The description given to this parameter, convmap, for method mb_encode_numericentity in the php manual is vague to me. Would somebody help with a better explanation of this, or maybe "dumb it down" if it should be sufficient for me? What is the meaning of the array elements used in this parameter? Example 1 in the manpage has
<?php
$convmap = array (
int start_code1, int end_code1, int offset1, int mask1,
int start_code2, int end_code2, int offset2, int mask2,
........
int start_codeN, int end_codeN, int offsetN, int maskN );
// Specify Unicode value for start_codeN and end_codeN
// Add offsetN to value and take bit-wise 'AND' with maskN, then
// it converts value to numeric string reference.
?>
which is helpful, but then I see a lot of usage examples like array(0x80, 0xffff, 0, 0xffff); which throws me off. Does that mean the offset would be 0 and the mask would be 0xffff, if so, does offset mean number of characters in the string to start converting, and what does mask mean in this context?