How can I check if a word is contained in another string using PHP?

You have a few options depending on your needs. For this simple example, strpos() is probably the simplest and most direct function to use. If you need to do something with the result, you may prefer strstr() or preg_match(). If you need to use a complex pattern instead of a string as your needle, you'll want preg_match().

$needle = "to";
$haystack = "I go to school";

strpos() and stripos() method (stripos() is case insensitive):

if (strpos($haystack, $needle) !== false) echo "Found!";

strstr() and stristr() method (stristr is case insensitive):

if (strstr($haystack, $needle)) echo "Found!";

preg_match method (regular expressions, much more flexible but runs slower):

if (preg_match("/to/", $haystack)) echo "Found!";

Because you asked for a complete function, this is how you'd put that together (with default values for needle and haystack):

function match_my_string($needle = 'to', $haystack = 'I go to school') {
  if (strpos($haystack, $needle) !== false) return true;
  else return false;
}

PHP 8.0.0 now contains a str_contains function that works like so:

if (str_contains($haystack, $needle)) {
    echo "Found";
}

function hasWord($word, $txt) {
    $patt = "/(?:^|[^a-zA-Z])" . preg_quote($word, '/') . "(?:$|[^a-zA-Z])/i";
    return preg_match($patt, $txt);
}

If $word is "to", this will match:

• "Listen to Me"
• "To the moon"
• "up-to-the-minute"

but not:

• "Together"
• "Into space"