Can't get rid of curly quotes.

Dolemite50

Hi,

EDIT I have the issue isolated further on the reply titled MORE ISOLATION down the page a bit. It might spare you some reading to check it out first, thank you very much. /EDIT

I have a form and whenever anybody pastes info that contains curly quotes it breaks the script. Through the forum I was able to find a function for removing them:
function html_curly_quotes($text) {
$result = $text;
$result = str_replace(chr(145), "‘", $result);
$result = str_replace(chr(146), "’", $result);
$result = str_replace(chr(147), '“', $result);
$result = str_replace(chr(148), '”', $result);
return $result;
}

I am also using another function for prepping to the DB (provided by Laserlight, thank you)

function prepIn($input) {
$input = trim($input);
if (!get_magic_quotes_gpc()) {
return addslashes($input);
}

return $input;
}

When I fill out the title and description form using curly quotes in the description it takes me to the seperate processing page that has the two functions declared at the top and I am trying to do this:
$descr = prepIn($_POST['descr']);
$descr = strip_tags($descr);
$descr = html_curly_quotes($descr);

The code breaks and says that there was not a Title listed. (Title was input, but curly quotes in the Description field give this error. If I remove them it works fine)

As a test I tried echoing the $descr after the functions like this:
$descr = prepIn($_POST['descr']);
$descr = strip_tags($descr);
$descr = html_curly_quotes($descr);
echo $descr;
and the output still contains curly quotes such as:
“This is a test”
‘This is a test’

Can anybody PLEASE tell me what I might be doing wrong? I've been struggling with this issue for months.

Thank you.

Dolemite50

If it helps; I also tried running it through the curly function THEN the prepIn function and got the same results.

Dolemite50

I've also tried this one:

$descr = html_curly_quotes($_POST['descr']);
$descr = strip_tags($descr);
$descr = prepIn($descr);

$search = array(
'/[\x07\x95]/',
'/\x85/',
'/[\x91\x92]/',
'/[\x93\x94]/',
);
$replace = array(
'-',
'...',
'\'',
'"',
);
$descr = preg_replace($search, $replace, $descr);

echo $descr;

and it still echoes curly quotes. 🙁

Dolemite50

This is madness. I keep finding resolutions that worked for others but not me.

Last attempt:
$descr = str_replace("“", "\"", $descr);
$descr = str_replace("”", "\"", $descr);
echo $descr;

Still echoed double curly quotes.

Dolemite50

OK, progress, (I think)
I tried this one:
$patterns = array ("/&/","/'/","/´/","/’/","/\"/","/“/","/”/","/–/","/—/","/>/","/</");
$replacements = array ("&","'","'","'",""",""",""","-","-",">","<");

$descr = preg_replace($patterns,$replacements,$descr);
echo $descr;

and it echoed like this:
This is a test account “This is a test” ‘This is a test’

But for some reason whenever there are the curly quotes being input into the description field it states that there was no Band Name (title) listed. I tried moving this statement:
elseif(!$bandName){
from the top to the bottom of the error checking and yet it still states there is no band name whenever curly's are input in ANY field.

I have no idea what's going on here, it's quite frustrating. Here is the entire error-checking part:
if (!$descr){
$error = "Sorry! You must enter a band description.<br>
$please";
include ('errorinc.php');
exit();
elseif ((!$region)||(!$country)){
$error = "Sorry! You must choose a region and country in the Location dropdown menu. If you chose USA you must also choose a State.<br>
$please";
include ('errorinc.php');
exit();
}
elseif (!$location){
$error = "Sorry! You must enter a city or area.<br>
$please";
include ('errorinc.php');
exit();
}
elseif(!$bandName){
$error = "Sorry! You must enter a band or musician's name.<br>
$please";
include ('errorinc.php');
exit();
}

As a test I removed the curly's from the Description and used them in the Band Name and it told me I didn't enter a band name. Why does it always target that variable? Is it because it's the top textfield in the form and first in the POST statements? Essentialy if I use curly's ANYWHERE in the form it tells me that there is no band name. Without curly's the script works fine. 🙁

Please help!

Dolemite50

MORE ISOLATION

OK, This just gets weirder and weirder. I stripped the processing page down to the following as a test:

function prepIn($input) {
$input = trim($input);
if (!get_magic_quotes_gpc()) {
return addslashes($input);
}

return $input;
}

if (isset($POST['Submit'])) {
$bandName = prepIn($POST['bandName']);
exit($bandName);
}

And here's the issue. The bandName variable is getting stripped somewhere between the clicking of Submit and the retrieval of the variable. This variable loss only occurs if I input smart/curly quotes ANYWHERE in the form. If I don't use curlys it exits and echoes the bandName variable just fine. If I put a single curly into ANY of the 8 or so additional fields then the bandName variable vanishes. I tried making the form use one page instead of a seperate processing page and the same error exists.
Would I be better off using the same page to display the form and do the processing? I have no idea what else could be causing it. I've been struggling with this for months and gave up awhile ago but I can't put it off anymore. If anybody has an idea of ANYTHING for me to try that I haven't already I'll be grateful.
Thanks.

jansky

you may want to use
stripslashes() function
$items=$_POST['blah'];
$items=stripslashes($items);

Dolemite50

Thank you very much for the attempt,..it's been a LOONGGG day. 🙂

OK, I have it isolated even further and now I'm even more confused.

For some reason the form is losing whichever variable happens to be coming from the TOP textfield in the form. If I have the Band Name field ABOVE the Website
field like this:
Enter Band Name: []
Enter Website: []

...and try this:
CODE #1
$band = $POST['band'];
$band = stripslashes($band);
exit($band);
$website = prepIn($POST['website']);
$website = stripslashes($website);

..it fails but if I try this:
CODE #2
$website = prepIn($POST['website']);
$website = stripslashes($website);
exit($website);
$band = $POST['band'];
$band = stripslashes($band);

...it echoes the website variable.

Then if I try reversing the order of the fields on the form by pasting the "band" field BENEATH the "website" field like this:
Enter Website: []
Enter Band Name: []
CODE #1 works but CODE #2 does not?????

How could the order of the fields be affecting this? Not to mention that it only affects it when curly quotes are involved. I'm slowly losing my mind, I've never run into anything like this. 😕 :bemused:

Dolemite50

Ok,

So to test my assumption of the code losing the TOP form element's variable I created a hidden field on the form ABOVE the Band Name field and called it testHidden. Then on the processing page I did this:
$fake = $POST['testHidden'];
$band = $POST['band'];
$band = stripslashes($band);
exit($band);
$website = prepIn($_POST['website']);
$website = stripslashes($website);

and it worked. This also works:

$fake = $POST['testHidden'];
$band = $POST['band'];
$band = stripslashes($band);
$website = prepIn($_POST['website']);
$website = stripslashes($website);
exit($website );

So I guess what I did was throw the code a decoy variable at the TOP of the form to go ahead and wipeout while leaving the rest intact. Does the PHP somehow have to "burn a variable" in order to deal with curly quotes? I'm going to attempt applying it to the whole form now. I'll let you know what happens. Even if it works I'll be unsettled not knowing why.

jansky

here is it
you use
addslashes() function in your prepIn

read addslashes() and stripslashes()

bastien

try [man]htmlentities[/man] to solve this