Question

Is there a way to convert country name to country code abbreviation? Or some php function?

So that when its “Australia” it will be changed to “AU”

Answer 1

PHP itself has no knowledge of these values. You have to create your own code:

Method 1:

Create an array like:

$COUNTRY = array(
  "Australia" => "AU",
  "Germany" => "GER"
  ...
);

After that, just use the pre0stored values:

echo $COUNTRY['Australia'];

Method 2 ( suggested ):

Store the values into DB:

+-----------+------+
| Country   | Code |
+-----------+------+
| Australia | AU   |
| Germany   | GER  |
...
+-----------+------+

And Access with simple query:

SELECT Code FROM country_db WHERE Country = 'Australia';

EDIT

CREATE TABLE
    country_code
(
    code,
    country
);

INSERT INTO
    country_code
    ( code, country )
VALUES
    ( 'AF', 'Afghanistan' ),
    ( 'AX', 'Aland Islands' ),
    ( 'AL', 'Albania' ),
    ( 'DZ', 'Algeria' ),
    ( 'AS', 'American Samoa' ),
    ( 'AD', 'Andorra' ),
    ( 'AO', 'Angola' ),
    ( 'AI', 'Anguilla' ),
    ( 'AQ', 'Antarctica' ),
    ( 'AG', 'Antigua and Barbuda' ),
    ( 'AR', 'Argentina' ),
    ( 'AM', 'Armenia' ),
    ( 'AW', 'Aruba' ),
    ( 'AU', 'Australia' ),
    ( 'AT', 'Austria' ),
    ( 'AZ', 'Azerbaijan' ),
    ( 'BS', 'Bahamas the' ),
    ( 'BH', 'Bahrain' ),
    ( 'BD', 'Bangladesh' ),
    ( 'BB', 'Barbados' ),
    ( 'BY', 'Belarus' ),
    ( 'BE', 'Belgium' ),
    ( 'BZ', 'Belize' ),
    ( 'BJ', 'Benin' ),
    ( 'BM', 'Bermuda' ),
    ( 'BT', 'Bhutan' ),
    ( 'BO', 'Bolivia' ),
    ( 'BA', 'Bosnia and Herzegovina' ),
    ( 'BW', 'Botswana' ),
    ( 'BV', 'Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya)' ),
    ( 'BR', 'Brazil' ),
    ( 'IO', 'British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago)' ),
    ( 'VG', 'British Virgin Islands' ),
    ( 'BN', 'Brunei Darussalam' ),
    ( 'BG', 'Bulgaria' ),
    ( 'BF', 'Burkina Faso' ),
    ( 'BI', 'Burundi' ),
    ( 'KH', 'Cambodia' ),
    ( 'CM', 'Cameroon' ),
    ( 'CA', 'Canada' ),
    ( 'CV', 'Cape Verde' ),
    ( 'KY', 'Cayman Islands' ),
    ( 'CF', 'Central African Republic' ),
    ( 'TD', 'Chad' ),
    ( 'CL', 'Chile' ),
    ( 'CN', 'China' ),
    ( 'CX', 'Christmas Island' ),
    ( 'CC', 'Cocos (Keeling) Islands' ),
    ( 'CO', 'Colombia' ),
    ( 'KM', 'Comoros the' ),
    ( 'CD', 'Congo' ),
    ( 'CG', 'Congo the' ),
    ( 'CK', 'Cook Islands' ),
    ( 'CR', 'Costa Rica' ),
    ( 'CI', 'Cote d\'Ivoire' ),
    ( 'HR', 'Croatia' ),
    ( 'CU', 'Cuba' ),
    ( 'CY', 'Cyprus' ),
    ( 'CZ', 'Czech Republic' ),
    ( 'DK', 'Denmark' ),
    ( 'DJ', 'Djibouti' ),
    ( 'DM', 'Dominica' ),
    ( 'DO', 'Dominican Republic' ),
    ( 'EC', 'Ecuador' ),
    ( 'EG', 'Egypt' ),
    ( 'SV', 'El Salvador' ),
    ( 'GQ', 'Equatorial Guinea' ),
    ( 'ER', 'Eritrea' ),
    ( 'EE', 'Estonia' ),
    ( 'ET', 'Ethiopia' ),
    ( 'FO', 'Faroe Islands' ),
    ( 'FK', 'Falkland Islands (Malvinas)' ),
    ( 'FJ', 'Fiji the Fiji Islands' ),
    ( 'FI', 'Finland' ),
    ( 'FR', 'France, French Republic' ),
    ( 'GF', 'French Guiana' ),
    ( 'PF', 'French Polynesia' ),
    ( 'TF', 'French Southern Territories' ),
    ( 'GA', 'Gabon' ),
    ( 'GM', 'Gambia the' ),
    ( 'GE', 'Georgia' ),
    ( 'DE', 'Germany' ),
    ( 'GH', 'Ghana' ),
    ( 'GI', 'Gibraltar' ),
    ( 'GR', 'Greece' ),
    ( 'GL', 'Greenland' ),
    ( 'GD', 'Grenada' ),
    ( 'GP', 'Guadeloupe' ),
    ( 'GU', 'Guam' ),
    ( 'GT', 'Guatemala' ),
    ( 'GG', 'Guernsey' ),
    ( 'GN', 'Guinea' ),
    ( 'GW', 'Guinea-Bissau' ),
    ( 'GY', 'Guyana' ),
    ( 'HT', 'Haiti' ),
    ( 'HM', 'Heard Island and McDonald Islands' ),
    ( 'VA', 'Holy See (Vatican City State)' ),
    ( 'HN', 'Honduras' ),
    ( 'HK', 'Hong Kong' ),
    ( 'HU', 'Hungary' ),
    ( 'IS', 'Iceland' ),
    ( 'IN', 'India' ),
    ( 'ID', 'Indonesia' ),
    ( 'IR', 'Iran' ),
    ( 'IQ', 'Iraq' ),
    ( 'IE', 'Ireland' ),
    ( 'IM', 'Isle of Man' ),
    ( 'IL', 'Israel' ),
    ( 'IT', 'Italy' ),
    ( 'JM', 'Jamaica' ),
    ( 'JP', 'Japan' ),
    ( 'JE', 'Jersey' ),
    ( 'JO', 'Jordan' ),
    ( 'KZ', 'Kazakhstan' ),
    ( 'KE', 'Kenya' ),
    ( 'KI', 'Kiribati' ),
    ( 'KP', 'Korea' ),
    ( 'KR', 'Korea' ),
    ( 'KW', 'Kuwait' ),
    ( 'KG', 'Kyrgyz Republic' ),
    ( 'LA', 'Lao' ),
    ( 'LV', 'Latvia' ),
    ( 'LB', 'Lebanon' ),
    ( 'LS', 'Lesotho' ),
    ( 'LR', 'Liberia' ),
    ( 'LY', 'Libyan Arab Jamahiriya' ),
    ( 'LI', 'Liechtenstein' ),
    ( 'LT', 'Lithuania' ),
    ( 'LU', 'Luxembourg' ),
    ( 'MO', 'Macao' ),
    ( 'MK', 'Macedonia' ),
    ( 'MG', 'Madagascar' ),
    ( 'MW', 'Malawi' ),
    ( 'MY', 'Malaysia' ),
    ( 'MV', 'Maldives' ),
    ( 'ML', 'Mali' ),
    ( 'MT', 'Malta' ),
    ( 'MH', 'Marshall Islands' ),
    ( 'MQ', 'Martinique' ),
    ( 'MR', 'Mauritania' ),
    ( 'MU', 'Mauritius' ),
    ( 'YT', 'Mayotte' ),
    ( 'MX', 'Mexico' ),
    ( 'FM', 'Micronesia' ),
    ( 'MD', 'Moldova' ),
    ( 'MC', 'Monaco' ),
    ( 'MN', 'Mongolia' ),
    ( 'ME', 'Montenegro' ),
    ( 'MS', 'Montserrat' ),
    ( 'MA', 'Morocco' ),
    ( 'MZ', 'Mozambique' ),
    ( 'MM', 'Myanmar' ),
    ( 'NA', 'Namibia' ),
    ( 'NR', 'Nauru' ),
    ( 'NP', 'Nepal' ),
    ( 'AN', 'Netherlands Antilles' ),
    ( 'NL', 'Netherlands the' ),
    ( 'NC', 'New Caledonia' ),
    ( 'NZ', 'New Zealand' ),
    ( 'NI', 'Nicaragua' ),
    ( 'NE', 'Niger' ),
    ( 'NG', 'Nigeria' ),
    ( 'NU', 'Niue' ),
    ( 'NF', 'Norfolk Island' ),
    ( 'MP', 'Northern Mariana Islands' ),
    ( 'NO', 'Norway' ),
    ( 'OM', 'Oman' ),
    ( 'PK', 'Pakistan' ),
    ( 'PW', 'Palau' ),
    ( 'PS', 'Palestinian Territory' ),
    ( 'PA', 'Panama' ),
    ( 'PG', 'Papua New Guinea' ),
    ( 'PY', 'Paraguay' ),
    ( 'PE', 'Peru' ),
    ( 'PH', 'Philippines' ),
    ( 'PN', 'Pitcairn Islands' ),
    ( 'PL', 'Poland' ),
    ( 'PT', 'Portugal, Portuguese Republic' ),
    ( 'PR', 'Puerto Rico' ),
    ( 'QA', 'Qatar' ),
    ( 'RE', 'Reunion' ),
    ( 'RO', 'Romania' ),
    ( 'RU', 'Russian Federation' ),
    ( 'RW', 'Rwanda' ),
    ( 'BL', 'Saint Barthelemy' ),
    ( 'SH', 'Saint Helena' ),
    ( 'KN', 'Saint Kitts and Nevis' ),
    ( 'LC', 'Saint Lucia' ),
    ( 'MF', 'Saint Martin' ),
    ( 'PM', 'Saint Pierre and Miquelon' ),
    ( 'VC', 'Saint Vincent and the Grenadines' ),
    ( 'WS', 'Samoa' ),
    ( 'SM', 'San Marino' ),
    ( 'ST', 'Sao Tome and Principe' ),
    ( 'SA', 'Saudi Arabia' ),
    ( 'SN', 'Senegal' ),
    ( 'RS', 'Serbia' ),
    ( 'SC', 'Seychelles' ),
    ( 'SL', 'Sierra Leone' ),
    ( 'SG', 'Singapore' ),
    ( 'SK', 'Slovakia (Slovak Republic)' ),
    ( 'SI', 'Slovenia' ),
    ( 'SB', 'Solomon Islands' ),
    ( 'SO', 'Somalia, Somali Republic' ),
    ( 'ZA', 'South Africa' ),
    ( 'GS', 'South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands' ),
    ( 'ES', 'Spain' ),
    ( 'LK', 'Sri Lanka' ),
    ( 'SD', 'Sudan' ),
    ( 'SR', 'Suriname' ),
    ( 'SJ', 'Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands' ),
    ( 'SZ', 'Swaziland' ),
    ( 'SE', 'Sweden' ),
    ( 'CH', 'Switzerland, Swiss Confederation' ),
    ( 'SY', 'Syrian Arab Republic' ),
    ( 'TW', 'Taiwan' ),
    ( 'TJ', 'Tajikistan' ),
    ( 'TZ', 'Tanzania' ),
    ( 'TH', 'Thailand' ),
    ( 'TL', 'Timor-Leste' ),
    ( 'TG', 'Togo' ),
    ( 'TK', 'Tokelau' ),
    ( 'TO', 'Tonga' ),
    ( 'TT', 'Trinidad and Tobago' ),
    ( 'TN', 'Tunisia' ),
    ( 'TR', 'Turkey' ),
    ( 'TM', 'Turkmenistan' ),
    ( 'TC', 'Turks and Caicos Islands' ),
    ( 'TV', 'Tuvalu' ),
    ( 'UG', 'Uganda' ),
    ( 'UA', 'Ukraine' ),
    ( 'AE', 'United Arab Emirates' ),
    ( 'GB', 'United Kingdom' ),
    ( 'US', 'United States of America' ),
    ( 'UM', 'United States Minor Outlying Islands' ),
    ( 'VI', 'United States Virgin Islands' ),
    ( 'UY', 'Uruguay, Eastern Republic of' ),
    ( 'UZ', 'Uzbekistan' ),
    ( 'VU', 'Vanuatu' ),
    ( 'VE', 'Venezuela' ),
    ( 'VN', 'Vietnam' ),
    ( 'WF', 'Wallis and Futuna' ),
    ( 'EH', 'Western Sahara' ),
    ( 'YE', 'Yemen' ),
    ( 'ZM', 'Zambia' ),
    ( 'ZW', 'Zimbabwe' );