phrak

I'm sure this has probably been asked a zillion times but the search wasn't too helpful, so please be gentle with the flames. I'm a complete php newb and I'm running an eve killboard, that takes a killmail, parses it into strings, and uploads the data to a mysql database. The problem is whenever the killmail contains an apostrophe, it is either read incorrectly and then screws up the database entry or it isn't read at all. I know that you have to put a slash in front of the apostrophe, but is there a way to make the parser check the string for apostrophes and then have it put the slash in, or do I have to tell everyone who uses this php ap to put a slash in front of their apostrophes or ignore them altogether?