gistfile1.php

<?php

    /**
     * Get the char code from a multi byte char
     *
     * 2/3 times faster than the old implementation
     *
     * @param $mb_char string Unicode Multibyte Char String
     *
     * @return int
     *
     */
    function fastUnicode2ord( $mb_char ){
        switch( strlen( $mb_char) ){
            case 1:
                return ord( $mb_char);
                break;
            case 2:
                return ( ord( $mb_char[0] ) - 0xC0 ) * 0x40 +
                         ord( $mb_char[1] ) - 0x80;
                break;
            case 3:
                return ( ord( $mb_char[0] ) - 0xE0 ) * 0x1000 +
                       ( ord( $mb_char[1] ) - 0x80 ) * 0x40 +
                         ord( $mb_char[2] ) - 0x80;
                break;
            case 4:
                return ( ord( $mb_char[0] ) - 0xF0 ) * 0x40000 +
                       ( ord( $mb_char[1] ) - 0x80 ) * 0x1000 +
                       ( ord( $mb_char[2] ) - 0x80 ) * 0x40 +
                         ord( $mb_char[3] ) - 0x80;
                break;
        }
    }