Form text with reserved chars

Hi NG. I'm having trouble with form textareas containing " ' ". Every time I submit a form holding this char php will insert "\" infront of it. I'm well aware of the reason for this but I'd like to know just how to get rid of the "\". I've tried using ereg_replace("'","´",$text) but the "\" is inserted the very second submit is invoked. How do I get rid of the "\" or "\'" when I want to show the text the form field was holding? Also, I'd like to know if there is a smart way of replacing "spaces" and "new line" in the text with the html code for this. Aka to make the view exactly as it was typed in the field. If anyone can help me with this it would be very much apreciated. Regards ~ Aidal