Description
string 
str_pad ( string input, int pad_length [, string pad_string [, int pad_type]] )
     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.
    
     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.
    
     If the value of pad_length is negative or
     less than the length of the input string, no padding takes place.
    
     
| 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_"
 ?>
 | 
 | 
    Note: 
      The pad_string may be truncated if the
      required number of padding characters can't be evenly divided by
      the pad_string's length.