Cleaning Strings

Often, the strings we get from files or users need to be cleaned up before we can use
them. Two common problems with raw data are the presence of extraneous
whitespace, and incorrect capitalization (uppercase versus lowercase).

Removing Whitespace

You can remove leading or trailing whitespace with the trim( ), ltrim( ), and rtrim( )
functions:
$trimmed = trim(string [, charlist ]);
$trimmed = ltrim(string [, charlist ]);
$trimmed = rtrim(string [, charlist ]);

trim( ) returns a copy of string with whitespace removed from the beginning and
the end. ltrim( ) (the l is for left) does the same, but removes whitespace only from
the start of the string. rtrim( ) (the r is for right) removes whitespace only from the
end of the string. The optional charlist argument is a string that specifies all the
characters to strip.

For example:
$title = " Programming PHP \n";
$str_1 = ltrim($title); // $str_1 is "Programming PHP \n"
$str_2 = rtrim($title); // $str_2 is " Programming PHP"
$str_3 = trim($title); // $str_3 is "Programming PHP"

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PHP Variable names

Variable names always begin with a dollar sign ($) and are case-sensitive. Here are
some valid variable names:
$pill
$ad_count
$dForce
$I_kk_PHP
$_underscore
$_int
Here are some illegal variable names:
$not valid
$|
$3ka 
These variables are all different:
$hot_stuff $Hot_stuff $hot_Stuff $HOT_STUFF

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CREATING THE DATABASE

To create a database, connect to MySQL and run the CREATE DATABASE command. This is the
MySQL command to create a database called mydatabase:

CREATE DATABASE ’mydatabase’;


<?php
define(“MYSQLUSER”, “root”);
define(“MYSQLPASS”, “p##V89Te5t”);
define(“HOSTNAME”, “localhost”);
if ($connection = new mysqli(HOSTNAME, MYSQLUSER, MYSQLPASS)) {
echo ‘Successful connection to MySQL <br />’;
if ($result = $connection->query(“CREATE DATABASE ’mydatabase’”)) {
$connection->select_db(‘mydatabase’); // use the database
echo “Database created”;
} else {
echo “Problem creating the database. Is the user not allowed
to create database or does the database already exist?”; }
}

?>

Note that the preceding code uses an equal sign in the if statement:
if ($result = $connection->query(“CREATE DATABASE ’mydatabase’”)) {
The way that this statement is processed is that the statement on the right is evaluated fi rst, which
attempts to create the database. That function returns a value, which in this case is TRUE or FALSE.
That value is then assigned to $result, which is then evaluated to determine if the code enclosed by
the if statement should be run.

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Comparison Operators for If/Else Statements

So far you have just been using the equal comparison operator, but conditional statements are really
checking to see if a statement evaluates to true, not if something is equal. You can also check to see
if something is not equal to something, less than something else, more than something, and so on.
Strings that consist of numbers are converted to numeric before the test except for the identical ===.

Comparison Operators
OPERATOR DESCRIPTION EXAMPLE
== Is equal to 6==’6’ returns true
=== Is identical to (including the type cast) 6===’6’ returns false
!= Is not equal to 6!=5 returns true
<> Is not equal to 6<>5 returns true
< Is less than 6<5 returns false
> Is greater than 6>5 returns true
<= Is less than or equal to 6<=5 returns false
>= Is greater than or equal to 6>=5 returns true
Some

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Major online directories

Like search engines, there are hundreds of different directories online. Some are general directories,
whereas others are very specific and associated with only one industry or organization. When you’re
selecting the directories to which you’d like to submit your site, be choosy. Don’t try to list your site
in a directory that’s inappropriate. You’ll just be wasting time and collecting rejection slips.

Some of the most well-known directories on the Web are:

Yahoo! Directory (dir.yahoo.com): The Yahoo! directory is one of the oldest directories
on the Internet, but when you go to Yahoo.com you actually won’t be taken to it. Instead,
you’ll be taken to a search engine, because Yahoo! changed its format not too long ago.
How ever, you can still access the directory, by going to the web site just listed. Yahoo!
directory is a general directory.

GoGuides.Org (www.goguides.org): This directory’s purpose is to be completely spamfree.
It’s a comprehensive search directory that even has image-searching capabilities.

Open Directory Project (www.dmoz.org): The Open Directory Project is one of the most
widely accessed directories on the Web. Users submit sites, and volunteer editors review
them. ODP is also an open-source technology, so many other directories use this technology
as a basis for their own offerings.

Google Directory (directory.google.com): The Google directory is one of those directories
built on the ODP platform. Google is most well-known for its search capabilities, but
adding a directory takes advantage of the desire of Internet users to dig deeper into very
specific search results.

SearchSight (www.searchsight.com): Another general directory, SearchSight is one of
the lesser-known directories, but it’s quickly gaining traction in the search market.

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How Does Web-Site Content Affect SEO?

The catch with web-site content is that is must be fresh and original to be most effective. If it’s not, the
content can do more harm than good. As you’ve already seen, content is the one element that can keep
customers coming back to your site time and again. When customers return often, your site ranking
improves, because the traffic registers the site with search crawlers as a valid and in-demand site.
When your content stinks, though, your site is headed in the opposite direction. If you have content
on your site that’s not professional, the search engine crawler will register this, and your ranking may
drop lower and lower and you could possibly be delisted altogether.

How do you know if your content stinks or not? It’s mostly a game of finding the right combination
of content types and consistent updates. But before you can even get to determining the right type of
content, you need to create a content strategy.

Your content strategy is the plan by which you’ll infuse your site with the right types of content at the
right times. It starts with determining how to reach your target audience. By now your target audience
should be engraved on your forehead, but how you reach that audience is something entirely
different. If your audience is teens, the language and method with which you’ll reach them will be
different than if your audience is senior adults or stay-at-home moms, or even full-time professionals.

One more consideration as you’re planning your content strategy: what do you do that’s different
from your competition? You should already have a good idea of what your competition does, and
how it seems to work for them. But what can you do differently? What sets you apart from all of
the other web sites out there that come up when a user searches for widgets?

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