It's good practice to use array_change_key_case() on the result of ldap_get_attributes() so your program can ignore case in attribute names just like ldap itself does.  (You wouldn't want ldap_get_attributes to _always_ flatten the case because you need a way to get the attribute names in a pretty format for display to the user.)

The array created by this function is similar to the on from ldap_get_entries() but when it creates array keys it alters the attribute's case inconsistently.  

ldap_get_entries() lowercases all of the attributes before keying the array with them, but this function appears to leave things as they are.

If you're having problems, do a print_r and make sure you're using correct case for array keys.  For example, you might need to use "objectClass" and not "objectclass".

As of PHP 4.0.5, the ldap_get_attributes function does not work with binary data.  If you're fetching a JPEG from an LDAP server, use ldap_get_values_len instead.

Note that ldap_get_attributes fetches attributes AND values from the LDAP server. Depending on the data stored in the entry, the following code might work a dozen times faster (or even better, but faster in general) than the code in Example 1:

<?php
// $ds is the link identifier for the directory

// $sr is a valid search result from a prior call to
// one of the ldap directory search calls

$entry = ldap_first_entry($ds, $sr);

$attrs = array();
$attribute = ldap_first_attribute($ds,$entry,$identifier);
while ($attribute) {
   $attrs[] = $attribute;
   $attribute=ldap_next_attribute($ds,$entry,$identifier);
}

echo count($attrs) . " attributes held for this entry:<p>";

for ($i=0; $i<count($attrs); $i++) {
   echo $attrs[$i] . "<br />";
}
?>

You may want to check the time difference with the function "microtime".

Code and function to extract all attributes from all entryes in a certain DN. Maybe not the most timewise efficient but it works.

$entry = ldap_first_entry($ds, $sr);
write_attr($entry,$ds);
for ($i = 0; $i < $n_entries; $i++){
   $entry = ldap_next_entry($ds, $entry);
   write_attr($entry,$ds);
}

function write_attr($entry,$ds){
   $attrs = ldap_get_attributes ($ds, $entry);
   for ($j = 0; $j < $attrs["count"]; $j++){
      $attr_name = $attrs[$j];
      $attrs["$attr_name"]["count"] . "\n";
      for ($k = 0; $k < $attrs["$attr_name"]["count"]; $k++) {
             echo ">>>>>>";
             echo $attr_name.": ".$attrs["$attr_name"][$k]."\n";
      }
   }
}

I spent quite a while scratching my head about how to read operational attributes such as create and modify timestamps.

This function solved it....

function get_entry_system_attrs( $ds, $dn, $deref=LDAP_DEREF_NEVER )
{
   $conn = $ds;
   $attrs = array( 'creatorsname', 'createtimestamp', 'modifiersname',
         'structuralObjectClass', 'entryUUID',  'modifytimestamp',
         'subschemaSubentry', 'hasSubordinates', '+' );
   $search = @ldap_read( $conn, $dn, '(objectClass=*)', $attrs, 0, 0, 0, $deref );
   if( ! $search )
      return false;
   $entry = ldap_first_entry( $conn, $search );
   if( ! $entry)
       return false;
   $attrs = ldap_get_attributes( $conn, $entry );
   if( ! $attrs )
      return false;
   if( ! isset( $attrs['count'] ) )
      return false;
   $count = $attrs['count'];
   unset( $attrs['count'] );
   $return_attrs = array();
   for( $i=0; $i<$count; $i++ ) {
      $attr_name = $attrs[$i];
      unset( $attrs[$attr_name]['count'] );
      $return_attrs[$attr_name] = $attrs[$attr_name];
   }
   return $return_attrs;
}