Trouble Replacing a Combination of Characters in a String

Shock_CNOP

I have been working on a sign-up form for a program on my site, and it checks to see if the user has filled everything in correctly. The script will show the form again with the information the user submitted if there is an error, and the problem is that when the user has a single or double quote in one of the fields, a backslash appears. So as not to inconvenience the user, I would like to replace all backslash single quotes (\') with just a single quote and all backslash double quotes (\") with just a double quote. I'm a newbie when it comes to PHP, so I have tried many different patterns and replacements in an ereg_replace() function and I can't seem to get it to produce the desired result. I have already tried using stripslashes(), but that strips all the backslashes, and I would like the user to be able to have backslashes in the fields they enter.

Does anyone know of how I could set up an ereg_replace() function to replace the escaped quotes?

swr

The backslashes are coming from the magic_quotes_gpc setting. To get rid of them, use [man]stripslashes[/man], or turn off the magic_quotes_gpc setting.

Using stripslashes, users can still have backslashes. The magic_quotes_gpc setting will turn the backslashes into double-backslashes (\), and stripslashes will turn that back into a single backslash.

Shock_CNOP

Originally posted by swr
Using stripslashes, users can still have backslashes. The magic_quotes_gpc setting will turn the backslashes into double-backslashes (\), and stripslashes will turn that back into a single backslash.

For some reason, it doesn't seem to be working that way. Every time I enter a backslash into a field and the stripslashes function is used on it, it disappears. But every time the stripslashes function isn't used on it, two backslashes appear.

Unfortunately I don't have access to the magic_quotes_gpc setting with my current web host.

EDIT: Odd, now it is working exactly like you said it would after I removed the stripslashes function and added it again. Very strange... But is there a way to remove the slashes just in front of the single and double quotes instead of all the slashes using ereg_replace?

swr

Originally posted by Shock_CNOP
But is there a way to remove the slashes just in front of the single and double quotes instead of all the slashes using ereg_replace?

Yes, but then if a user enters \ it'll show up as \. Use stripslashes, that's what it's there for. Just be careful not to call stripslashes more than once; it'll strip "\" to "\" on the first pass (which is fine) but on the second pass it'll remove the remaining backslash.