# HTML Helper

The HTML Helper file contains functions that assist in working with HTML.

- Loading this Helper
- Available Functions

## Loading this Helper

This helper is loaded using the following code:

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

## Available Functions

The following functions are available:

`heading`([$data = ''[, $h = '1'[, $attributes = '']]])

  Parameters: | $data (string) – Content $h (string) – Heading level $attributes (mixed) – HTML attributes
  Returns: | HTML heading tag
  Return type: | string

  Lets you create HTML heading tags. The first parameter will contain the data, the second the size of the heading. Example:

      echo heading('Welcome!', 3);

  The above would produce: <h3>Welcome!</h3>

  Additionally, in order to add attributes to the heading tag such as HTML classes, ids or inline styles, a third parameter accepts either a string or an array:

      echo heading('Welcome!', 3, 'class="pink"');
      echo heading('How are you?', 4, array('id' => 'question', 'class' => 'green'));

  The above code produces:

      <h3 class="pink">Welcome!<h3>
      <h4 id="question" class="green">How are you?</h4>

`img`([$src = ''[, $index_page = FALSE[, $attributes = '']]])

  Parameters: | $src (string) – Image source data $index_page (bool) – Whether to treat $src as a routed URI string $attributes (array) – HTML attributes
  Returns: | HTML image tag
  Return type: | string

  Lets you create HTML <img /> tags. The first parameter contains the image source. Example:

      echo img('images/picture.jpg'); // gives <img src="http://site.com/images/picture.jpg" />

  There is an optional second parameter that is a TRUE/FALSE value that specifics if the src should have the page specified by `$config['index_page']` added to the address it creates. Presumably, this would be if you were using a media controller:

      echo img('images/picture.jpg', TRUE); // gives <img src="http://site.com/index.php/images/picture.jpg" alt="" />

  Additionally, an associative array can be passed to the `img()` function for complete control over all attributes and values. If an alt attribute is not provided, CodeIgniter will generate an empty string.

  Example:

      $image_properties = array(
              'src'   => 'images/picture.jpg',
              'alt'   => 'Me, demonstrating how to eat 4 slices of pizza at one time',
              'class' => 'post_images',
              'width' => '200',
              'height'=> '200',
              'title' => 'That was quite a night',
              'rel'   => 'lightbox'
      );

      img($image_properties);
      // <img src="http://site.com/index.php/images/picture.jpg" alt="Me, demonstrating how to eat 4 slices of pizza at one time" class="post_images" width="200" height="200" title="That was quite a night" rel="lightbox" />

`link_tag`([$href = ''[, $rel = 'stylesheet'[, $type = 'text/css'[, $title = ''[, $media = ''[, $index_page = FALSE]]]]]])

  Parameters: | $href (string) – What are we linking to $rel (string) – Relation type $type (string) – Type of the related document $title (string) – Link title $media (string) – Media type $index_page (bool) – Whether to treat $src as a routed URI string
  Returns: | HTML link tag
  Return type: | string

  Lets you create HTML <link /> tags. This is useful for stylesheet links, as well as other links. The parameters are href, with optional rel, type, title, media and index_page.

  index_page is a boolean value that specifies if the href should have the page specified by `$config['index_page']` added to the address it creates.

  Example:

      echo link_tag('css/mystyles.css');
      // gives <link href="http://site.com/css/mystyles.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />

  Further examples:

      echo link_tag('favicon.ico', 'shortcut icon', 'image/ico');
      // <link href="http://site.com/favicon.ico" rel="shortcut icon" type="image/ico" />

      echo link_tag('feed', 'alternate', 'application/rss+xml', 'My RSS Feed');
      // <link href="http://site.com/feed" rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="My RSS Feed" />

  Additionally, an associative array can be passed to the `link()` function for complete control over all attributes and values:

      $link = array(
              'href'  => 'css/printer.css',
              'rel'   => 'stylesheet',
              'type'  => 'text/css',
              'media' => 'print'
      );

      echo link_tag($link);
      // <link href="http://site.com/css/printer.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="print" />

`ul`($list[, $attributes = ''])

  Parameters: | $list (array) – List entries $attributes (array) – HTML attributes
  Returns: | HTML-formatted unordered list
  Return type: | string

  Permits you to generate unordered HTML lists from simple or multi-dimensional arrays. Example:

      $list = array(
              'red',
              'blue',
              'green',
              'yellow'
      );

      $attributes = array(
              'class' => 'boldlist',
              'id'    => 'mylist'
      );

      echo ul($list, $attributes);

  The above code will produce this:

      <ul class="boldlist" id="mylist">
              <li>red</li>
              <li>blue</li>
              <li>green</li>
              <li>yellow</li>
      </ul>

  Here is a more complex example, using a multi-dimensional array:

      $attributes = array(
              'class' => 'boldlist',
              'id'    => 'mylist'
      );

      $list = array(
              'colors'  => array(
                      'red',
                      'blue',
                      'green'
              ),
              'shapes'  => array(
                      'round',
                      'square',
                      'circles' => array(
                              'ellipse',
                              'oval',
                              'sphere'
                      )
              ),
              'moods'  => array(
                      'happy',
                      'upset' => array(
                              'defeated' => array(
                                      'dejected',
                                      'disheartened',
                                      'depressed'
                              ),
                              'annoyed',
                              'cross',
                              'angry'
                      )
              )
      );

      echo ul($list, $attributes);

  The above code will produce this:

      <ul class="boldlist" id="mylist">
              <li>colors
                      <ul>
                              <li>red</li>
                              <li>blue</li>
                              <li>green</li>
                      </ul>
              </li>
              <li>shapes
                      <ul>
                              <li>round</li>
                              <li>suare</li>
                              <li>circles
                                      <ul>
                                              <li>elipse</li>
                                              <li>oval</li>
                                              <li>sphere</li>
                                      </ul>
                              </li>
                      </ul>
              </li>
              <li>moods
                      <ul>
                              <li>happy</li>
                              <li>upset
                                      <ul>
                                              <li>defeated
                                                      <ul>
                                                              <li>dejected</li>
                                                              <li>disheartened</li>
                                                              <li>depressed</li>
                                                      </ul>
                                              </li>
                                              <li>annoyed</li>
                                              <li>cross</li>
                                              <li>angry</li>
                                      </ul>
                              </li>
                      </ul>
              </li>
      </ul>

`ol`($list, $attributes = '')

  Parameters: | $list (array) – List entries $attributes (array) – HTML attributes
  Returns: | HTML-formatted ordered list
  Return type: | string

  Identical to `ul()`, only it produces the <ol> tag for ordered lists instead of <ul>.

`meta`([$name = ''[, $content = ''[, $type = 'name'[, $newline = "n"]]]])

  Parameters: | $name (string) – Meta name $content (string) – Meta content $type (string) – Meta type $newline (string) – Newline character
  Returns: | HTML meta tag
  Return type: | string

  Helps you generate meta tags. You can pass strings to the function, or simple arrays, or multidimensional ones.

  Examples:

      echo meta('description', 'My Great site');
      // Generates:  <meta name="description" content="My Great Site" />

      echo meta('Content-type', 'text/html; charset=utf-8', 'equiv');
      // Note the third parameter.  Can be "equiv" or "name"
      // Generates:  <meta http-equiv="Content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />

      echo meta(array('name' => 'robots', 'content' => 'no-cache'));
      // Generates:  <meta name="robots" content="no-cache" />

      $meta = array(
              array(
                      'name' => 'robots',
                      'content' => 'no-cache'
              ),
              array(
                      'name' => 'description',
                      'content' => 'My Great Site'
              ),
              array(
                      'name' => 'keywords',
                      'content' => 'love, passion, intrigue, deception'
              ),
              array(
                      'name' => 'robots',
                      'content' => 'no-cache'
              ),
              array(
                      'name' => 'Content-type',
                      'content' => 'text/html; charset=utf-8', 'type' => 'equiv'
              )
      );

      echo meta($meta);
      // Generates:
      // <meta name="robots" content="no-cache" />
      // <meta name="description" content="My Great Site" />
      // <meta name="keywords" content="love, passion, intrigue, deception" />
      // <meta name="robots" content="no-cache" />
      // <meta http-equiv="Content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />

`doctype`([$type = 'xhtml1-strict'])

  Parameters: | $type (string) – Doctype name
  Returns: | HTML DocType tag
  Return type: | string

  Helps you generate document type declarations, or DTD’s. XHTML 1.0 Strict is used by default, but many doctypes are available.

  Example:

      echo doctype(); // <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">

      echo doctype('html4-trans'); // <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">

  The following is a list of doctype choices. These are configurable, and pulled from application/config/doctypes.php

  Document type | Option | Result
  --- | --- | ---
  XHTML 1.1 | xhtml11 | <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd“>
  XHTML 1.0 Strict | xhtml1-strict | <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd“>
  XHTML 1.0 Transitional | xhtml1-trans | <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd“>
  XHTML 1.0 Frameset | xhtml1-frame | <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Frameset//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-frameset.dtd“>
  XHTML Basic 1.1 | xhtml-basic11 | <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD XHTML Basic 1.1//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml-basic/xhtml-basic11.dtd“>
  HTML 5 | html5 | <!DOCTYPE html>
  HTML 4 Strict | html4-strict | <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd“>
  HTML 4 Transitional | html4-trans | <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd“>
  HTML 4 Frameset | html4-frame | <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Frameset//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/frameset.dtd“>
  MathML 1.01 | mathml1 | <!DOCTYPE math SYSTEM “http://www.w3.org/Math/DTD/mathml1/mathml.dtd“>
  MathML 2.0 | mathml2 | <!DOCTYPE math PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD MathML 2.0//EN” “http://www.w3.org/Math/DTD/mathml2/mathml2.dtd“>
  SVG 1.0 | svg10 | <!DOCTYPE svg PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD SVG 1.0//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/2001/REC-SVG-20010904/DTD/svg10.dtd“>
  SVG 1.1 Full | svg11 | <!DOCTYPE svg PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD SVG 1.1//EN” “http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/1.1/DTD/svg11.dtd“>
  SVG 1.1 Basic | svg11-basic | <!DOCTYPE svg PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD SVG 1.1 Basic//EN” “http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/1.1/DTD/svg11-basic.dtd“>
  SVG 1.1 Tiny | svg11-tiny | <!DOCTYPE svg PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD SVG 1.1 Tiny//EN” “http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/1.1/DTD/svg11-tiny.dtd“>
  XHTML+MathML+SVG (XHTML host) | xhtml-math-svg-xh | <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1 plus MathML 2.0 plus SVG 1.1//EN” “http://www.w3.org/2002/04/xhtml-math-svg/xhtml-math-svg.dtd“>
  XHTML+MathML+SVG (SVG host) | xhtml-math-svg-sh | <!DOCTYPE svg:svg PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1 plus MathML 2.0 plus SVG 1.1//EN” “http://www.w3.org/2002/04/xhtml-math-svg/xhtml-math-svg.dtd”>
  XHTML+RDFa 1.0 | xhtml-rdfa-1 | <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD XHTML+RDFa 1.0//EN” “http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/DTD/xhtml-rdfa-1.dtd“>
  XHTML+RDFa 1.1 | xhtml-rdfa-2 | <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD XHTML+RDFa 1.1//EN” “http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/DTD/xhtml-rdfa-2.dtd“>

`br`([$count = 1])

  Parameters: | $count (int) – Number of times to repeat the tag
  Returns: | HTML line break tag
  Return type: | string

  Generates line break tags (<br />) based on the number you submit. Example:

      echo br(3);

  The above would produce:

      <br /><br /><br />

  Note

  This function is DEPRECATED. Use the native `str_repeat()` in combination with `<br />` instead.

`nbs`([$num = 1])

  Parameters: | $num (int) – Number of space entities to produce
  Returns: | A sequence of non-breaking space HTML entities
  Return type: | string

  Generates non-breaking spaces (&nbsp;) based on the number you submit. Example:

      echo nbs(3);

  The above would produce:

      &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

  Note

  This function is DEPRECATED. Use the native `str_repeat()` in combination with `&nbsp;` instead.