Logic behind pagination like google

Question

What is the logic behind google's pagination behaviour?

My paginator goes something like this:

[1]  2   3  ...  184   >
 <   1  [2]  3   4  ...  184   >
 <   1   2  [3]  4   5  ...  184   >
 <   1   2   3  [4]  5   6   ...  184   >
 <   1  ...  3   4  [5]  6    7   ...  184   >
 <   1  ...  4   5  [6]  7    8   ...  184   >
 <   1  ...  5   6  [7]  8    9   ...  184   >
 <   1  ...  6   7  [8]  9    10  ...  184   >

Here is a live version of the above example: http://www.dev.thomaskile.me/?page=test-zone&module=Paginator.
I know why this is happening; I've set the amount of page numbers to be shown on each side of current page to two (2).

I would rather have the range of numbers to be equal like this:

[1]  2   3   4   5   6   7   8   ...   184   >
 <   1  [2]  3   4   5   6   7   ...   184   >
 <   1   2  [3]  4   5   6   7   ...   184   >
 <   1   2   3  [4]  5   6   7   ...   184   >
 <   1  ...  3   4  [5]  6   7   ...   184   >
 <   1  ...  4   5  [6]  7   8   ...   184   >
 <   1  ...  5   6  [7]  8   9   ...   184   >    
 <   1  ...  6   7  [8]  9   10  ...   184   >

It's at the beginning and the end I need to make some changes, but can't figure out how to make it an easy operation...
I would like to make it flexible as well. Meaning I would like to be able to change the number of wanted pages on each side, and have the script expand and calculate it all...

Here is my code so far:

/**
 *  page controller buttons 
 *  @param str $this->querySting      href="URL string"
 *  @param str $this->pageIdentifier  $_GET['this-name']
 *  @param int $this->numPages        Total amount of pages
 *  @param int $this->midRange        Number of pages to show on each side of current page
 */

public function prevPage() 
{
    if ($this->currentPage > 1){ 
        $prevPage = ($this->currentPage - 1); 
        return '<a href="'.$this->queryString.'&'.$this->pageIdentifier.'='.$prevPage.'" class="prev">prev</a>'; 
    }
}
public function nextPage() 
{
    if ($this->currentPage < $this->numPages) { 
        $nextPage = $this->currentPage + 1;
        return '<a href="'.$this->queryString.'&'.$this->pageIdentifier.'='.$nextPage.'" class="next">next</a>';  
    }  
}
public function firstPage() 
{
    if ($this->currentPage > ($this->midRange + 1)) {  //  if number of pages between "currentPage" and "firstPage" exceeds $midRange with 1...
        $firstPage .= '<a href="'.$this->queryString.'&'.$this->pageIdentifier.'=1" class="first">1</a>';  //  ...show "first page"-link
        if ($this->currentPage > ($this->midRange + 2)) {   //  if number of pages between $currentPage and "first page" exceeds $midRange with more than 1
            $firstPage .= '&hellip;';  //  add "..." between "1st page"-link and first page in $range
        }
    }
    return $firstPage;
}
public function lastPage() 
{
    if ($this->currentPage < ($this->numPages - $this->midRange)) {  //  if number of pages between "currentPage" and "last page" is equal to $midRange
        if (($this->currentPage < ($this->numPages - $this->midRange) - 1)) {  //  if number of pages between $currentPage and "last page" exceeds $range with more than two
            $lastPage .= '&hellip;';  //  add "..." between "last page"-link and last page in $range
        } 
        $lastPage .= '<a href="'.$this->queryString.'&'.$this->pageIdentifier.'='.$this->numPages.'" class="last">'.$this->numPages.'</a>';   //  show "last page"-link
    }
    return $lastPage;
}

#  Range of pages between (prev first ...) and (... last next)
public function listPages() 
{
    for ($i = ($this->currentPage - $this->midRange); $i < (($this->currentPage + $this->midRange) + 1); $i++){
       if (($i > 0) && ($i <= $this->numPages))  //  if page number are within page range
       {
          if ($i == $this->currentPage) { $listPages .= '<a class="current">'.$i.'</a>'; }  //  if we're on current page
          else { $listPages .= '<a href="'.$this->queryString.'&'.$this->pageIdentifier.'='.$i.'">'.$i.'</a>'; }  //  if not current page
        }
    }
    return $listPages; 
}

Answer 1

This is what I do for my Pagination.

$startPage = $currentPage - 4;
$endPage = $currentPage + 4;

if ($startPage <= 0) {
    $endPage -= ($startPage - 1);
    $startPage = 1;
}

if ($endPage > $totalPage)
    $endPage = $totalPage;

if ($startPage > 1) echo " First ... ";
for($i=$startPage; $i<=$endPage; $i++) echo " {$i} ";
if ($endPage < $totalPage) echo " ... Last ";

---

I believe my code is self-explained, but I will try to explain it in plain English. First of all, you need to know two things before you can generate Pagination: $totalPage and $currentPage.

Step 1: Assuming that the current page is in mid-range. $startPage and $endPage store range of page that pagination try to generate.

Step 2: If $startPage is negative, then you need to make-up for $endPage.

Step 3: If $endPage excess $totalPage, then $endPage is the last page.

Step 4: Generating Pagination into HTML. (it is up to you how you want your pagination to look. I will simply use plain text to represent my pagination)

if ($startPage > 1) echo " First ... ";
for($i=$startPage; $i<=$endPage; $i++) echo " {$i} ";
if ($endPage < $totalPage) echo " ... Last ";

---

Fixed flaw to my previous logic

$startPage = ($curPage < 5)? 1 : $curPage - 4;
$endPage = 8 + $startPage;
$endPage = ($totalPage < $endPage) ? $totalPage : $endPage;
$diff = $startPage - $endPage + 8;
$startPage -= ($startPage - $diff > 0) ? $diff : 0;

if ($startPage > 1) echo " First ... ";
for($i=$startPage; $i<=$endPage; $i++) echo " {$i} ";
if ($endPage < $totalPage) echo " ... Last ";

Answer 2

This conversation was a great start for me! But I wanted a paginator closer to the intentions of the original question, that:
1) Could be contained in a function with variables to alter the total pages, current page, and number of pages on each side of the current to show.
2) Maintains a constant width, similar to the original post:

 <  [1]   2    3    4    5    6   7    ...   99   >
 <   1   [2]   3    4    5    6   7    ...   99   >
 <   1    2   [3]   4    5    6   7    ...   99   >
 <   1    2    3   [4]   5    6   7    ...   99   >
 <   1    2    3    4   [5]   6   7    ...   99   >
 <   1   ...   4    5   [6]   7   8    ...   99   >
 <   1   ...   5    6   [7]   8   9    ...   99   >
 <   1   ...   92   93  [94]  95  96   ...   99   >
 <   1   ...   93   94  [95]  96  97   98    99   >
 <   1   ...   93   94   95  [96] 97   98    99   >
 <   1   ...   93   94   95   96 [97]  98    99   >
 <   1   ...   93   94   95   96  97  [98]   99   >
 <   1   ...   93   94   95   96  97   98   [99]  >

3) Continues to display the number "2" rather than "..." in cases where you would have 1 ... 3
4) Same thing for the end.

So here's what I did. I am coding in a different language (coffeescript), but it should function as good sudo-code anyway:

get_pages_array = (total_page, each_side, curr_page) ->
    if total_page <= (2*each_side)+5
        # in this case, too few pages, so display them all
        start_page = 1
        end_page = total_page
    else if curr_page<=each_side+3
        # in this case, curr_page is too close to the beginning
        start_page = 1
        end_page = (2*each_side)+3
    else if curr_page >= total_page - (each_side+2)
        # in this case, curr_page is too close to the end
        start_page = total_page - (2*each_side) - 2
        end_page = total_page
    else
        # regular case
        start_page = curr_page - each_side
        end_page = curr_page + each_side
    return_me = []
    if start_page> 1
        return_me.push "1"
    if start_page>2
        return_me.push "..."
    for x in [start_page..end_page]
        return_me.push x
    if end_page<total_page-1
        return_me.push "..."
    if end_page<total_page
        return_me.push total_page
    return return_me

I am using this code for each_side = 2, so that's where I'm sure it works.

EDIT: fixed logic as per @Vextil

Answer 3

Here's a Python program that shows how to do this correctly:

def main():
    num_pages = 13
    page = 12

    window = 5
    start = page - window
    end = page + window - 1
    if start <= 0:
        end = end - start + 1
        start = 1
    if end > num_pages:
        end = num_pages
        start = max(end - (window * 2) + 1, 1)

    for no in range(start, end + 1):
        print "{}*".format(no) if page == no else no

if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()