Format newline characters into <p> and <br>

[Leao]

Hi everyone,

I want to echo some text retrieved from a mySQL database, however it always echos the text unformatted. I would like the text formatted with all single \n line breaks converted to <br> and all double \n line breaks converted to <p>. I have searched long and hard on the internet but have yet to find a code that does both actions.

MANY, many thanks,

Leao

Here is my code as it stands unformatted:

<?php
$goatswiththe=$_GET['goatswiththe'];
mysql_connect("mysql2.steadfast.net","goatswi_leo","PASSWORD") or die(mysql_error());
mysql_select_db("goatswi_db") or die(mysql_error());
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM goattext_eng") or die(mysql_error());
$row = mysql_fetch_array( $result );
echo $row[$goatswiththe];?>

[nrg_alpha]

You could try formatting using nl2br? This won't convert newlines to <p>, but rather <br>

Or perhaps simply make use of str_replace:

$row = str_replace("\n", '<br>', $row); // or <br /> if using xhtml

The problem with converting all double newlines to <p> is that there is no closing </p> to match them. You could use some regex I suppose to do it.. but I would personally stick with nl2br.

[Leao]

Thanks Alpha, I also found this link with a function to do the job but I count figure out how to use it. I tried the following but it didn't work. I'm sure that I'm doing something wrong,

<?php 
$goatswiththe=$_GET['goatswiththe']; 
mysql_connect("mysql2.steadfast.net","goatswi_leo","PASSWORD") or die(mysql_error()); 
mysql_select_db("goatswi_db") or die(mysql_error()); 
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM goattext_eng") or die(mysql_error()); 
$row = mysql_fetch_array( $result );$goattext = $row[$goatswiththe]; 

function nl2p($goattext) 
{ 
$goattext = "<p>" . $goattext . "</p>"; 
$goattext = str_replace("\r\n\r\n", "</p><p>", $goattext); 
$goattext = str_replace("\r\n", "<br />", $goattext); 
$goattext = str_replace("</p><p>", "</p>\n<p>", $goattext); 
$goattext = str_replace("\r", '', $goattext); 
$goattext = str_replace("<p></p>", '', $goattext); 
return $goattext; 
} 

echo $goattext; 
?>

Peace,

Leao

[knowj]

A simple solution would be to use a front end javascript solution such as tinymce which would pre format the data before it is stored in the database. If needs be you can always use strip_tags (http://us2.php.net/manual/en/function.strip-tags.php) to remove the formatting again.

http://tinymce.moxiecode.com/

[Leao]

I understand now that the function above didn't do anything because I didn't run it. How do I run it? If anyone could help me with the code below I would be extremely grateful.

Many thanks, Leao

<?php 
$goatswiththe=$_GET['goatswiththe']; 
mysql_connect("mysql2.steadfast.net","goatswi_leo","PASSWORD") or die(mysql_error()); 
mysql_select_db("goatswi_db") or die(mysql_error()); 
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM goattext_eng") or die(mysql_error()); 
$row = mysql_fetch_array( $result );$goattext = $row[$goatswiththe]; 

function nl2p($goatfunction) 
{ 
$goatfunction = "<p>" . $goatfunction . "</p>"; 
$goatfunction = str_replace("\r\n\r\n", "</p><p>", $goatfunction); 
$goatfunction = str_replace("\r\n", "<br />", $goatfunction); 
$goatfunction = str_replace("</p><p>", "</p>\n<p>", $goatfunction); 
$goatfunction = str_replace("\r", '', $goatfunction); 
$goatfunction = str_replace("<p></p>", '', $goatfunction); 
return $goatfunction; 
} 

nl2p($goattext); 
echo $goattext; 
?>

[rincewind456]

echo nl2p($goattext);

Rather than:

nl2p($goattext);
echo $goattext;