Re: Replacing a special character

Maybe you could try to assign the return value of preg_replace to a variable so you can use it later, like: $name = preg_replace('/&#8722;/','-',$name); On Apr 18, 2010, at 11:38 AM, Michael Stroh wrote: > Thanks for the advice. I've changed the code to use mysql_real_escape_string. So now it is > > $name = mysql_real_escape_string($name); > preg_replace('/&#8722;/','-',$name); > > but it's still not replacing the &#8722; string. I've also changed the field in > the database so that now it is using the collation utf8_general_ci. I've also tried > > preg_replace('/−/','-',$name); > $name = mysql_real_escape_string($name); > preg_replace('/&#8722;/','-',$name); > > and that also did not work. Any ideas? > > Michael > > > > On Apr 18, 2010, at 1:08 PM, Michiel Sikma wrote: > >> On 18 April 2010 16:46, Peter Lind <peter.e.lind@gmail.com> wrote: >> >>> On 18 April 2010 16:40, Phpster <phpster@gmail.com> wrote: >>>> >>>> >>>> On Apr 18, 2010, at 8:59 AM, Michael Stroh <stroh@astroh.org> wrote: >>>> >>>>> I have this form that people use to add entries into a MySQL database. >>>>> Recently I've had some users insert − in their entries instead of - >>> which is >>>>> causing some issues with scripts down the line. I'd like to replace the >>> − >>>>> character with -. >>>>> >>>>> Originally I had something like >>>>> >>>>> $name = mysql_escape_string($_POST["name"]); >>>>> >>>>> which would convert the offending character to &#8722; before entering >>> it >>>>> into the database. It's this encoding that is causing the problems since >>>>> some scripts send out emails with this entry in their subject line which >>>>> looks messy. >>>>> >>>>> I've tried adding the following line after the previous line to help fix >>>>> this issue, however, I just got another entry with the same problem. >>>>> >>>>> preg_replace('/&#8722;/','-',$name); >>>>> >>>>> Any suggestions on how others would fix this problem? I'd just like to >>> fix >>>>> it before the entry hits the database instead of creating fixes on the >>> other >>>>> end of things. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> Cheers, >>>>> Michael >>>>> -- >>>>> PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) >>>>> To unsubscribe, visit: >>>>> http://www.php.net/unsub.php >>>>> >>>> >>>> One option is to send an HTML email which would have the email reader >>>> interpret that code correctly >>>> >>>> Bastien >>> >>> Another option would be to use mysql_real_escape_string and make sure >>> that your code and the database are using utf-8. Then when the email >>> is sent, make sure that uses utf-8 as well. >>> >>> Regards >>> Peter >>> >>> >> Make sure the database connection is also utf8: >> >> set names 'utf8'; >> >> Typically, you should keep everything in utf8 unless you have a very good >> reason not to. >> And as Peter mentioned, the proper way to escape MySQL inserts (that is, if >> you're not already using a framework that does this competently) is >> mysql_real_escape_string(). >> >> Michiel > > > -- > PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) > To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php >