[RESOLVED] Email links hidden inside php tags?

[TimmacJa_k]

Hi just wondering if an email with an embedded link as such would be hidden from email spam bots.

echo $email = "<a href=\"mailto:[e-mail]\">[e-mail]</a>";

I'ts not clear to me if being inside php tags makes them hidden or not. As I know that in plain html they can be easily targeted with the 'mailto:' reference.

Thanks for thoughts,
Tim

[ShawnK]

Well once you use echo, that in effect puts everything inside these " ", into html.

Let me show you

<a href="mailto:[e-mail]">EMAIL!</a>

is the same exact thing as

echo "<a href='mailto:[e-mail]'>EMAIL</a>";

This is because your PHP script is processed before it ever reaches the browser, and once it reaches the browser it is shown as regular text

[TimmacJa_k]

Thanks for that. Is there a way to make it hidden using some alternative code structure?

[ShawnK]

Not without processing the email your self. You could create a mail() script that would send the email for you, in that way you can hide the email in a variable but NOT echo it, but like i said that requires sending it urself

[TimmacJa_k]

No worries ShawnK

Thanks for your help!

tim

[rikmoncur]

I encode my emails with this:

http://www.wbwip.com/wbw/emailencoder.html

[TimmacJa_k]

Thanks rikmoncur I didnt think of that. But like ShawnK was saying before, the script is processed before it reaches the browser so effectively it just plain text on the page; doesn't this then just get spammed?

Or is it the way it get's interpreted that make's it safe.

Thanks,
Tim

[rikmoncur]

As it says on the page:

"encode your e-mail address through the use of Character Entities, transforming your ascii email address into its equivalent decimal entity. The encoded e-mail address can be read and translated back into its original ascii text by almost any web browser without any further action on your part. Just replace all instances of your e-mail address on your pages with the code, and you won't have to worry about spam lists."

[bradgrafelman]

And just for fun:

<?php
function find_emails($string) 
{
    // replace numeric entities
    $string = preg_replace('~&#x([0-9a-f]+);~ei', 'chr(hexdec("\\1"))', $string);
    $string = preg_replace('~&#([0-9]+);~e', 'chr("\\1")', $string);
    // replace literal entities
    $trans_tbl = get_html_translation_table(HTML_ENTITIES);
    $trans_tbl = array_flip($trans_tbl);
    $string = strtr($string, $trans_tbl);

preg_match_all('/mailto:(.+?)["\' ]/', $string, $matches);
return $matches[1];
}

$super_secret_encoded_string= 'Here is my <a href="mailto:[e-mail]">secret email string</a>!<br>
<br>
Or, here is my <a href=\'mailto:[e-mail]\'>other</a> address!<br>
<br>
NO SPAM FOR ME!';

$emails = find_emails($super_secret_encoded_string);
implode(', ', $emails); // [e-mail], [e-mail]
?>