IntlChar::charName() function in PHP

The IntlChar::charName() function gets the name of a Unicode character. This is useful for identifying characters by their official Unicode names.

Syntax

string IntlChar::charName( val [, choice = IntlChar::UNICODE_CHAR_NAME] )

Parameters

• val − An integer value or character encoded as UTF-8 string.

• choice − The following are the constant conditions −

  • IntlChar::UNICODE_CHAR_NAME

  • IntlChar::CHAR_NAME_ALIAS

  • IntlChar::CHAR_NAME_CHOICE_COUNT

  • IntlChar::UNICODE_10_CHAR_NAME

  • IntlChar::EXTENDED_CHAR_NAME

Return Value

The IntlChar::charName() function returns the corresponding name of input data. For no name of character, an empty string is returned.

Example 1

The following example shows character name retrieval ?

<?php
    var_dump(IntlChar::charName("&"));
    echo "<br>";
    var_dump(IntlChar::charName("&", IntlChar::EXTENDED_CHAR_NAME));
?>

string(9) "AMPERSAND"
string(9) "AMPERSAND"

Example 2

Let us see another example with letter characters ?

<?php
    var_dump(IntlChar::charName("K"));
    echo "<br>";
    var_dump(IntlChar::charName("K", IntlChar::EXTENDED_CHAR_NAME));
?>

string(22) "LATIN CAPITAL LETTER K"
string(22) "LATIN CAPITAL LETTER K"

Example 3

Let us see one more example with different input values ?

<?php
    var_dump(IntlChar::charName("5"));
    echo "<br>";
    var_dump(IntlChar::charName("10"));
    echo "<br>";
    var_dump(IntlChar::charName("e"));
    echo "<br>";
    var_dump(IntlChar::charName("}"));
?>

string(10) "DIGIT FIVE"
NULL
string(20) "LATIN SMALL LETTER E"
string(19) "RIGHT CURLY BRACKET"

Conclusion

The IntlChar::charName() function provides an easy way to retrieve Unicode character names. It returns NULL for invalid characters and empty strings for characters without names.