# 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().