Examples

This page gathers a few complete examples that mirror the most common ways we use phpgt/ulid in an application.

Generate IDs for new records

use GT\Ulid\Ulid;

$userId = new Ulid("user");
$orderId = new Ulid("order");

echo $userId, PHP_EOL;
echo $orderId, PHP_EOL;

Use a ULID as a database key

use GT\Ulid\Ulid;

$id = new Ulid("customer");

$db->insert("customer/insert", [
	"id" => (string)$id,
	"name" => "A. Example",
]);

Because the object is stringable, it fits naturally into insert payloads.

Rebuild an object from stored data

use GT\Ulid\Ulid;

$storedId = $row->getString("id");
$id = new Ulid(init: $storedId);

echo $id->getPrefix(), PHP_EOL;
echo $id->getDateTime()->format("Y-m-d H:i:s"), PHP_EOL;

Sort ULIDs as strings

$ids = [
	(string)new Ulid(timestamp: strtotime("2024-03-01 10:00:00 UTC") * 1000),
	(string)new Ulid(timestamp: strtotime("2024-01-01 10:00:00 UTC") * 1000),
	(string)new Ulid(timestamp: strtotime("2024-02-01 10:00:00 UTC") * 1000),
];

sort($ids, SORT_STRING);
print_r($ids);

Because the timestamp comes first, plain string sorting gives us chronological order.

Pull individual sections from an ID

use GT\Ulid\Extractor;

$id = "INVOICE_01KPKT4PFTKVQ9P1E72F";
$extractor = new Extractor();

printf("Prefix: %s\n", $extractor->extractPrefix($id));
printf("Timestamp: %d\n", $extractor->extractTimestamp($id));
printf("Random: %s\n", $extractor->extractRandomString($id));