Keep all html whitespaces in php mysql

Question

i want to know how to keep all whitespaces of a text area in php (for send to database), and then echo then back later. I want to do it like stackoverflow does, for codes, which is the best approach?

For now i using this:

$text = str_replace(' ', '&nbs p;', $text);

It keeps the ' ' whitespaces but i won't have tested it with mysql_real_escape and other "inject prevent" methods together.

For better understanding, i want to echo later from db something like:

 function jack(){
    var x = "blablabla";
 }

Thanks for your time.

1. Store the data as is 2. rightclick the code block of you question and choose "inspect element" 3. ? 4. profit! — PeeHaa
– PeeHaa, Commented Sep 28, 2013 at 16:44
But if i use mysql_real_escape and do a line break with 5 white spaces on second line, it will echo just one, or none. How the proper way to echo it back using the white space char code? Or should i save then on db already using the whitespace code? — Renato Probst
– Renato Probst, Commented Sep 28, 2013 at 16:48
Read my comment and not just the 5 first words. The whitespace is there, but the user agent (the browser) just doesn't display it. Also stop using the deprecated mysql_* functions, because they will be removed from the language soon. — PeeHaa
– PeeHaa, Commented Sep 28, 2013 at 16:50
You wont answer a question saying "1 2 3" its done. Please, if you wont want to help, let someway that want and dont do offensive comments. What i wanted is the better approach, the safer, for code blocks. — Renato Probst
– Renato Probst, Commented Sep 28, 2013 at 17:00
1. It isn't an answer, but a comment. 2. It actually answers your question. 3. ? 4. I fail to see how any of my comments where offensive? — PeeHaa
– PeeHaa, Commented Sep 28, 2013 at 17:04

Community · Accepted Answer · 2020-06-20 09:12:55Z

1

Code Blocks

If you're trying to just recreate code blocks like:

function test($param){
    return TRUE;
}

Then you should be using <pre></pre> tags in your html:

<pre>
    function test($param){
        return TRUE;
    }
</pre>

As plain html will only show one space even if multiple spaces/newlines/tabs are present. Inside of pre tags spaces will be shown as is.

At the moment your html will look something like this:

function test($param){
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;return TRUE;
}

Which I would suggest isn't desirable...

Escaping

When you use mysql_real_escape you will convert newlines to plain text \n or \r\n. This means that your code would output something like:

function test($param){\n return TRUE;\n}

OR

<pre>function test($param){\n    return TRUE;\n}</pre>

To get around this you have to replace the \n or \r\n strings to newline characters.

Assuming that you're going to use pre tags:

echo preg_replace('#(\\\r\\\n|\\\n)#', "\n", $escapedString);

If you want to switch to html line breaks instead you'd have to switch "\n" to <br />. If this were the case you'd also want to switch out space characters with   - I suggest using the pre tags.

edited Jun 20, 2020 at 9:12

CommunityBot

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answered Sep 28, 2013 at 17:19

Steven

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1 Comment

Renato Probst Over a year ago

Thanks Steven. I was wondering if i can use mysql_real_escape with the pre tags and you answered that.

AbcAeffchen · Accepted Answer · 2015-01-05 23:15:39Z

1

try this, works excellently

$string = nl2br(str_replace(" ", " &nbsp;", $string));
echo "$string";

edited Jan 5, 2015 at 23:15

AbcAeffchen

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answered Jan 5, 2015 at 22:47

Clinton Agburum

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