Is it ever necessary to use the ampersand escape character for html?

[operafanboy]

If so what would be an example? I'm just curious.

Cheers

[v-wdd]

You mean using "&" instead of "&"...
If yes, then it is necessary, for XHTML validation.

[operafanboy]

[!--quoteo(post=356209:date=Mar 18 2006, 01:29 PM:name=vic-wdd)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(vic-wdd @ Mar 18 2006, 01:29 PM) [snapback]356209[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
You mean using "&" instead of "&"...
If yes, then it is necessary, for XHTML validation.
[/quote]

Yeah, thanks. Is there any point to it though? I don't think I've ever needed to use it, and can't think of any time it would be needed, and it's pretty annoying having to remember to do it just so your page is valid.

[azziman]

[!--quoteo(post=356333:date=Mar 19 2006, 04:04 AM:name=operafanboy)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(operafanboy @ Mar 19 2006, 04:04 AM) [snapback]356333[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
Yeah, thanks. Is there any point to it though? I don't think I've ever needed to use it, and can't think of any time it would be needed, and it's pretty annoying having to remember to do it just so your page is valid.
[/quote]

well if u type your text into dreamweaver (or u just copy it in) the "&" code will be there for u ;)

[rawb]

I'm not sure if this is what you mean, but the ampersand is used to begin "special characters" in HTML. For example - if you ever need to know how to display a copyright ©, the HTML code is & #169; - but without the space in between the ampersand and the pound sign.

If this isn't what you mean, I'm dumb - sorry. If it is, hope I helped a bit!

[Gast]

Like vic-wdd said, you need to use & in the code instead of & for it to be valid XHTML. Also, if you are writing in JavaScript that directs to a URL like "http://www.example.com/page.php?act=test&something=this", for example you cannot use the & in the JS code, it won't work, so you must use a normal ampersand even if it won't validate.

[gnuffo1]

I don't know if & works in JS, but &038; definitly does and my page validates with it.

[charlesfw]

[!--quoteo(post=356209:date=Mar 18 2006, 02:29 PM:name=vic-wdd)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(vic-wdd @ Mar 18 2006, 02:29 PM) [snapback]356209[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
You mean using "&" instead of "&"...
If yes, then it is necessary, for XHTML validation.
[/quote]

I have a twist on this question. I have images stored in the database and to print them as a link, I must send all information relative to the <img> tag as an argument.

I don't want to distract from the issue, but this is the code that prepares the link to see a full-sized image from a thumbnail:

// Build full-size image link
$image_link = "print_full_image.php?";
$image_link .= "id=".$id;
$title = ereg_replace(" ", "%20", $title);
$image_link .= "&title=".$title;
$image_link .= "&seq=".$row->sequence;
$caption = ereg_replace(" ", "%20", $row->caption);
$image_link .= "&caption=".$caption;
$image_link .= "&table=$db_table";

// Build thumbnail image request
$image = "print_image.php?";
$image .= "id=".$id;
$image .= "&seq=".$row->sequence;
$image .= "&thumbnail=Y";
$image .= "&table=$db_table";

// Print link & image
print "<td><a href=".$image_link."><img src=".$image.
" alt=\"Click to see larger view\"/></a></td>";

It replace spaces with '%20' which appears to be what the browser (IE) does automatically. I don't know of any HTML or PHP method to do this automatically so I am building this string manually.

The issue is that if $caption contains an ampersand, it causes the rest of the text to be truncated. So it appears that '&' is illegal in this case since it is always interpreted as a separator.

Am I missing something?