php, mysql and ms special characters

[jdc44]

I have a MySql db and am using php. I have forms for users to enter text into the db/table. Users often copy/paste from MS Word. So, those smart quotes and single quotes that are "special" to MS Word are getting inserted into the table.

When they get read back out for display on a website, single quotes are coming out as 'question marks' (?).

I do not believe it is a matter of 'addslashes()' or 'stripslashes()' or 'special characters' or 'html-entities'. I think it has to do with ms word.

Does anyone know of a function out there that will escape or translate these ms special characters?

Thanks for any help.

[badcpu]

Do a search on google for:

magic_quotes_sybase
magic_quotes_gpc
magic_quotes_runtime

Those are settings on your PHP.INI file which will affect the way special characters are displayed.