php - How to check if a string starts with a specified string?

I'm trying to check if a string starts with http. How can I do this check?

$string1 = 'google.com';
$string2 = 'http://www.google.com';

Answer

Use the substr function to return a part of a string.

substr( $string_n, 0, 4 ) === "http"

If you're trying to make sure it's not another protocol. I'd use http:// instead, since https would also match, and other things such as http-protocol.com.

substr( $string_n, 0, 7 ) === "http://"

And in general:

substr($string, 0, strlen($query)) === $query