$levels = 10;
$output = array();
for ($i = 1; $i <= $levels; $i = $i + 2) {
/*echo $i;
 echo "<br>";*/
$whitespace = ($levels - $i / 2);
 echo "<br>";
 $output[] = str_pad('', $whitespace, "-") . str_pad('', $i, '*');
}
/*echo "<pre>";
print_r($output);*/
echo implode("<br>", $output);
echo "<br>";
echo implode("<br>", array_reverse($output));
/*echo"<pre>";
print_r(array_reverse($output));*/
echo "<br>";
?>