Databases
StackOverflow2013
Postsdbo
POhtmlspecialchars() issue with removing the < from </a> in string
 

Note that there are some explanatory texts on larger screens.

plurals
  1. POhtmlspecialchars() issue with removing the < from </a> in string
    primarykey
    data
    text
    <p>I am pulling some category names from a table, and I am using htmlspecialchars() to process the string that I get back for the category name. The problem is that one out of hundreds of category names is being echo'd with a bad closing tag. This is a simplified version of the string I am echoing:</p> <pre><code>$value['CATNAME'] = htmlspecialchars($value['CATNAME']); echo '&lt;a href="somepage.php?parms=foo"&gt;'. $value['CATNAME']. '&lt;/a&gt;'; </code></pre> <p>All of the links are coming out correctly, except the bad one. It is being echo'd as</p> <pre><code>&lt;a href="somepage.php?parms=foo"&gt;AR North/a&gt; </code></pre> <p>Without the htmlspecialchars() line commented out, it's output with the correct closing tag. I looked at the string in the table and there's nothing wrong with it there either. Does this seem like a PHP issue, or should I be looking elsewhere? I am suspecting that maybe there is some javascript messing with the tags, that's where I plan on looking next.</p> <p>Thanks.</p> <p>EDIT: Update</p> <p>More detailed code with what I am trying now:</p> <pre><code> // Convert characters with special HTML significance $value['CATNAME'] = utf8_encode($value['CATNAME']); $value['CATNAME'] = htmlspecialchars($value['CATNAME']); // Print the list item. If the currently selected Id is equal to the category being listed indicated so by marking it if ($selectedCat === $value['CATID']) echo '&lt;li id="catSel"&gt;&lt;a href="page.php?id=' . $value['parm1'] . '&amp;amp;pl=' . $_SESSION['parm2'] . '"&gt;' . $value['CATNAME'] . '&lt;/a&gt;'; else echo '&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="page.php?id='. $value['parm1']. '&amp;amp;pl='. $_SESSION['parm2']. '"&gt;'. $value['CATNAME']. '&lt;/a&gt;'; </code></pre> <p>Is still giving me</p> <pre><code>&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="somepage.php?id=185&amp;amp;pl=10"&gt;AR North/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt; </code></pre> <p>But if I change the last line to</p> <pre><code>$value['CATNAME']. '&lt;/a&gt;'; to $value['CATNAME']. ' &lt;/a&gt;'; </code></pre> <p>I get </p> <pre><code>&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="catview.php?id=185&amp;amp;pl=10"&gt;AR North &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt; </code></pre>
    singulars
    1. PO
      singulars
      1. PTAnswer
    1. This table or related slice is empty.
    1. PTQuestion
    1. USBead
    1. USBead
    plurals
    1. PL
      singulars
      1. LTLinked
    1. This table or related slice is empty.
    1. This table or related slice is empty.
    1. PO
      singulars
      1. PTAnswer
    1. VO
      singulars
      1. POhtmlspecialchars() issue with removing the < from </a> in string
      1. This table or related slice is empty.
      1. VTUpMod
    1. COCan you show this example (which goes wrong) on [codepad](http://codepad.viper-7.com)?
      singulars
      1. POhtmlspecialchars() issue with removing the < from </a> in string
      1. USPeeHaa
    2. COCould be the javascript, or could be maybe some character encoding problem in particular value of CATNAME. Maybe try htmlspecialchars with 3d parameter to specify encoding?
      singulars
      1. POhtmlspecialchars() issue with removing the < from </a> in string
      1. USGnudiff
    3. COwhat does `var_dump($value['CATNAME']);` give? And also please give the hexdump from that string: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1057572/how-can-i-get-a-hex-dump-of-a-string-in-php
      singulars
      1. POhtmlspecialchars() issue with removing the < from </a> in string
      1. UShakre
 

Querying!

 
Guidance
A row detail

Detail views are divided into sections. All the information in the data section comes from columns in the selected row. The other sections display data from other, related rows.

Related data can be related in a to-one or a to-many fashion. Captions of data related in a to-many fashion link to a list view showing a filtered view of the table.

Try moving around until you find a non-empty to-many entry and click on the label to get to one. You can move back to the root by clicking on the database name in the header.

SQuiL has stopped working due to an internal error.

If you are curious you may find further information in the browser console, which is accessible through the devtools (F12).

Reload