PHP 8 reference · String Functions

PHP str_pad() Function

Pad a string to a given length with spaces or another string, on the right, left or both sides.

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Syntax

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

Parameters

Parameter	Description
`string`	The input string.
`length`	The final length in bytes. If it's not longer than the string, nothing is added.
`pad_string` optional	What to pad with; it's cut short if needed. Default: `" "`
`pad_type` optional	`STR_PAD_RIGHT`, `STR_PAD_LEFT` or `STR_PAD_BOTH`. Default: `STR_PAD_RIGHT`

Return value

The padded string.

Examples

Zero-pad and centerTry it yourself

<?php
echo str_pad("7", 3, "0", STR_PAD_LEFT), "\n";
echo str_pad("42", 6, "*", STR_PAD_BOTH), "\n";

Output

007
**42**

Line up columnsTry it yourself

<?php
foreach (["Tea" => 3.5, "Cake" => 12] as $item => $price) {
    echo str_pad($item, 8, "."), str_pad(number_format($price, 2), 7, " ", STR_PAD_LEFT), "\n";
}

Output

Tea.....   3.50
Cake....  12.00

Common mistakes

Lengths are in bytes, so text with é or ü comes out too short. Use mb_str_pad() (PHP 8.3+).
For numbers, sprintf("%03d", $n) is often clearer than str_pad().

Version history

Version	Change
PHP 4.0	Added

In other languages

str.ljust() · Python
str.rjust() · Python
str.center() · Python
string.padStart() · JavaScript
string.padEnd() · JavaScript

mb_str_pad() · Pad a multibyte string to a given length in characters, on the left, right or both sides. Added in PHP 8.3.
sprintf() · Return a formatted string built from a template with placeholders like %s, %d and %.2f. Format numbers, pad and align.
str_repeat() · Repeat a string a given number of times and return the result. A count of 0 returns an empty string.
PHP Strings · tutorial

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