diff --git a/functions/strings.xml b/functions/strings.xml
index cea548a64d..82dfccd728 100644
--- a/functions/strings.xml
+++ b/functions/strings.xml
@@ -765,7 +765,9 @@ $colon_separated = implode (":", $array);
     </funcsynopsis>
     <para>
      This function strips whitespace from the start of a string and
-     returns the stripped string.
+     returns the stripped string.  The whitespace
+     characters it currently strips are: "\n", "\r", "\t", "\v", "\0",
+     and a plain space.
     </para>
     <para>
      See also <function>chop</function> and <function>trim</function>.
@@ -1373,12 +1375,22 @@ $formatted = sprintf ("%01.2f", $money);
      <paramdef>string <parameter>str1</parameter></paramdef>
      <paramdef>string <parameter>str2</parameter></paramdef>
     </funcsynopsis>
-    <simpara>
+    <para>
      Returns < 0 if <parameter>str1</parameter> is less than
      <parameter>str2</parameter>; > 0 if <parameter>str1</parameter>
      is greater than <parameter>str2</parameter>, and 0 if they are
      equal.
-    </simpara>
+    <example>
+      <title><function>strcasecmp</function> example</title>
+      <programlisting role="php">
+$var1 = "Hello";
+$var2 = "hello";
+if ( !strcasecmp($var1,$var2) ) {
+    echo '$var1 is equal to $var2 in a case-insensitive string comparison';
+}
+      </programlisting>
+    </example>
+    </para>
     <simpara>
      See also <function>ereg</function>, <function>strcmp</function>,
      <function>substr</function>, <function>stristr</function>, and
@@ -2266,7 +2278,7 @@ echo substr_replace ($var, '', 10, -1) . "&lt;br&gt;\n";
      This function strips whitespace from the start and the end of a
      string and returns the stripped string.  The whitespace
      characters it currently strips are: "\n", "\r", "\t", "\v", "\0",
-     and " ".
+     and a plain space.
     </para>
     <para>
      See also <function>chop</function> and
@@ -2296,6 +2308,13 @@ echo substr_replace ($var, '', 10, -1) . "&lt;br&gt;\n";
      Note that 'alphabetic' is determined by the current locale. For
      instance, in the default "C" locale characters such as umlaut-a
      (ä) will not be converted.
+    <example>
+        <title><function>ucfirst</function> example</title>
+        <programlisting role="php">    
+$text = 'mary had a little lamb and she loved it so.';
+$text = ucfirst($text); // $text is now Mary had a little lamb and she loved it so.
+        </programlisting>
+    </example>
     </para>
     <para>
      See also <function>strtoupper</function> and
@@ -2317,10 +2336,17 @@ echo substr_replace ($var, '', 10, -1) . "&lt;br&gt;\n";
      <funcdef>string <function>ucwords</function></funcdef>
      <paramdef>string <parameter>str</parameter></paramdef>
     </funcsynopsis>
-    <simpara>
+    <para>
      Capitalizes the first character of each word in
      <parameter>str</parameter> if that character is alphabetic.
-    </simpara>
+    <example>
+       <title><function>ucwords</function> example</title>
+       <programlisting role="php">
+$text = "mary had a little lamb and she loved it so.";
+$text = ucwords($text); // $text is now: Mary Had A Little Lamb And She Loved It So.
+       </programlisting>
+    </example>
+    </para>
     <para>
      See also <function>strtoupper</function>,
      <function>strtolower</function> and <function>ucfirst</function>.