(PHP 4 >= 4.0.1, PHP 5)
str_pad — Pad a string to a certain length with another string
$input
   , int $pad_length
   [, string $pad_string = " "
   [, int $pad_type = STR_PAD_RIGHT
  ]] )
   This functions returns the input string
   padded on the left, the right, or both sides to the specified
   padding length. If the optional argument
   pad_string is not supplied, the
   input is padded with spaces, otherwise it
   is padded with characters from pad_string
   up to the limit.
  
inputThe input string.
pad_length
       If the value of pad_length is negative,
       less than, or equal to the length of the input string, no padding
       takes place, and input will be returned.
      
pad_stringNote:
The
pad_stringmay be truncated if the required number of padding characters can't be evenly divided by thepad_string's length.
pad_type
       Optional argument pad_type can be
       STR_PAD_RIGHT, STR_PAD_LEFT,
       or STR_PAD_BOTH. If
       pad_type is not specified it is assumed to be
       STR_PAD_RIGHT.
      
Returns the padded string.
Example #1 str_pad() example
<?php
$input = "Alien";
echo str_pad($input, 10);                      // produces "Alien     "
echo str_pad($input, 10, "-=", STR_PAD_LEFT);  // produces "-=-=-Alien"
echo str_pad($input, 10, "_", STR_PAD_BOTH);   // produces "__Alien___"
echo str_pad($input,  6, "___");               // produces "Alien_"
echo str_pad($input,  3, "*");                 // produces "Alien"
?>