PHP Exercises: Create a new string taking the first character from a given string and the last character from another given string

Last update on May 28 2025 13:07:29 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

76. Concat First from One and Last from Another

Write a PHP program to create a new string taking the first character from a given string and the last character from another given string. If the length of any given string is 0, use '#' as its missing character.

Sample Solution:

PHP Code :

<?php
// Define a function named 'test' that extracts the first and last characters from two input strings
function test($s1, $s2)
{ 
    // Initialize an empty string to store the last characters
    $lastChars = "";

    // Check if the first string has a length greater than 0
    if (strlen($s1) > 0)
    {
        // If true, append the first character of $s1 to $lastChars
        $lastChars = $lastChars.substr($s1, 0, 1);
    }
    else
    {
        // If false, append "#" to $lastChars
        $lastChars = $lastChars."#";
    }

    // Check if the second string has a length greater than 0
    if (strlen($s2) > 0)
    {
        // If true, append the last character of $s2 to $lastChars
        $lastChars = $lastChars.substr($s2, strlen($s2) - 1);
    }
    else
    {
        // If false, append "#" to $lastChars
        $lastChars = $lastChars."#";
    }

    // Return the concatenated string containing the last characters
    return $lastChars;
}

// Test the 'test' function with different strings, then display the results using echo
echo test("Hello", "Hi")."\n";
echo test("Python", "PHP")."\n";
echo test("JS", "JS")."\n";
echo test("Csharp", "")."\n";
?>

Explanation:

Function Definition:

The test function is defined with two parameters:

$s1: the first input string.
$s2: the second input string.

Initialize $lastChars:

$lastChars is initialized as an empty string to store the resulting characters.

Extract and Append Characters from $s1:

If $s1 has a length greater than 0:

The first character of $s1 is appended to $lastChars using substr($s1, 0, 1).

If $s1 is empty:

A "#" symbol is appended to $lastChars.

Extract and Append Characters from $s2:

If $s2 has a length greater than 0:

The last character of $s2 is appended to $lastChars using substr($s2, strlen($s2) - 1).

If $s2 is empty:

A "#" symbol is appended to $lastChars.

Return Value:

Returns the $lastChars string, which contains the selected characters from $s1 and $s2.

Output:

Hi
PP
JS
C#

Flowchart:

For more Practice: Solve these Related Problems:

Write a PHP script to form a new string by taking the first character from one string and the last character from another, substituting '#' for any missing character.
Write a PHP function to validate two string inputs and extract their respective first and last characters, using a default value if empty.
Write a PHP program to combine characters from two strings in a fixed order with fallback for zero-length inputs.
Write a PHP script to use ternary operators to replace missing values with '#' and then concatenate the specified characters from both strings.

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