problem with & symbol and php / xml

[aron]

i have this line.

it prints an xml line.

$description = $residential->new_child("description", "$xml_description");

this request the description

// description info
$xml_description = $line["description"];
echo $xml_description;

see it works fine if the description is like this.

quick for this one! Keenly priced for the first home buyer or property investor. A neat and clean three bedroom home ready for moving in, but with plenty of scope to renovate. Hardwood floors throughout, some have been polished, other rooms have carpets over original floorboards in excellent condition. The garden has been partly landscaped and awaits a green thumb to finish off. Further outdoor rooms could be added for private entertaining areas

XML out put

<description>Be quick for this one! Keenly priced for the first home buyer or property investor. A neat and clean three bedroom home ready for moving in, but with plenty of scope to renovate. Hardwood floors throughout, some have been polished, other rooms have carpets over original floorboards in excellent condition. The garden has been partly landscaped and awaits a green thumb to finish off. Further outdoor rooms could be added for private entertaining areas.</description>

but if it has a "&" in it it breakes.

quick for this one! Keenly & priced for the first home buyer or property investor. A neat and clean three bedroom home ready for moving in, but with plenty of scope to renovate. Hardwood floors throughout, some have been polished, other rooms have carpets over original floorboards in excellent condition. The garden has been partly landscaped and awaits a green thumb to finish off. Further outdoor rooms could be added for private entertaining areas

XML out put

<description>Be quick for this one! Keenly </description>

it only seems to stuff up on & so far.

anyone able to help.

cheers aron.

[Weedpacket]

Don't forget that & is one of the few characters that has a special meaning in XML documents. Use [man]htmlspecialchars[/man] to turn it and the others into entities. I.e., $xml_description = htmlspecialchars($xml_description);

[aron]

are there any other special characters that i should keep in mind.

[Weedpacket]

Originally posted by aron
are there any other special characters that i should keep in mind.

Probably not for your purposes; they're listed on the [man]htmlspecialchars[/man] page. But if you do encounter problems with non-ASCII characters (&euml; &euro; &iquest; and so on) then [man]htmlentities[/man] might be worth looking at.