[Resolved] html entities failing when linebreak in input text

[bunner_bob]

I've got a neat little preg_replace that is supposed to replace all user entered special characters with their html equivalents - but only when they're outside angle brackets (<>) - this way it leaves the quote marks alone inside an href, for example.

Problem is, when the user types a line of text into the form's textarea, hits return (to start another line) and types some characters there, the preg replace fails - just doesn't replace the characters.

It works great if the text is just a single line of text.

Any thoughts? Here's the code. Sorry for the long line - not sure how best to break it up.

function ConvertToHtmlChars($string) {
	$entities = addslashes(implode('', preg_replace('/^([^<].+[^>])$/e', "htmlentities(stripslashes('\\1'))", 
    preg_split('/(<.+?>)/', stripslashes($string), -1, PREG_SPLIT_DELIM_CAPTURE))));
	return $entities;
}

Seems to have something to do with processing the newline character, but I'm not sure where to go from here.

Thanks,
Bob

[bunner_bob]

I broke the function up to make it more readable. Hey, it's the weekend - nobody should have to work too hard!

function ConvertToHtmlChars($input_string) {
	$split_input_array = preg_split('/(<.+?>)/', stripslashes($input_string), -1, PREG_SPLIT_DELIM_CAPTURE);
	$replaced_array = preg_replace('/^([^<].+[^>])$/e', "htmlentities(stripslashes('\\1'))", $split_input_array);
	$converted_string = addslashes(implode('', $replaced_array));
	return $converted_string;
}

[laserlight]

Could take a look at PCRE pattern modifiers

[bunner_bob]

Ahh - looks like I needed the "s" pattern modifier after my "e" - it tells preg_replace to ignore newlines.

Works great now - thanks! And thanks for not just handing me the answer. Though I've got to admit reading the PHP manual is an exercise in itself. Not exactly written for the semi-newb.

• Bob