PHP 7 Programming Cookbook

Using emoticons or emoji in a view script

The word emoticons is a composite of emotion and icon. Emoji, originating from Japan, is another, larger, widely used set of icons. These icons are the little smiley faces, tiny ninjas, and rolling-on-the-floor-laughing icons that are so popular on any website that has a social networking aspect. Prior to PHP 7, however, producing these little beasties was an exercise in frustration.

How to do it...

1. First and foremost, you need to know the Unicode for the icon you wish to present. A quick search on the Internet will direct you to any one of several excellent charts. Here are the codes for the three hear-no-evil, see-no-evil, and speak-no-evil monkey icons:

   U+1F648, U+1F649, and U+1F64A

2. Any Unicode output to ...