Converting complex characters

The ability to access the entire Unicode character set opens up many new possibilities for rendering complex characters, especially characters in alphabets other than Latin-1.

How to do it...

Some languages are read right-to-left instead of left-to-right. Examples include Hebrew and Arabic. In this example, we show you how to present reverse text using the U+202E Unicode character for right-to-left override. The following line of code prints txet desreveR:
```
echo "\u{202E}Reversed text";
echo "\u{202D}";    // returns output to left-to-right
```
Note
Don't forget to invoke the left-to-right override character, U+202D, when finished!
Another consideration is the use of composed characters. One such example is ñ (the letter n with a tilde ~ floating above). This is used in words such as mañana (the Spanish word for morning or tomorrow, depending on the context). There is a composed character available, represented by Unicode code U+00F1. Here is an example of its use, which echoes mañana:
```
echo "ma\u{00F1}ana"; // shows mañana
```
This could potentially impact search possibilities, however. Imagine that your customers do not have a keyboard with this composed character. If they start to type man in an attempt to search for mañana, they will be unsuccessful.
Having access to the full Unicode set offers other possibilities. Instead of using the composed character, you can use a combination of the original letter n along with the Unicode combining code, which places a floating tilde on top of the letter. In this echo command, the output is the same as previously. Only the way the word is formed differs:
```
echo "man\u{0303}ana"; // also shows mañana
```
A similar application could be made for accents. Consider the French word élève (student). You could render it using composed characters, or by using combining codes to float the accents above the letter. Consider the two following examples. Both examples produce the same output, but are rendered differently:
```
echo "\u{00E9}l\u{00E8}ve";
echo "e\u{0301}le\u{0300}ve";
```

How it works...

Create a file called chap_08_control_and_combining_unicode.php. Be sure to include the meta tag that signals the browser that UTF-8 character encoding is being used:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>PHP 7 Cookbook</title>
    <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" />
  </head>

Next, set up basic PHP and HTML to display the examples discussed previously:

  <body>
    <pre>
      <?php
        echo "\u{202E}Reversed text"; // reversed
        //echo "\u{202D}"; // stops reverse
        echo "mañana";  // using pre-composed characters
        echo "ma\u{00F1}ana"; // pre-composed character
        echo "man\u{0303}ana"; // "n" with combining ~ character (U+0303)
        echo "élève";
        echo "\u{00E9}l\u{00E8}ve"; // pre-composed characters
        echo "e\u{0301}le\u{0300}ve"; // e + combining characters
      ?>
    </pre>
</body>
</html>

Here is the output from a browser:

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Table of Contents for PHP 7: Real World Application Development

Converting complex characters

How to do it...

Note

How it works...

Table of Contents for
PHP 7: Real World Application Development