Cyrillic transliteration in PHP

Question

How to transliterate cyrillic characters into latin letters?

E.g. Главная страница -> Glavnaja stranica

This Transliteration PHP Extension would do this very well, but I can't install it on my server.

It would be best to have the same implementation but in PHP.

Answer 1

@Tural Teyyuboglu

Your code has a problem: if you try to transliterate for example "щеки" to latin and then back to cyrillic it will produce something like "схтеки". The multi-byte characters must appear first in the array like this:

function transliterate($textcyr = null, $textlat = null) {
    $cyr = array(
    'ж',  'ч',  'щ',   'ш',  'ю',  'а', 'б', 'в', 'г', 'д', 'е', 'з', 'и', 'й', 'к', 'л', 'м', 'н', 'о', 'п', 'р', 'с', 'т', 'у', 'ф', 'х', 'ц', 'ъ', 'ь', 'я',
    'Ж',  'Ч',  'Щ',   'Ш',  'Ю',  'А', 'Б', 'В', 'Г', 'Д', 'Е', 'З', 'И', 'Й', 'К', 'Л', 'М', 'Н', 'О', 'П', 'Р', 'С', 'Т', 'У', 'Ф', 'Х', 'Ц', 'Ъ', 'Ь', 'Я');
    $lat = array(
    'zh', 'ch', 'sht', 'sh', 'yu', 'a', 'b', 'v', 'g', 'd', 'e', 'z', 'i', 'j', 'k', 'l', 'm', 'n', 'o', 'p', 'r', 's', 't', 'u', 'f', 'h', 'c', 'y', 'x', 'q',
    'Zh', 'Ch', 'Sht', 'Sh', 'Yu', 'A', 'B', 'V', 'G', 'D', 'E', 'Z', 'I', 'J', 'K', 'L', 'M', 'N', 'O', 'P', 'R', 'S', 'T', 'U', 'F', 'H', 'c', 'Y', 'X', 'Q');
    if($textcyr) return str_replace($cyr, $lat, $textcyr);
    else if($textlat) return str_replace($lat, $cyr, $textlat);
    else return null;
}

echo transliterate(null, transliterate("щеки")) == "щеки";

Answer 2

for me the best solution was to use

strtr("Информация",array('И'=>'I','н'=>'n','ф'=>'f', ...and so on... ))

Answer 3

$textcyr="Тест на кирилице";
$textlat="Test na kirilitse!";
$cyr  = array('а','б','в','г','д','е','ё','ж','з','и','й','к','л','м','н','о','п','р','с','т','у', 
            'ф','х','ц','ч','ш','щ','ъ', 'ы','ь', 'э', 'ю','я','А','Б','В','Г','Д','Е','Ж','З','И','Й','К','Л','М','Н','О','П','Р','С','Т','У',
            'Ф','Х','Ц','Ч','Ш','Щ','Ъ', 'Ы','Ь', 'Э', 'Ю','Я' );
$lat = array( 'a','b','v','g','d','e','io','zh','z','i','y','k','l','m','n','o','p','r','s','t','u',
            'f' ,'h' ,'ts' ,'ch','sh' ,'sht' ,'a', 'i', 'y', 'e' ,'yu' ,'ya','A','B','V','G','D','E','Zh',
            'Z','I','Y','K','L','M','N','O','P','R','S','T','U',
            'F' ,'H' ,'Ts' ,'Ch','Sh' ,'Sht' ,'A' ,'Y' ,'Yu' ,'Ya' );

$textcyr = str_replace($cyr, $lat, $textcyr);
$textlat = str_replace($lat, $cyr, $textlat);
echo("$textcyr $textlat");

missing ё, э, ы (Э, Ы, Ё) letters

Answer 4

This is my version of transliteration table for russian alphabet. It's unofficial but based on technical standards GOST 7.79-2000 and GOST 16876-71. Multi-characters go first.

public static function transliterate($textcyr = null, $textlat = null) {
    $cyr = array(
        'ё',  'ж',  'х',  'ц',  'ч',  'щ',   'ш',  'ъ',  'э',  'ю',  'я',  'а', 'б', 'в', 'г', 'д', 'е', 'з', 'и', 'й', 'к', 'л', 'м', 'н', 'о', 'п', 'р', 'с', 'т', 'у', 'ф', 'ь',
        'Ё',  'Ж',  'Х',  'Ц',  'Ч',  'Щ',   'Ш',  'Ъ',  'Э',  'Ю',  'Я',  'А', 'Б', 'В', 'Г', 'Д', 'Е', 'З', 'И', 'Й', 'К', 'Л', 'М', 'Н', 'О', 'П', 'Р', 'С', 'Т', 'У', 'Ф', 'Ь');
    $lat = array(
        'yo', 'zh', 'kh', 'ts', 'ch', 'shh', 'sh', '``', 'eh', 'yu', 'ya', 'a', 'b', 'v', 'g', 'd', 'e', 'z', 'i', 'j', 'k', 'l', 'm', 'n', 'o', 'p', 'r', 's', 't', 'u', 'f', '`',
        'Yo', 'Zh', 'Kh', 'Ts', 'Ch', 'Shh', 'Sh', '``', 'Eh', 'Yu', 'Ya', 'A', 'B', 'V', 'G', 'D', 'E', 'Z', 'I', 'J', 'K', 'L', 'M', 'N', 'O', 'P', 'R', 'S', 'T', 'U', 'F', '`');
    if($textcyr)
        return str_replace($cyr, $lat, $textcyr);
    else if($textlat)
        return str_replace($lat, $cyr, $textlat);
    else
        return null;
}

Answer 5

The best option is using PHP Intl Extension. You might want install it first.

This will do the trick:

$transliteratedString = transliterator_transliterate('Russian-Latin/BGN', $cyrillicString);

I applied 'Russian-Latin/BGN' because the asker used Russian language in his question. However, there are options for other languages written in the Cyrillic script. To view all of them do this:

print_r(transliterator_list_ids());

Answer 6

$textcyr = 'Њушка Ћушка Љубав Ђато ђата части ';

$textlat = 'Ljubav njuška džoša Džoša';
$textlat = str_replace("nj","њ",$textlat);
$textlat = str_replace("Nj","Њ",$textlat);
$textlat = str_replace("lj","љ",$textlat);
$textlat = str_replace("Lj","Љ",$textlat);
$textlat = str_replace("dž","џ",$textlat);
$textlat = str_replace("Dž","Џ",$textlat);


$textcyr = str_replace($cyr, $lat, $textcyr);
$textlat = str_replace($lat, $cyr, $textlat);

echo $textcyr;
echo $textlat;