note 96159 added to function.htmlspecialchars

I had XML files with both '&' , '&copyright;' and '&' characters. So, basically, I wrote this preg_replace, which replaces all '&' thats not an entity to '&'. So '&' doesnot get converted to '&ampamp;', only '&' gets converted to '&'. Also, '&copyright;' , ' ' remains unaffected. Its basic, feel free to modify it. preg_replace('/&(?![A-Za-z0-9#]{1,7};)/','&',$theString); ---- Server IP: 216.235.13.26 Probable Submitter: 174.90.33.100 ---- Manual Page -- http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.htmlspecialchars.php Edit -- https://master.php.net/note/edit/96159 Del: integrated -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/96159/integrated Del: useless -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/96159/useless Del: bad code -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/96159/bad+code Del: spam -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/96159/spam Del: non-english -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/96159/non-english Del: in docs -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/96159/in+docs Del: other reasons-- https://master.php.net/note/delete/96159 Reject -- https://master.php.net/note/reject/96159 Search -- https://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php