[SOLVED] turning \r\n into <br />

[Lodius2000]

hi, I have a textarea, that inserts into mysql

 

when i hit the enter key in the textarea it encodes as \r\n as we all know it does

 

I want to get rid of the \r\n and turn it into a br so that when the contents of the textarea are displayed in a web page, the br's are there, here is my attempt and its results

 

i put this into the text area

this

"is"

a

 

'test'

 

this is what went into the db

this\r\n\"is\" \r\na\r\n\r\n\'test\'

 

this is what displays on the web page with stripslashes() used

thisrn"is" rnarnrn'test'

 

and this is the code that creates the db insertion variable from the contents of the textarea

<?php
$article = mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['body']);
//replace new lines with <br />
$order   = array("\r\n", "\n", "\r");
$replace = '<br />';
// Processes \r\n's first so they aren't converted twice.
$new_article = str_replace($order, $replace, $article);
//$new_article gets inserted as part of a new row
?>

 

i tried nl2br also and it produced almost the same, the <br />'s were there in the web page but the r's and n's were too

 

what am I doing wrong

 

Thanks

[ratcateme]

try reording your code so the string is escaped after you fix the line ends like this:

	//replace new lines with <br />
$order   = array("\r\n", "\n", "\r");
$replace = '<br />';
// Processes \r\n's first so they aren't converted twice.
$new_article = str_replace($order, $replace, $article);
$article = mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['body']);

 

Scott.

[bluejay002]

I usually use preg_replace() for sanitation. You might want to look at that also.

[trq]

I usually use preg_replace() for sanitation. You might want to look at that also.

 

preg_replace should only be used for pattern matching. If you have explicit strings/chars to match it is mutch slower to use preg_match for no reason.

[Wolphie]

I think what you may be looking for is nl2br();

 

This function turns new lines (\n or \n\r) into HTML line breaks (<br />) for you. I find it a very useful function.

[bluejay002]

yeah... preg_replace is an overkill if the string itself is explicit... also for this case, nl2br() wont work... nl2br() can only deal with \n and not \r.

 

for this case, you may use str_replace().

[Wolphie]

It shouldn't make a difference, \n\r is just a newline for windows machines.

[bluejay002]

not to all... *nix on the other hand only have \n.

 

I had been into this trouble also, I have tried using nl2br() and things were not working. From personal experience, I replaced those strings with <br> or you may also strip \r then use nl2br() to display it properly.

 

Well, this is based on my experience that is.

[Wolphie]

I know *nix uses \n, hence why I specifically said Windows machines. But based on this I've never had a problem. On both kinds of servers, nl2br() has always worked perfectly fine for me.

[bluejay002]

well, this seems to be a talk of personal experiences.

 

anyway, Lodius2000, its up to you to choose which one would work for you. Its just that I had been in that trouble before also where nl2br() didn't work.

 

cheers,

 

Jay

[xyn]

This is what you're looking for.

 

http://php.net/nl2br

[Wolphie]

Xyn: If you've been reading, that is what we've been discussing.

 

bluejay: I suppose it is, I guess in any languages people will have their own experiences, but Lodius2000 there's no reason why you shouldn't at least try nl2br(), it may or may not work and if it does it's just saved you a lot of time and effort.

[xyn]

Wolphine, i did notice, except maybe if i showed the nl2br php page, agreeing with everyone else, perhaps the function will be used, and the thread will be solved (I didn't intend anything funny with my post.)?

[Lodius2000]

so are the \r\n's in there because of mysql_real_escape_string or are they in there because that is the place-holder html encodes when you hit enter in a textarea because I tried ratcateme's advice and code now reads

 

        //replace new lines with <br />
$order   = array("\r\n", "\n", "\r");
$replace = '<br />';
// Processes \r\n's first so they aren't converted twice.
$new_article = str_replace($order, $replace, $article);
$article_final = mysql_real_escape_string($new_article);
        //$article_final gets inserted

 

and it inserted nothing at all, with the same string as above in my original post

 

also, again nl2br does not work, ive put it in every location on both the insertion page and webpage that I can think of and it adds <br />s but the r's and n's are still there too