Working PHP Pagination Function

function paginate($item_per_page, $current_page, $total_records, $total_pages, $page_url)
{
    $pagination = '';
    if($total_pages > 0 && $total_pages != 1 && $current_page <= $total_pages){ //verify total pages and current page number
        $pagination .= '

<ul class="pagination">';
        $right_links    = $current_page + 3;
        $previous       = $current_page - 3; //previous link
        $next           = $current_page + 1; //next link
        $first_link     = true; //boolean var to decide our first link
        if($current_page > 1){
			$previous_link = ($previous==0)?1:$previous;
            $pagination .= '
<li class="first"><a href="'.$page_url.'?page=1" title="First">&laquo;</a></li>
'; //first link
            $pagination .= '
<li><a href="'.$page_url.'?page='.$previous_link.'" title="Previous">&lt;</a></li>
'; //previous link
                for($i = ($current_page-2); $i < $current_page; $i++){ //Create left-hand side links
                    if($i > 0){
                        $pagination .= '
<li><a href="'.$page_url.'?page='.$i.'">'.$i.'</a></li>
';
                    }
                }
            $first_link = false; //set first link to false
        }
        if($first_link){ //if current active page is first link
            $pagination .= '
<li class="first active">'.$current_page.'</li>
';
        }elseif($current_page == $total_pages){ //if it's the last active link
            $pagination .= '
<li class="last active">'.$current_page.'</li>
';
        }else{ //regular current link
            $pagination .= '
<li class="active">'.$current_page.'</li>
';
        }
        for($i = $current_page+1; $i < $right_links ; $i++){ //create right-hand side links
            if($i<=$total_pages){
                $pagination .= '

<li><a href="'.$page_url.'?page='.$i.'">'.$i.'</a></li>
';
            }
        }
        if($current_page < $total_pages){ 
				$next_link = ($i > $total_pages)? $total_pages : $i;
                $pagination .= '
<li><a href="'.$page_url.'?page='.$next_link.'" >&gt;</a></li>
'; //next link
                $pagination .= '
<li class="last"><a href="'.$page_url.'?page='.$total_pages.'" title="Last">&raquo;</a></li>
'; //last link
        }
        $pagination .= '</ul>
';
    }
    return $pagination; //return pagination links
}

<?php
$db_username        = 'root'; //database username
$db_password        = ''; //dataabse password
$db_name            = 'test'; //database name
$db_host            = 'localhost'; //hostname or IP
$item_per_page      = 5; //item to display per page
$page_url 			= "http://localhost/ajax-pagination/";

$mysqli_conn = new mysqli($db_host, $db_username, $db_password,$db_name); //connect to MySql
if ($mysqli_conn->connect_error) { //Output any connection error
    die('Error : ('. $mysqli_conn->connect_errno .') '. $mysqli_conn->connect_error);
}
if(isset($_GET["page"])){ //Get page number from $_GET["page"]
    $page_number = filter_var($_GET["page"], FILTER_SANITIZE_NUMBER_INT, FILTER_FLAG_STRIP_HIGH); //filter number
    if(!is_numeric($page_number)){die('Invalid page number!');} //incase of invalid page number
}else{
    $page_number = 1; //if there's no page number, set it to 1
}
$results = $mysqli_conn->query("SELECT COUNT(*) FROM paginate"); //get total number of records from database
$get_total_rows = $results->fetch_row(); //hold total records in variable
$total_pages = ceil($get_total_rows[0]/$item_per_page); //break records into pages
################# Display Records per page ############################
$page_position = (($page_number-1) * $item_per_page); //get starting position to fetch the records
//Fetch a group of records using SQL LIMIT clause
$results = $mysqli_conn->query("SELECT id, name, message FROM paginate ORDER BY id ASC LIMIT $page_position, $item_per_page");
//Display records fetched from database.
echo '
<ul class="contents">';
while($row = $results->fetch_assoc()) {
    echo '
<li>';
    echo  $row["id"]. '. <strong>' .$row["name"].'</strong> &mdash; '.$row["message"];
    echo '</li>
';
}
echo '</ul>
';
################### End displaying Records #####################
//create pagination
echo '
<div align="center">';
// We call the pagination function here.
echo paginate($item_per_page, $page_number, $get_total_rows[0], $total_pages, $page_url);
echo '</div>
';

.pagination{
	margin:0;
	padding:0;
}
.pagination li{
	display: inline;
	padding: 6px 10px 6px 10px;
	border: 1px solid #ddd;
	margin-right: -1px;
	font: 13px/20px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
	background: #FFFFFF;
}
.pagination li a{
	text-decoration:none;
	color: rgb(89, 141, 235);
}
.pagination li.first {
	border-radius: 5px 0px 0px 5px;
}
.pagination li.last {
	border-radius: 0px 5px 5px 0px;
}
.pagination li:hover{
	background: #EEE;
}
.pagination li.current {
	background: #89B3CC;
	border: 1px solid #89B3CC;
	color: #FFFFFF;
}