Difficulty with structure of string

[EchoFool]

Hey

 

When i input to my database a message from a form that was typed into a text area - say there was paragraphs and gaps etc.. when the message is outputted at a later date the structure is lost and it is just a big chunk of text - this is happening for my forum posts but have no idea how to maintain the input structure upon output.

 

Is there a a function of some kind for this solution?

[trq]

nl2br sounds like what your after.

[EchoFool]

Does it go on input and output or just output ?

[trq]

Just output.

[EchoFool]

Hmm doesn't seem to be the case. Still looses its structure, my input function has:

mysql_real_escape_string(stripslashes($Var));

 

Could that cause structure loss?

[trq]

No. What structure are you losing exactly. nl2br only appends <br /> tags to newlines. You might need to look at the user examples on the man page for some more comprehensive formatting functions.

[EchoFool]

Well for example when you make a post here and press enter twice to make a gap line the gap line disappears so:

 

Hello

 

Hello

 

Becomes:

Hello Hello

 

Which is annoying

[trq]

nl2br should take care of that. You'll need to post some code if you need further help.

[EchoFool]

Sure heres an example:

 

 

INPUT FORM:

<?

function SQLskip($Var){
$Var =  mysql_real_escape_string(stripslashes($Var));
return($Var);
}

if(isset($_POST['submit'])){
$Message = SQLskip($_POST['letter']);

      // insert query here

}Else{
?>
<form method="POST" action="">

<textarea name="letter" class="textarea"> </textarea> 
<br><br>
<input type="submit" name="submit" class="button" value=""><br><br>
<a href="mail.php">Cancel Message</a><br>
</form>
<?php } ?>

 

OUTPUT:

//select query $QueryName
$row = mysql_fetch_assoc($QueryName);
echo nl2br($row['Message']);

 

Field in database message example has the structure:

http://i43.tinypic.com/sp887n.png

 

Actual outputs:

http://i42.tinypic.com/2mfiuxw.png

 

So the input is fine as the structure remains in the database - its the output that goes wrong.