Substr not working with variables

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January 20th, 2013, 03:04 AM

FRUGiHOYi

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Substr not working with variables

I've been trying to use the substr() function but I'm having a problem with variables and it's driving me crazy.

Here is the code. wp_title() is a WordPress tag.

<?php $pgtitle = wp_title(); echo $pgtitle; ?>
So far so good, everything works. The code outputs the title of the page.

<?php $pgtitle2 = substr($pgtitle, 0, 4); echo $pgtitle2; ?>
This does NOT work. Nothing is outputed. I don't get it. If I use something like 'abcde' instead of $pgtitle the code works. Help!

January 20th, 2013, 04:59 AM

requinix

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And I take it you had a $pgtitle=wp_title(); before that line? Or

PHP Code:


		
			
 $pgtitle = substr(wp_title(), 0, 4); echo $pgtitle;

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January 20th, 2013, 07:47 AM

FRUGiHOYi

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Quote:

Originally Posted by requinix

And I take it you had a $pgtitle=wp_title(); before that line? Or

PHP Code:


		
			
 $pgtitle = substr(wp_title(), 0, 4); echo $pgtitle;

Yes, the whole code is

PHP Code:


		
			
 $pgtitle = wp_title(); $pgtitle2 = substr($pgtitle, 0, 4); echo $pgtitle2;

That actually does print the page title, but it prints the entire title, and not just what I'm trying to extract with the substr() function. Moreover, if I write this (like my original example):

PHP Code:


		
			
 $pgtitle = wp_title(); echo $pgtitle; $pgtitle2 = substr($pgtitle, 0, 4); echo $pgtitle2;

I only get one of them printed. I'm not sure if it's the $pgtitle or the $pgtitle2 that is being printed but it's very strange that only one of them gets printed.

Last edited by FRUGiHOYi : January 20th, 2013 at 07:57 AM.

January 20th, 2013, 10:35 AM

E-Oreo

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A lot of WordPress functions echo their return value by default rather than returning it. (Yet another consequence of WordPress having been built by front-end people without input from back-end architects)

Take a look at the documentation page for wp_title, because I believe that is the case here. However, also note that the documentation seems to be wrong regarding the second parameter.

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January 20th, 2013, 02:25 PM

FRUGiHOYi

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Figured it out. I have to use the WordPress function the_title() instead of wp_title. If I pass the last parameter as FALSE, then the title of the page is returned for use in PHP and I can use the substr() function on it. So the entire code is

PHP Code:


		
			
 $pgtitle = substr(the_title('','',FALSE), 0, 4); echo $pgtitle;

Only the first four characters of the page title are echoed

Substr not working with variables

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