# str_pad

(PHP 4 >= 4.0.1, PHP 5)

str_pad — Pad a string to a certain length with another string

### Description

string str_pad ( string `$input` , int `$pad_length` [, string `$pad_string` [, int `$pad_type` ]] )

This functions returns the `input` string padded on the left, the right, or both sides to the specified padding length. If the optional argument `pad_string` is not supplied, the `input` is padded with spaces, otherwise it is padded with characters from `pad_string` up to the limit.

### Parameters

`input`

  The input string.

`pad_length`

  If the value of `pad_length` is negative or less than the length of the input string, no padding takes place.

`pad_string`

  > Note: The `pad_string` may be truncated if the required number of padding characters can't be evenly divided by the `pad_string` 's length.

`pad_type`

  Optional argument `pad_type` can be `STR_PAD_RIGHT`, `STR_PAD_LEFT`, or `STR_PAD_BOTH`. If `pad_type` is not specified it is assumed to be `STR_PAD_RIGHT`.

### Return Values

Returns the padded string.

### Examples

Example#1 str_pad() example

`<?php
$input = "Alien";
echo str_pad($input, 10); // produces "Alien "
echo str_pad($input, 10, "-=", STR_PAD_LEFT); // produces "-=-=-Alien"
echo str_pad($input, 10, "_", STR_PAD_BOTH); // produces "__Alien___"
echo str_pad($input, 6 , "___"); // produces "Alien_"
?>`