How can I pad each multibyte character / emoji with spaces around it in a string?

Question

I'd like to pad each multibyte character with spaces on either side. I can strip them out just fine, but I'd like to leave them in and just pad them.

For example: 👉😀👈 to 👉 😀 👈.

Using underscores to represent spaces: 👉😀👈 to _👉__😀__👈_

Answer 1

Use this monsterous-already-cooked regex:

$regex = "[\\x{fe00}-\\x{fe0f}\\x{2712}\\x{2714}\\x{2716}\\x{271d}\\x{2721}\\x{2728}\\x{2733}\\x{2734}\\x{2744}\\x{2747}\\x{274c}\\x{274e}\\x{2753}-\\x{2755}\\x{2757}\\x{2763}\\x{2764}\\x{2795}-\\x{2797}\\x{27a1}\\x{27b0}\\x{27bf}\\x{2934}\\x{2935}\\x{2b05}-\\x{2b07}\\x{2b1b}\\x{2b1c}\\x{2b50}\\x{2b55}\\x{3030}\\x{303d}\\x{1f004}\\x{1f0cf}\\x{1f170}\\x{1f171}\\x{1f17e}\\x{1f17f}\\x{1f18e}\\x{1f191}-\\x{1f19a}\\x{1f201}\\x{1f202}\\x{1f21a}\\x{1f22f}\\x{1f232}-\\x{1f23a}\\x{1f250}\\x{1f251}\\x{1f300}-\\x{1f321}\\x{1f324}-\\x{1f393}\\x{1f396}\\x{1f397}\\x{1f399}-\\x{1f39b}\\x{1f39e}-\\x{1f3f0}\\x{1f3f3}-\\x{1f3f5}\\x{1f3f7}-\\x{1f4fd}\\x{1f4ff}-\\x{1f53d}\\x{1f549}-\\x{1f54e}\\x{1f550}-\\x{1f567}\\x{1f56f}\\x{1f570}\\x{1f573}-\\x{1f579}\\x{1f587}\\x{1f58a}-\\x{1f58d}\\x{1f590}\\x{1f595}\\x{1f596}\\x{1f5a5}\\x{1f5a8}\\x{1f5b1}\\x{1f5b2}\\x{1f5bc}\\x{1f5c2}-\\x{1f5c4}\\x{1f5d1}-\\x{1f5d3}\\x{1f5dc}-\\x{1f5de}\\x{1f5e1}\\x{1f5e3}\\x{1f5ef}\\x{1f5f3}\\x{1f5fa}-\\x{1f64f}\\x{1f680}-\\x{1f6c5}\\x{1f6cb}-\\x{1f6d0}\\x{1f6e0}-\\x{1f6e5}\\x{1f6e9}\\x{1f6eb}\\x{1f6ec}\\x{1f6f0}\\x{1f6f3}\\x{1f910}-\\x{1f918}\\x{1f980}-\\x{1f984}\\x{1f9c0}\\x{3297}\\x{3299}\\x{a9}\\x{ae}\\x{203c}\\x{2049}\\x{2122}\\x{2139}\\x{2194}-\\x{2199}\\x{21a9}\\x{21aa}\\x{231a}\\x{231b}\\x{2328}\\x{2388}\\x{23cf}\\x{23e9}-\\x{23f3}\\x{23f8}-\\x{23fa}\\x{24c2}\\x{25aa}\\x{25ab}\\x{25b6}\\x{25c0}\\x{25fb}-\\x{25fe}\\x{2600}-\\x{2604}\\x{260e}\\x{2611}\\x{2614}\\x{2615}\\x{2618}\\x{261d}\\x{2620}\\x{2622}\\x{2623}\\x{2626}\\x{262a}\\x{262e}\\x{262f}\\x{2638}-\\x{263a}\\x{2648}-\\x{2653}\\x{2660}\\x{2663}\\x{2665}\\x{2666}\\x{2668}\\x{267b}\\x{267f}\\x{2692}-\\x{2694}\\x{2696}\\x{2697}\\x{2699}\\x{269b}\\x{269c}\\x{26a0}\\x{26a1}\\x{26aa}\\x{26ab}\\x{26b0}\\x{26b1}\\x{26bd}\\x{26be}\\x{26c4}\\x{26c5}\\x{26c8}\\x{26ce}\\x{26cf}\\x{26d1}\\x{26d3}\\x{26d4}\\x{26e9}\\x{26ea}\\x{26f0}-\\x{26f5}\\x{26f7}-\\x{26fa}\\x{26fd}\\x{2702}\\x{2705}\\x{2708}-\\x{270d}\\x{270f}]|\\x{23}\\x{20e3}|\\x{2a}\\x{20e3}|\\x{30}\\x{20e3}|\\x{31}\\x{20e3}|\\x{32}\\x{20e3}|\\x{33}\\x{20e3}|\\x{34}\\x{20e3}|\\x{35}\\x{20e3}|\\x{36}\\x{20e3}|\\x{37}\\x{20e3}|\\x{38}\\x{20e3}|\\x{39}\\x{20e3}|\\x{1f1e6}[\\x{1f1e8}-\\x{1f1ec}\\x{1f1ee}\\x{1f1f1}\\x{1f1f2}\\x{1f1f4}\\x{1f1f6}-\\x{1f1fa}\\x{1f1fc}\\x{1f1fd}\\x{1f1ff}]|\\x{1f1e7}[\\x{1f1e6}\\x{1f1e7}\\x{1f1e9}-\\x{1f1ef}\\x{1f1f1}-\\x{1f1f4}\\x{1f1f6}-\\x{1f1f9}\\x{1f1fb}\\x{1f1fc}\\x{1f1fe}\\x{1f1ff}]|\\x{1f1e8}[\\x{1f1e6}\\x{1f1e8}\\x{1f1e9}\\x{1f1eb}-\\x{1f1ee}\\x{1f1f0}-\\x{1f1f5}\\x{1f1f7}\\x{1f1fa}-\\x{1f1ff}]|\\x{1f1e9}[\\x{1f1ea}\\x{1f1ec}\\x{1f1ef}\\x{1f1f0}\\x{1f1f2}\\x{1f1f4}\\x{1f1ff}]|\\x{1f1ea}[\\x{1f1e6}\\x{1f1e8}\\x{1f1ea}\\x{1f1ec}\\x{1f1ed}\\x{1f1f7}-\\x{1f1fa}]|\\x{1f1eb}[\\x{1f1ee}-\\x{1f1f0}\\x{1f1f2}\\x{1f1f4}\\x{1f1f7}]|\\x{1f1ec}[\\x{1f1e6}\\x{1f1e7}\\x{1f1e9}-\\x{1f1ee}\\x{1f1f1}-\\x{1f1f3}\\x{1f1f5}-\\x{1f1fa}\\x{1f1fc}\\x{1f1fe}]|\\x{1f1ed}[\\x{1f1f0}\\x{1f1f2}\\x{1f1f3}\\x{1f1f7}\\x{1f1f9}\\x{1f1fa}]|\\x{1f1ee}[\\x{1f1e8}-\\x{1f1ea}\\x{1f1f1}-\\x{1f1f4}\\x{1f1f6}-\\x{1f1f9}]|\\x{1f1ef}[\\x{1f1ea}\\x{1f1f2}\\x{1f1f4}\\x{1f1f5}]|\\x{1f1f0}[\\x{1f1ea}\\x{1f1ec}-\\x{1f1ee}\\x{1f1f2}\\x{1f1f3}\\x{1f1f5}\\x{1f1f7}\\x{1f1fc}\\x{1f1fe}\\x{1f1ff}]|\\x{1f1f1}[\\x{1f1e6}-\\x{1f1e8}\\x{1f1ee}\\x{1f1f0}\\x{1f1f7}-\\x{1f1fb}\\x{1f1fe}]|\\x{1f1f2}[\\x{1f1e6}\\x{1f1e8}-\\x{1f1ed}\\x{1f1f0}-\\x{1f1ff}]|\\x{1f1f3}[\\x{1f1e6}\\x{1f1e8}\\x{1f1ea}-\\x{1f1ec}\\x{1f1ee}\\x{1f1f1}\\x{1f1f4}\\x{1f1f5}\\x{1f1f7}\\x{1f1fa}\\x{1f1ff}]|\\x{1f1f4}\\x{1f1f2}|\\x{1f1f5}[\\x{1f1e6}\\x{1f1ea}-\\x{1f1ed}\\x{1f1f0}-\\x{1f1f3}\\x{1f1f7}-\\x{1f1f9}\\x{1f1fc}\\x{1f1fe}]|\\x{1f1f6}\\x{1f1e6}|\\x{1f1f7}[\\x{1f1ea}\\x{1f1f4}\\x{1f1f8}\\x{1f1fa}\\x{1f1fc}]|\\x{1f1f8}[\\x{1f1e6}-\\x{1f1ea}\\x{1f1ec}-\\x{1f1f4}\\x{1f1f7}-\\x{1f1f9}\\x{1f1fb}\\x{1f1fd}-\\x{1f1ff}]|\\x{1f1f9}[\\x{1f1e6}\\x{1f1e8}\\x{1f1e9}\\x{1f1eb}-\\x{1f1ed}\\x{1f1ef}-\\x{1f1f4}\\x{1f1f7}\\x{1f1f9}\\x{1f1fb}\\x{1f1fc}\\x{1f1ff}]|\\x{1f1fa}[\\x{1f1e6}\\x{1f1ec}\\x{1f1f2}\\x{1f1f8}\\x{1f1fe}\\x{1f1ff}]|\\x{1f1fb}[\\x{1f1e6}\\x{1f1e8}\\x{1f1ea}\\x{1f1ec}\\x{1f1ee}\\x{1f1f3}\\x{1f1fa}]|\\x{1f1fc}[\\x{1f1eb}\\x{1f1f8}]|\\x{1f1fd}\\x{1f1f0}|\\x{1f1fe}[\\x{1f1ea}\\x{1f1f9}]|\\x{1f1ff}[\\x{1f1e6}\\x{1f1f2}\\x{1f1fc}]";

Inside a preg_replace_callback():

var_dump(preg_replace_callback("@$regex@u", function($match) {
    return $match[0]."  ";
}, '👉😀👈'));

Outputs:

string(18) "👉  😀  👈  "

Live demo

Answer 2

I found this function that someone had added in the PHP docs that splits a multibyte string into an array of characters (like str_split) and modified it.

function addSpaces($string) {
    $strlen = mb_strlen($string);
    $new_string = '';
    while ($strlen) {
        $char = mb_substr($string,0,1,"UTF-8");
        if (strlen($char) > 1) {
            $new_string .= " $char ";
        } else {
            $new_string .= $char;
        }
        $string = mb_substr($string,1,$strlen,"UTF-8");
        $strlen = mb_strlen($string);
    }
    return $new_string;
}

This question has other ways to do that split that could be similarly modified. The modification is, if strlen of one of the split characters is greater than 1, then it's multibyte, so add the spaces.