[SOLVED] help replace newline with <br> in $_POST data

[NamemeNick]

User fills a form that contains a textarea  and I need help figuring out how to format the input string to store it in mysql for later retrieval and use in javascript.

 

Suppose the user enters:

line1
line2

 

When the form is posted, I read the field with

$input=htmlentities($_POST['field']);

Later, this input is used as argument in a javascript function:

<script type="text/javascript">myFunction('<?php echo $input; ?>');</script>

The problem is that javascript throws an "unterminated string" error because at run time, the browser sees a new line feed in the middle of the string like:

<script type=text/javascript"> myFunction('line1
line2'); </script>

 

My question is: how can I manipulate the input string so that input is on one line like "line1<br>line2" instead of "line 1

line2" ?

 

I have tried using str_replace to read the $_POST data:

$input=str_replace("\n","<br>",htmlentities($_POST['field']));

  However this doesn't work.  At runtime, the javascript becomes

<script type="text/javascript"> myFunction('line1
<br>line2'); </script>

<br> was put in, but the newline feed/character is still there, so the "unterminated string" error still comes up.

 

Suggestions please?

[Bauer418]

str_replace("\n", "", nl2br($input));

 

Converts new lines to <br /> and then gets rid of the newline character.

[premiso]

str_replace("\n", "", nl2br($input));

 

Converts new lines to <br /> and then gets rid of the newline character.

 

Just use nl2br the str_replace portion is not needed, and does not make any sense, honestly.

 

$input=htmlentities(nl2br($_POST['field']));

 

Not sure if you want it before the entities function or after, but that is the gist.

[NamemeNick]

Thank you guys for the suggestions.  I've tried both of them with no luck. Using nl2br alone places <br/> in front of the newline feed, but the newline feed is still present.

<?php $input= nl2br(htmlentities($_POST['field']));?>

 

Later, in javascript:

<script type="text/javascript"> myFunction('<?php echo $input ?>'); </script>

 

At runtime, javascript throws an "unterminated string" error because the newline is still there

<script type="text/javascript> myFunction('line1<br />
line2'); </script>

 

Using str_replace in conjunction with nl2br doesn't help:

<?php str_replace("\n","",nl2br(htmlentities($_POST["field"]))) ?>

 

At runtime, the argument for myFunction is still 'line1<br />

line2' and the "unterminated string" error stands

 

I thought that maybe the newline was not matched to "\n" and so str_replace wasn't doing anything, so in php I tried:

<?php str_replace("\n","GOTCHA",nl2br(htmlentities($_POST["field"]))) ?>

 

In Javascript, the output generates an unterminated string error:

<script type="text/javascript> myFunction('line1<br />
GOTCHAline2'); </script>

The newline is still there.  nl2br inserts <br /> before the newline, and str_replace enters GOTCHA after the newline (but doesn't remove the newline).  This is driving me nuts.

 

Any other suggestion?

[NamemeNick]

SOLVED.

 

Thank you guys; using nl2br in conjunction with str_replace was key.  The correct handling of the post data is:

<?php $input=str_replace("\r\n","",nl2br(htmlentities($_POST["field"]))); ?>

 

Using "\r\n" instead of "\n" as the first argument of str_replace made the difference, but I don't understand why.

[Bauer418]

@premiso: Please read the requirements before telling people their solutions are wrong.  He wanted to get rid of the newline character, not just add an HTML line break.

 

@NamemeNick: The \r is a carriage return, the combination of \r\n usually results from a newline entered on a Windows OS.  Linux uses simply \n to denote a newline.  You have to make these extra checks to be sure, so I would change your code to:

 

$input=str_replace(array("\r\n", "\n"),"",nl2br(htmlentities($_POST["field"])));

 

To be sure you capture both types of newlines.

[NamemeNick]

Bauer418, that's fantastic advice.  Thank you, well taken.

[premiso]

Eh, my bad, long day.