Directory Helper : Codeigniter provides this helper(directory) which is used to work with directories. Here in this tutorial we are going to explain this helper.

Directory Helper

Load Helper

You can load directory helper simply as below –

$this->load->helper('directory');

Functions

Following functions are available in this helper –

directory_map Function

directory_map($source_dir, $directory_depth = 0, $hidden = FALSE);

Parameters:

• $source_dir (string) – Source directory Path
• $directory_depth (int) – Depth of directories for traversing (0 = fully recursive, 1 = current dir, etc)
• $hidden (bool) – Whether to include hidden directories or not.
• Returns:Array of files
• Return type:array

The above functions gives the array of files in a directory.

Codeigniter Date Helper : Codeigniter provides the helper which is used to work with dates. Here in this tutorial we are going to explain how you can use date helper in Codeigniter. You can use our online editor run and see the output of the example.

Date Helper in Codeigniter

Let us go step by step –

Load Date Helper

First of all load helper(data) before using it. You can the helper(date) simply as below-

$this->load->helper('date');

After Loading this helper now you are able to use it’s functions.

Functions of Date Helper

Following functions are present in the date helper.

now Function

This function returns the current time as a UNIX timestamp, referenced by the server’s local time or any other PHP suported timezone based upon the time reference setting in config.

now($timezone = NULL)

Parameters:

• $timezone (string) – Timezone
• Returns (int) : UNIX timestamp

Now Function Example :

$timeZone = 'America/Costa_Rica';
now($timeZone);

If $timeZone = ‘America/Costa_Rica’; is not passed it will give the time() based on the time_reference settings.

2. mdate Function

This function is somehow similar to the date() function. In addition it enables you to use this function in mysql style date function.

mdate($datestr = '', $time = '')

Parameters:

• $datestr (string) – Date String
• $time (int) – Unix Timestamp
• Returns (int) : String.

mdate Function Example :

$datestr = ' %Y - %m - %d - %h:%i %a';
$time = time();
echo mdate($datestr, $time);

3. standard_date Function

standard_date($format = 'DATE_RFC822', $time = NULL)

Parameters:

• $format (string) – Date Format
• $time (int) – Unix Timestamp
• Returns (int) : String.

standard_date Function Example :

$datestr = ' %Y - %m - %d - %h:%i %a';
$time = time();
echo mdate($datestr, $time);

4. local_to_gmt Function

This function converts the UNIX timestamp into GMT.

local_to_gmt($time = NULL)

Parameters:

$time (int) – Unix Timestamp

• Returns (int) : Int.

Example :

$gmt = local_to_gmt(time());
echo $gmt;

5. gmt_to_local Function

This function converts GMT timestamp into the localized UNIX timestamp.

gmt_to_local($time = NULL)

Parameters:

$time (int) – Unix Timestamp

• Returns (int) : Int.

6. mysql_to_unix Function

This function converts mysql timestamp into the UNIX timestamp.

mysql_to_unix($time = NULL)

Parameters:

$time (int) – Unix Timestamp

• Returns (int) : Int.

7. unix_to_human Function

This function converts UNIX timestamp to human date format.

unix_to_human($time = '', $seconds = FALSE, $format = 'us')

Parameters:

• $time (int) – Unix Timestamp
• $seconds (bool) – Pass true to show seconds else false.
• $format (string) – String Format.
• Returns (String) : String.

8. human_to_unix Function

This function date into the UNIX timestamp.

human_to_unix($dateString)

Parameters:

• $dateString – Date String
• Returns (Int) : int.

9. nice_date Function

This function takes bad date string and converts it into the proper formatted date..

nice_date($badDate, $format = FALSE)

Parameters:

• $badDate – Date String not in proper format.
• $format – Format To Be returned.
• Returns (Date) : formatted date.

Example

$badDate = '199005';
$date = nice_date($badDate, 'Y-m-d');
// Will give: 1990-05-01

10. timespan Function

This function formats the UNIX timestamp date..

timespan($seconds = 1, $time = '', $units = '')

Parameters:

• $seconds – No Of seconds.
• $time – UNIX timestamp.
• $units – time unit to return.
• Returns (Date) : formatted date.

11. days_in_month Function

This function returns the number of days in specified year.

days_in_month($month = 0, $year = '')

Parameters:

• $month – Month.
• $year – Year.
• Returns (Days) : No of days.

Example

echo days_in_month(08, 2006);

12. date_range Function

This function returns the array of dates between two specified dates.

date_range($unix_start = '', $mixed = '', $is_unix = TRUE, $format = 'Y-m-d')

Parameters:

• $unix_start – UNIX timestamp start date.
• $mixed – UNIX timestamp of the range end date.
• $is_unix – This if set to FALSE if $mixed is not a timestamp.
• $format – Output format.
• Returns (Dates) : Returns all dates within the range.

Example

$dateRange = date_range('2014-03-01', '2014-01-20');
print_r($dateRange); // will give you all dates between the range.

13. timezones Function

This function returns the returns the number of hours offset from UTC using the timestamp.

timezones($timezone)

Parameters:

• $timezone – Numeric timezone.
• Returns (int) : Returns hours diff.

14. timezone_menu Function

This function is used to create the dropdown menu of timezones.

timezone_menu($default = 'UTC', $class = '', $name = 'timezones', $attributes = '')

Parameters:

• $default (string) – Timezone
• $class (string) – Class name
• $name (string) – Menu name
• $attributes (mixed) – HTML attributes
• Returns (HTML) : Returns HTML Dropdown menu of timezones.

Codeigniter Cookie Helper contains the functions that are used in working with cookies. Here in this tutorial we are going to explain how you can create cookies using this helper. Let us go step by step to learn about the Cookie Helper.

Cookie Helper in Codeigniter Example

Load This Helper

Before using the helper function you must load this helper as below –

$this->load->helper('cookie');

After Loading this function you can use it’s functions.

Cookie Helper Functions

Let us go through the available functions in this helper.

set_cookie Function

Syntax of set_cookie function

set_cookie($name, $value = '', $expire = '', $domain = '', $path = '/', $prefix = '', $secure = FALSE, $httponly = FALSE);

Parameters:

• $name (mixed) – Name of Cookie.
• $value (string) – Cookie value.
• $expire (int) – Number of seconds until expiration.
• $domain (string) – Cookie domain ex.- www.tutorialsplane.com.
• $path (string) – Cookie path.
• $prefix (string) – Cookie name prefix.
• $secure (bool) – To send the cookie using HTTPS.
• $httponly (bool) – To hide the cookie from JavaScript.

get_cookie Function

Syntax of get_cookie function

get_cookie($index, $xss_clean = NULL);

Parameters:

• $index (string) – Name of Cookie.
• $xss_clean (bool) – If you want to apply xss filtering to returned value set true else it will be false by default.

Returns:

Returns cookie value. If value not found it will return NULL.

delete_cookie Function

Syntax of delete_cookie function

delete_cookie($index, $domain, $path, $prefix);

Parameters:

• $name (mixed) – Name of Cookie.
• $domain (string) – Cookie domain ex.- www.tutorialsplane.com.
• $path (string) – Cookie path.
• $prefix (string) – Cookie name prefix.

Returns:

Returns void.

delete_cookie Example

If you do not want to specify other params you can delete the cookies as below –

Codeigniter delete_cookie Example:

delete_cookie('my_cookie'); //my_cookie name of the cookies

Where my_cookie is name of the cookie.

---

Examples

Let’s have look over examples on set, get and delete cookie.

---

Codeigniter Set Cookie Example

You can set cookie value simply as below –

Codeigniter Set Cookie Example :

public function setMyCookie(){ $this->load->helper('cookie'); $cookie = array( 'name' => 'username', 'value' => 'test@tutorialsplane.com', 'expire' => time()+86500, 'domain' => 'www.tutorialsplane.com', // You can add .localhost for local machine 'path' => '/', 'prefix' => 'tutorialsplane_', ); set_cookie($cookie); }

Codeigniter Get Cookie Example

You can get cookie value simply as below –

Codeigniter Get Cookie Example :

public function getMyCookie(){ $this->load->helper('cookie'); //get_cookie('prefix_name'); $cookieVal = get_cookie('tutorialsplane_username'); echo $cookieVal; }

Codeigniter Delete Cookie Example

You can delete cookie value simply as below –

Codeigniter delete Cookie Example :

public function deleteMyCookie(){ $this->load->helper('cookie'); // delete cookie example $cookie = array( 'name' => 'username', 'value' => '', 'expire' => '0', 'domain' => 'www.tutorialsplane.com', // You can add .localhost for local machine 'prefix' => 'tutorialsplane_' ); delete_cookie($cookie); }

The above example will delete the cookie set in the above example.

Tip : Make Sure you load the cookie helper before using the cookie functions.

CAPTCHA Helper : Codeigniter provides the CAPTCHA Helper which contains the functions that are used to create CAPTCHA images. Here is in this tutorial we are going to explain how you can create CAPTCHA images using the codeiniter’s CAPTCHA. CAPTCHA is used for human verification. Basically it is used to prevent the automated robots, bots, spams to access the website. CAPTCHA is basically image which contains some random string, numbers which needs to be verified by the user.

CAPTCHA Helper in Codeigniter

Let us go step by step to understand how captcha helper works in codeigniter.

Load CAPTCH Helper

You can load CAPTCHA(helper) simply as below –

$this->load->helper('captcha');

Now you can user CAPTCHA(helper) functions to create CAPTCHA images.

How to use Codeigniter CAPTCHA Helper ?

If CAPTCHA(Helper) is loaded you can create CAPTHCA simply as below –

load->helper('captcha');
$val = array(
        'word'          => rand(1000, 10000),
        'img_path'      => './captcha/',
        'img_url'       => 'http://tutorialsplane.com/runtest/codeigniter/demo/captcha/',
        'font_path'     => 'arial.ttf',
        'img_width'     => '200',
        'img_height'    => 50,
        'expiration'    => 7200,
        'word_length'   => 7,
        'font_size'     => 20,
        'img_id'        => 'Imageid',
        'pool'          => '0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ',

        
        'colors'        => array(
                'background' => array(255, 255, 255),
                'border' => array(255, 255, 255),
                'text' => array(0, 0, 0),
                'grid' => array(255, 40, 40)
        )
		// background : White 
        // border: White 
		//Text: black text and red grid
);

$captcha = create_captcha($val);
echo $captcha['image'];


}


}   
?>                   

In the above example we have created a controller and added a method which handles the captcha generation.

If you run the above example it will produce output something like this –

Array Helper – Codeigniter Array Helper file contains the functions which are used for arrays. You can load this helper and use it’s functions. Here in this tutorial we are going to explain how you can load array helper in codeigniter and use it’s functions. We will also explain how you can load helper on view file and use it’s functions. You can use our online editor to run and see the output of the example.

Array Helper in Codeigniter

Let us go step by step to understand the codeigniter array helper.

Load Array Helper in Codeigniter

You can load the array helper using the following syntax –

$this->load->helper('array');

Let us go through the available

Array Helper Functions

There are following functions available in the codeigniter Helper.

Element

element($item, $array[, $default = NULL])

Parameters –

• $item – Item to fetch from array.
• $array – Input array.
• $default – Default value to be returned if array is not valid.

Returns –

Returns NULL on failure. Returns item on success.

This function is used to fetch an item from array. This functions checks the index and its value. If the index value exists it returns the value else it returns NULL or the specified value in third parameter $default.

Example –

 901,
        'sku' => 'red-bounce',
        'color'  => 'gray',
		'price' => ''
);

echo element('id', $array); // will return 901
echo element('price', $array); // return null
echo element('price', $array, '$99'); // return $99

?>`

Elements

elements($items, $array[, $default = NULL])

Parameters –

• $items – Array of Items to fetch from array.
• $array – Input array.
• $default – Default value to be returned if array is not valid.

Returns –

Returns NULL on failure. Returns items on success.

This function is used to fetch multiple items from an array. This functions checks the index and value of each array item is set or not. If the index value exists it returns the value else it returns NULL or the specified value in third parameter $default.

Example –

 901,
        'sku' => 'red-bounce',
        'color'  => 'gray',
		'price' => ''
);

echo elements(array('id','sku'), $array); // will return array('id'=>901, 'sku'=>'red-bounce');
echo elements(array('id','sku', 'price'), $array); // will return array('id'=>901, 'sku'=>'red-bounce', 'price'=>NUll);
echo elements('price', $array, '$99'); // return array('id'=>901, 'sku'=>'red-bounce', 'price'=>$99);

?>`

Random Element

This returns the random element from the specified array.

random_element($array)

Where $array is input array.

Example

$array = array(1, 100, 21, 34, 589, 90, 192);
echo random_element($array); // will give any random number 

Some Codeigniter Helpers Example Are As

Url Helper, Cookie helper, Form Helper etc.

$this->load->helper('url');

Steps : Codeigniter Connect Database

Go to the application/config/databse.php

Step 1

Go to the below lines:

$db['default'] = array(
	'dsn'	=> '',
	'hostname' => 'localhost',
	'username' => 'username',
	'password' => 'password',
	'database' => 'your_databse_name',
	'dbdriver' => 'mysqli',
	'dbprefix' => '',
	'pconnect' => FALSE,
	'db_debug' => TRUE,
	'cache_on' => FALSE,
	'cachedir' => '',
	'char_set' => 'utf8',
	'dbcollat' => 'utf8_general_ci',
	'swap_pre' => '',
	'encrypt' => FALSE,
	'compress' => FALSE,
	'stricton' => FALSE,
	'failover' => array(),
	'save_queries' => TRUE
);

Add the above required parameter –

Hostname, Database Username and Password, Database name and other options if you need.

Step 2

Go to application/config/autoload.php
Go on the line :

$autoload['libraries'] = array();

Now Add

$autoload['libraries'] = array('database');