Bug #68031 [NEW]: htmlspecialchars returns empty string, sometimes

From: pfenderd at bellsouth dot net Operating system: Linux PHP version: 5.5.16 Package: Filter related Bug Type: Bug Bug description:htmlspecialchars returns empty string, sometimes Description: ------------ Occasionally,htmlspecialchars() returns an empty string value. It is consistent for certain string values and not a random problem. The string is usually long (several 100 chars). The problem did not exist in version 5.3.14 but does in later versions of 5.4 and 5.5.16. In a list of assignments to variables using htmlspecialchars(), it fails on the 5th of 10. The others always work properly, but the other string values are always much shorter than the one that fails. I created a simple test script, but the script always works. The problem is probably affected by the other code surrounding the problem statement. This is a serious problem because the code is used to maintain values in a database for a website and is not able to do so when database values cannot be seen in a management form. NOTE: I found a work-around solution to the problem by moving the line of code with the problem farther down the list of assignments. So it may not be a problem directly with htmlspecialchars(), but with the PHP script processor. -- Edit bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=68031&edit=1 -- Try a snapshot (PHP 5.4): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68031&r=trysnapshot54 Try a snapshot (PHP 5.5): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68031&r=trysnapshot55 Try a snapshot (trunk): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68031&r=trysnapshottrunk Fixed in SVN: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68031&r=fixed Fixed in release: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68031&r=alreadyfixed Need backtrace: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68031&r=needtrace Need Reproduce Script: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68031&r=needscript Try newer version: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68031&r=oldversion Not developer issue: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68031&r=support Expected behavior: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68031&r=notwrong Not enough info: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68031&r=notenoughinfo Submitted twice: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68031&r=submittedtwice register_globals: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68031&r=globals PHP 4 support discontinued: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68031&r=php4 Daylight Savings: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68031&r=dst IIS Stability: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68031&r=isapi Install GNU Sed: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68031&r=gnused Floating point limitations: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68031&r=float No Zend Extensions: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68031&r=nozend MySQL Configuration Error: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=68031&r=mysqlcfg