Comparison if HTML / PHP string values with spaces

Question

I am having trouble comparing these two strings, I am not exactly sure what is happening, but when the values contain spaces, and the equality should be true, it is returning false, although it works flawlessly for strings without spaces.

I have a sneaky feeling there needs to be some preg for NBSP or something, but I am just utterly lost at what to do... The line I am referring to will have stars on it.

    function getRecords($column,$table){

        $options = "";

            if(isset($_POST['submit'])) {
                $selected = $_POST[$column];
            }       

        $query = "SELECT DISTINCT $column FROM $table ORDER BY $column ASC";
        $result = mysql_query($query);

        if(!$result) {
            $options = "<option>Error Retrieving Records</option>\n";;
        }

        else {
            while($row=mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
                $value = $row[$column];

                $options .= "<";
                    $options .= "option value=";
                        $options .= $value;

corrections here, thanks ridgerunner!

                    $options .= "option value=\""; 
                    $options .= $value."\"";

    //define selected value if it exists        
                    if(isset($selected)) {
***************         if($selected==$value) {
                            $options .= " selected";
                        }
                            $options .= "";
                    }
                $options .= ">";
                $options .= $value;
                $options .= "</option>\n";
            }
        }

        return $options;
    }

Print out the results of selected and value and you will easily be able to see where the discrepancy is. — Explosion Pills
– Explosion Pills, Commented May 1, 2011 at 16:38
Please provide the print_r() details of $value. Additionally, $selected is only defined, if $_POST['submit'] is set. — SteAp
– SteAp, Commented May 1, 2011 at 16:39

ridgerunner · Accepted Answer · 2011-05-01 16:58:40Z

2

You need to enclose the OPTION attribute value in quotation marks. Instead of:

$options .= "option value=";

Use:

$options .= "option value=\"";

And do the same thing with the closing quote. And to be safe, you may also want to convert any double quotes within $value to ".

answered May 1, 2011 at 16:58

ridgerunner

34.6k6 gold badges60 silver badges70 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Comment

RD Ward Over a year ago

Oh my God, you solved it! It looks a bit odd in my code... but it works!$options .= "option value=\""; $options .= $value."\"";

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Comparison if HTML / PHP string values with spaces

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related