thanks a ton I followed the link you gave and found a better way to get the job done than I had thought of.
I was thinking I would have to do a lot of if else type coding for each character that wasn't displaying properly, on the link you gave me I found:
// Provides: You should eat pizza, beer, and ice cream every day
$phrase = "You should eat fruits, vegetables, and fiber every day.";
$healthy = array("fruits", "vegetables", "fiber");
$yummy = array("pizza", "beer", "ice cream");
$newphrase = str_replace($healthy, $yummy, $phrase);
which with a small amount of editing has saved me a ton of coding.
now I just have to find out how to mark this thread as solved:)
Thanks again
Purplenewt