I have just uploaded the next version of the Portable UTF-8, PHP unicode library. This version adds 9 UTF-8 string functions to the library. There are a few bug fixes, and also some performance optimizations, but the release was mainly to extend the functionality of the library.

You can download the new version here and the detailed explanations of all functions is available here.

New Functions:

• utf8_string – Makes a string from UTF-8 code points.
• utf8_substr_count – Count the number of sub string occurrences. Replacement for substr_count.
• is_ascii – Checks if a string is 7 bit ASCII.
• utf8_range – Returns an array of characters between two codepoints (int or hex) or UTF8 characters. Replacement for range.
• utf8_hash – Generates a hash/string of random UTF-8 characters.
• utf8_chr_map – Applies callback to all UTF-8 characters.
• utf8_access – Provides a way to access individual UTF-8 characters. Replacement for
  $string[$i].
• utf8_str_sort – Sort ascending/descending with respect to codepoints of all characters.
• utf8_strip_tags – Replacement for PHP’s strip_tags.

Optimizations & Improvements:

• utf8_bom now in-lines the BOM string instead of creating the string using pack and caching it as a static variable.
• utf8_chr now accepts hexadecimal codepoints.
• utf8_split has been improved. New version uses PCRE and is better and faster.
• utf8_substr – improved consistency with substr.

Bug Fixes:

• extension_loaded was misspelled as extension_loded in v 1.1 Line 50 – reported by Goran Jurić.