwrap() processing on the body before sending an email, to avoid the exceptions displayed by some email clients.

Basically all of this is not complicated to use, but it is indeed quite practical when dealing with long text output.

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