Merge two strings

Merges two strings in a way that a pattern like ABABAB will be the result. 

/**
 * Merges two strings in a way that a pattern like ABABAB will be
 * the result.
 *
 * @param     string    $str1   String A
 * @param     string    $str2   String B
 * @return    string    Merged string
 */  
function MergeBetween($str1, $str2){
 
    // Split both strings
    $str1 = str_split($str1, 1);
    $str2 = str_split($str2, 1);
 
    // Swap variables if string 1 is larger than string 2
    if (count($str1) >= count($str2))
        list($str1, $str2) = array($str2, $str1);
 
    // Append the shorter string to the longer string
    for($x=0; $x < count($str1); $x++)
        $str2[$x] .= $str1[$x];
 
    return implode('', $str2);
}
Snippet information

Author:
Jonas John

License:
Public Domain

Language:
PHP

Created:
12/05/2007

Updated:
12/05/2007

Tags:



print MergeBetween('abcdef', '__') . "\n";
print MergeBetween('__', 'abcdef') . "\n";
print MergeBetween('bb', 'aa') . "\n";
print MergeBetween('aa', 'bb') . "\n";
print MergeBetween('a', 'b') . "\n";
 
/*
Output:
 
a_b_cdef
a_b_cdef
baba
abab
ab
*/

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Older comments:

anonimous April 19, 2011 at 05:12
you are awesome

thanks, but i was not looking for this (but i will help me one day)
Roland February 26, 2009 at 11:37
Why swap variables if str1 is larger? It has no logic... Example #2 should output:
"_a_bcdef"