[SOLVED] Mixed characters with $ problem

[imperium2335]

Hi, I have a problem with getting something out of my database because it has a $ in it.

 

$price = $_REQUEST['price'] ; //this gets the selection from the drop-down box that the user selected.

 

It could be "Under £10 or $15"

 

The selection is then matched with record in the database, in this case records with "Under £10 or $15" would be returned.

 

This doesn't work and I'm 100% sure its because i have $ in it.

 

I know i could use str_replace to take out the $s but i need them for when the record is returned and displayed (its a search engine). So the user would see all the other details and Under "£10 or $15", not "Under £10 or 15".

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Tom.

 

[Lodius2000]

pretty sure escaping the character would work

 

in a double quoted string characters that have meaning in php are interpreted by php, so "$15" tries to replace $15 with a variable value, but in addition to you not wanting to have a variable here, $15 is an illegal variable because they cant start with numbers, solution, use single instead of double quotes, or if you must, write the $15 as \$15, that should tell php that that is an actual dollar sign not a marker that the next bit of the string is a variable

 

EDIT: do NOT use request, use post or get, request is a major security problem, google 'dangers of request method'

[imperium2335]

Hi, it still doesnt work, because I have to put the /$ into the mysql database field and it returns:

 

"Under �500 or \$750"

 

Also, the � is meant to be a British pound symbol, any idea why its coming out like this?

 

Cheers.

[Philip]

Incorrect character set I'd imagine (never really had to worry about that myself)

 

Use single quotes:

echo '$15'; // echos $15

[Lodius2000]

yeah, I think I gave you the wrong slash too its either / or \, im rusty

[imperium2335]

I know, but the $15 is inside the string, and there are many different selections possible, like like "Under £30 or $75"

 

Right now it is stored in the database as "Under £500 or \$750". This whole string is taken from the database and stored in a variable. So i cant go in and just edit the $ bit.

 

Do I need to some how break the string apart then modify each word? mayb somthing like this "('abc' or '<' or '>' . £ . 'number' . abc . /$ . 'number')" or is there a much simpler way?

 

Currently the database is utf8 -- UTF-8 Unicode, have tried others but still get that wierd question mark thingy �

 

Thanks for your help so far.

[Philip]

Well,

<?php
$var = '$test';
echo $var;
?>

Results with:

$test

 

 

This doesn't work and I'm 100% sure its because i have $ in it.

What does it do/not do? - and a sample of your code would help

[imperium2335]

Hi, here is the code:

<?php

if (!file_exists("dbconnect.php"))
{
die("Database settings not found, administrator intervention required.") ;
}
else
{
require("dbconnect.php") ; //Must connect to the database.
}

$word = $_POST['word'];
$type = $_POST['type'] ;
$flavor = $_POST['flavor'] ;
$tiers = $_POST['tiers'] ;
$serves = $_POST['serves'] ;
$price = $_POST['price'] ;  //THIS IS THE VARIABLE THAT HAS THE POUND AND $ SYMBOLS IN

$def = "Dont Specify" ; //Default value for drop down boxes

if(!isset($word) || $word == "Enter Search Term" || $word == "") //If the word field has nothing in or has default text then...
{
unset($word) ; //Force clear.
}
if($type == $def)
{
unset($type) ;
}
if($flavor == $def)
{
unset($flavor) ;
}
if($tiers == $def)
{
unset($tiers) ;
}
if($serves == $def)
{
unset($serves) ;
}
if($price == $def)
{
unset($price) ;
}

if(!isset($word) && !isset($type) && !isset($flavor) && !isset($tiers) && !isset($serves) && !isset($price)) //If nothing has been set...
{
echo 'some stuff' ; //Message.
die ; include("dbdisconnect.php") ;//End script and disconnect from database.
}

if(isset($word))
{	
include ('eliminator.php') ; //Include the word cleaner, deletes symbols etc.
include ('stemmer.php') ; //Include the Stemmer Algorythm, "tests" = "test" etc.

$stemmer = new PorterStemmer ; //Call class in the stemmer.php file.
$stemmed_string = $stemmer->stem(strtolower($word)); //force words to lower case.

$cleanup = new Cleaner ; //Call word cleaner class in the eliminator.php file.
$stemmed_string = $cleanup->parseString($stemmed_string) ;

$sanction = split(" ",$stemmed_string) ; //Spaces constiture a new word?

foreach ($sanction as $array => $V)
{
	$x_string .= ''.$V.' ' ;
}
$x_string = substr($x_string,0,(strlen($x_string)-1)) ;

$split_stemmed = split(" ",$x_string) ;

while(list($key,$V)=each($split_stemmed))
{
	if($V<>" " AND strlen($V) > 0){
	$wordx .=  "(tags LIKE '%$V%' OR title LIKE '%$V%' OR Description LIKE '%$V%' OR decorator LIKE '%$V%') OR" ;
	}
}
	$wordx = substr($wordx,0,(strlen($wordx)-3)) ;

}

if(isset($type))
{
if(isset($word))
{
$typex = "&& type LIKE '%$type%'" ;
}
else
$typex = "type LIKE '%$type%'" ;
}

if(isset($flavor))
{
if(isset($word) || isset($type))
{
$flavorx = "&& flavor LIKE '%$flavor%'" ;
}
else
$flavorx = "flavor LIKE '%$flavor%'" ;
}

if(isset($tiers))
{
if(isset($word) || isset($type) || isset($flavor))
{
$tiersx = "&& tiers LIKE '%$tiers%'" ;
}
else
$tiersx = "tiers LIKE '%$tiers%'" ;
}

if(isset($serves))
{
if(isset($word) || isset($type) || isset($flavor) || isset($tiers))
{
$servesx = "&& serves LIKE '%$serves%'" ;
}
else
$servesx = "serves LIKE '%$serves%'" ;
}

if(isset($price))
{
if(isset($word) || isset($type) || isset($flavor) || isset($tiers) || isset($serves))
{
$pricex = "&& price LIKE '%$price%'" ;
}
else
$pricex = "price LIKE '%$price%'" ;
}

$query = "SELECT DISTINCT * FROM image_bank WHERE $wordx $typex $flavorx $tiersx $servesx $pricex" ;

$result = mysql_query($query) ;

$rowamnt = mysql_num_rows($result) ; //Count how many results there are.

if ($rowamnt > 0) //If there are more than 0 results...
{
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result, MYSQL_ASSOC))
{

$dbtitle = $row['title'] ;
$dbdescr = $row['description'] ;
$dbtags = $row['tags'] ;
$dbdec = $row['decorator'] ;
$dbtiers = $row['tiers'] ;
$dbtype = $row['type'] ;
$dbflavor = $row['flavor'] ;
$dbserves = $row['serves'] ;
$dbprice = $row['price'] ;
$imgurl = $row['url'];
$thumburl = $row['thumb_url'] ;
$rating = $row['rating'] ;

echo "$dbtags" . "<br />" ;
echo "$dbtitle" . "<br />" ;
echo "Decorated by : $dbdec" . "<br />" ;
echo "Description : $dbdescr" . "<br />" ;
echo "$dbtiers tier cake" . "<br />" ;
echo "Type : $dbtype cake" . "<br />" ;
echo "Flavor : $dbflavor" . "<br />" ;
echo "Serves : $dbserves" . "<br />" ;
echo "Costs : $dbprice" . "<br />" ;
echo 'Information Page : <a href="' . "$imgurl" . '">' . "$imgurl" . "</a>" . "<br />" ;
echo '<img src="' . "$thumburl" . '" height="100" width="50" />' ;
echo "$rating" ;

} 
}
else
{
echo 'stuff' ;
}

include("dbdisconnect.php") ;

?>

 

Edit by thorpe: We have code tags for a reason.

[mrdamien]

In my opinion, the easy way is to use htmlentities,

and make sure your data is properly inserted with mysql_real_escape_string

[Lodius2000]

yeah, entities should work too.

 

are you haveing problems with the pound symbol too?

 

you said 'weird question mark thingy', thats a black diamond with a ? in it right, if so, that means you have a character set that doesnt support those symbols

[imperium2335]

Thanks for all your help, in the end I did this:

 

in the database, records use the html symbol codes - "Under £500 or &#x24;750" (this also fixed the diamond ? issue)

 

then in the php:

 

<?PHP

 

if (!file_exists("dbconnect.php"))

{

die("Database settings not found, administrator intervention required.") ;

}

else

{

require("dbconnect.php") ; //Must connect to the database.

}

 

$word = $_POST['word'];

$type = $_POST['type'] ;

$flavor = $_POST['flavor'] ;

$tiers = $_POST['tiers'] ;

$serves = $_POST['serves'] ;

$price = $_POST['price'] ;  //THIS IS THE VARIABLE THAT HAS THE POUND AND $ SYMBOLS IN

 

 

$symbol[0] = '£' ;

$symbol[1] = '$' ;

 

$replace[0] = '£' ;

$replace[1] = '&#x24;' ;

 

$price = str_replace($symbol,$replace,$price) ;

 

$def = "Dont Specify" ; //Default value for drop down boxes

 

if(!isset($word) || $word == "Enter Search Term" || $word == "") //If the word field has nothing in or has default text then...

{

unset($word) ; //Force clear.

}

if($type == $def)

{

unset($type) ;

}

if($flavor == $def)

{

unset($flavor) ;

}

if($tiers == $def)

{

unset($tiers) ;

}

if($serves == $def)

{

unset($serves) ;

}

if($price == $def)

{

unset($price) ;

}

 

if(!isset($word) && !isset($type) && !isset($flavor) && !isset($tiers) && !isset($serves) && !isset($price)) //If nothing has been set...

{

echo '<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<head>

<title>Cake Photos Decorators Suppliers</title>

<meta name="keywords" content="" />

<meta name="description" content="" />

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />

 

<link href="../cakes-css.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />

</head>

 

<body>

<div id="page">' ;

include "../includes/headnav.html" ;

echo '<div id="head"></div>

 

<div id="search">' ;

include "../includes/header-search.html" ;

echo '</div>

<div id="sidebar">' ;

include "../includes/sidenav.html" ;

echo'</div>

<div id="main">

<h1>Cake Photos</h1>

<p>You did not specify anything to search for.</p>

<p>Either enter a word into the word field, or make a selection from at least one drop down box.</p>

</div>

<div id="rightzone">

Latest cake submissions here, if no cake submissions display random cakes from the database.

</div>

 

<div id="footer">' ;

include "../includes/footer.html" ;

 

echo '</div>

</div>

 

</body>

</html>' ; //Message.

die ; include("dbdisconnect.php") ;//End script and disconnect from database.

}

 

if(isset($word))

{

include ('eliminator.php') ; //Include the word cleaner, deletes symbols etc.

include ('stemmer.php') ; //Include the Stemmer Algorythm, "tests" = "test" etc.

 

$stemmer = new PorterStemmer ; //Call class in the stemmer.php file.

$stemmed_string = $stemmer->stem(strtolower($word)); //force words to lower case.

 

$cleanup = new Cleaner ; //Call word cleaner class in the eliminator.php file.

$stemmed_string = $cleanup->parseString($stemmed_string) ;

 

$sanction = split(" ",$stemmed_string) ; //Spaces constiture a new word?

 

foreach ($sanction as $array => $V)

{

$x_string .= ''.$V.' ' ;

}

$x_string = substr($x_string,0,(strlen($x_string)-1)) ;

 

$split_stemmed = split(" ",$x_string) ;

 

while(list($key,$V)=each($split_stemmed))

{

if($V<>" " AND strlen($V) > 0){

$wordx .=  "(tags LIKE '%$V%' OR title LIKE '%$V%' OR Description LIKE '%$V%' OR decorator LIKE '%$V%') OR" ;

}

}

$wordx = substr($wordx,0,(strlen($wordx)-3)) ;

 

}

 

if(isset($type))

{

if(isset($word))

{

$typex = "&& type LIKE '%$type%'" ;

}

else

$typex = "type LIKE '%$type%'" ;

}

 

if(isset($flavor))

{

if(isset($word) || isset($type))

{

$flavorx = "&& flavor LIKE '%$flavor%'" ;

}

else

$flavorx = "flavor LIKE '%$flavor%'" ;

}

 

if(isset($tiers))

{

if(isset($word) || isset($type) || isset($flavor))

{

$tiersx = "&& tiers LIKE '%$tiers%'" ;

}

else

$tiersx = "tiers LIKE '%$tiers%'" ;

}

 

if(isset($serves))

{

if(isset($word) || isset($type) || isset($flavor) || isset($tiers))

{

$servesx = "&& serves LIKE '%$serves%'" ;

}

else

$servesx = "serves LIKE '%$serves%'" ;

}

 

if(isset($price))

{

if(isset($word) || isset($type) || isset($flavor) || isset($tiers) || isset($serves))

{

$pricex = "&& price LIKE '%$price%'" ;

}

else

$pricex = "price LIKE '%$price%'" ;

}

 

$query = "SELECT DISTINCT * FROM image_bank WHERE $wordx $typex $flavorx $tiersx $servesx $pricex" ;

 

$result = mysql_query($query) ;

 

$rowamnt = mysql_num_rows($result) ; //Count how many results there are.

 

if ($rowamnt > 0) //If there are more than 0 results...

{

while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result, MYSQL_ASSOC))

{

 

$dbtitle = $row['title'] ;

$dbdescr = $row['description'] ;

$dbtags = $row['tags'] ;

$dbdec = $row['decorator'] ;

$dbtiers = $row['tiers'] ;

$dbtype = $row['type'] ;

$dbflavor = $row['flavor'] ;

$dbserves = $row['serves'] ;

$dbprice = $row['price'] ;

$imgurl = $row['url'];

$thumburl = $row['thumb_url'] ;

$rating = $row['rating'] ;

 

echo "$dbtags" . "<br />" ;

echo "$dbtitle" . "<br />" ;

echo "Decorated by : $dbdec" . "<br />" ;

echo "Description : $dbdescr" . "<br />" ;

echo "$dbtiers tier cake" . "<br />" ;

echo "Type : $dbtype cake" . "<br />" ;

echo "Flavor : $dbflavor" . "<br />" ;

echo "Serves : $dbserves" . "<br />" ;

echo "Costs : $dbprice" . "<br />" ;

echo 'Information Page : <a href="' . "$imgurl" . '">' . "$imgurl" . "</a>" . "<br />" ;

echo '<img src="' . "$thumburl" . '" height="100" width="50" />' ;

echo "$rating" ;

 

}

}

else

{

echo '<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<head>

<title>Cake Photos Decorators Suppliers</title>

<meta name="keywords" content="" />

<meta name="description" content="" />

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />

 

<link href="../cakes-css.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />

</head>

 

<body>

<div id="page">' ;

include "../includes/headnav.html" ;

echo '<div id="head"></div>

 

<div id="search">' ;

include "../includes/header-search.html" ;

echo '</div>

<div id="sidebar">' ;

include "../includes/sidenav.html" ;

echo'</div>

<div id="main">

<h1>Cake Photos</h1>

<p>No cakes were found that match what you searched for.</p>

<p>Make sure your have entered a keyword OR have selected an item from atleast one drop down menu.</p>

</div>

<div id="rightzone">

Latest cake submissions here, if no cake submissions display random cakes from the database.

</div>

 

<div id="footer">' ;

include "../includes/footer.html" ;

 

echo '</div>

</div>

 

</body>

</html>' ;

}

 

include("dbdisconnect.php") ;

 

?>

 

This was my very first try at a search engine for my new site I'm making, I've learned a lot with your help so thank you all

 

If you have any tips on how I could make this code more efficent please let me know