Special characters throwing off str_pad in php?

Question

I\'m writing a module that is supposed to be able to export transaction records in BankOne format.

Here is the specification of the format

Here is an example

Answer 1

This is happening because 'Ã' is a multi-byte character (4 bytes long), and str_pad is counting bytes rather than logical characters.

This is why you are missing three spaces, str_pad is counting 'Ã' as 4 single byte characters instead of one multi-byte one.

Try this function (credit here).