sscanf
    (PHP 4 >= 4.0.1)
sscanf -- 
     Parses input from a string according to a format
    
Description
mixed 
sscanf ( string str, string format [, string var1])
     The function sscanf() is the input analog of
     printf(). sscanf() reads
     from the string str and interprets it
     according to the specified format. If only
     two parameters were passed to this function, the values parsed
     will be returned as an array.
    
     Any whitespace in the format string matches any whitespace in the input
     string. This means that even a tab \t in the format string can match a
     single space character in the input string.
    
     
| Esempio 1. sscanf() Example | // getting the serial number
$serial = sscanf("SN/2350001","SN/%d");
// and the date of manufacturing
$mandate = "January 01 2000";
list($month, $day, $year) = sscanf($mandate,"%s %d %d");
echo "Item $serial was manufactured on: $year-".substr($month,0,3)."-$day\n"; | 
 | 
     If optional parameters are passed, the function will return the
     number of assigned values. The optional parameters must be passed
     by reference.
     
| Esempio 2. sscanf() - using optional parameters | // get author info and generate DocBook entry
$auth = "24\tLewis Carroll";
$n = sscanf($auth,"%d\t%s %s", &$id, &$first, &$last);
echo "<author id='$id'>
    <firstname>$first</firstname>
    <surname>$last</surname>
</author>\n"; | 
 | 
    
     See also fscanf(), printf(),
     and sprintf().