- substr: documentation ( source)
- microtime: documentation ( source)
- str_replace: documentation ( source)
<?php
$var = "12345";
$time_start = microtime(true);
echo $var[0] . "-" . substr($var,1) . "\n";
$time_end = microtime(true);
echo "\nExecution Time: " . $time_end - $time_start . "\n";
$time_start2 = microtime(true);
echo str_replace($var[0], $var[0].'-', $var) . "\n";
$time_end2 = microtime(true);
echo "\nExecution Time: " . $time_end2 - $time_start2;