sscanf
    (PHP 4 >= 4.0.1, PHP 5)
sscanf -- 
     Parses input from a string according to a format
    
Description
mixed 
sscanf ( string str, string format [, mixed &...] )
     The function sscanf() is the input analog of
     printf(). sscanf() reads
     from the string str and interprets it
     according to the specified format, which is
     described in the documentation for sprintf(). If only
     two parameters were passed to this function, the values parsed
     will be returned as an array. Otherwise, if optional parameters are passed,
     the function will return the number of assigned values. The optional
     parameters must be passed by reference.
    
     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.
    
     
| Example 1. sscanf() Example | 
<?php// getting the serial number
 list($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.
     
| Example 2. sscanf() - using optional parameters | 
<?php// 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().