how to remove new lines and returns from php string?

Question

A php variable contains the following string:

<p>text</p>
<p>text2</p>
<ul>
<li>item1</li>
<li>item2</li>
</ul>

I want to remove all the new line characters in this string so the string will look like this:

<p>text</p><p>text2><ul><li>item1</li><li>item2</li></ul>

I've tried the following without success:

str_replace('\n', '', $str);
str_replace('\r', '', $str);
str_replace('\r\n\', '', $str);

Anyone knows how to fix this?

You might find [`s($str)->normalizeLineEndings('')`](https://github.com/delight-im/PHP-Str/blob/8fd0c608d5496d43adaa899642c1cce047e076dc/src/Str.php#L540) helpful, as found in [this standalone library](https://github.com/delight-im/PHP-Str). It removes all types of newlines, including Unicode chars. — caw, Jul 27 '16 at 00:53

codaddict · Accepted Answer · 2010-10-21T10:19:36.880

110

You need to place the \n in double quotes.
Inside single quotes it is treated as 2 characters '\' followed by 'n'

You need:

$str = str_replace("\n", '', $str);

A better alternative is to use PHP_EOL as:

$str = str_replace(PHP_EOL, '', $str);

edited Oct 21 '10 at 10:19

answered Oct 21 '10 at 10:08

codaddict

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PHP_EOL indeed doesn't work. PHP won't find them correctly in str_replace. I have to do this for correct html display: replace \r\n with
(this is for CRLF under Windows), then replace \n with
(this is for LF under Linux), lastly, replace \r with empty string (this shouldn't mean anything) – Scott Chu Jul 09 '15 at 09:39
Yes to double quotes. No to PHP_EOL as explained above. – Paolo Feb 01 '17 at 07:19
8

Indeed, `PHP_EOL` does not work. Should be `["\r\n", "\r", "\n"]` instead. – Matt K Feb 01 '17 at 22:14
I wasted lot of time trying to debug my code because of this issue. Thanks! – Bhargav Nanekalva Feb 23 '17 at 10:05
2

Do you really need the `"\r\n"` in `["\r\n", "\r", "\n"]`? It's already going to globally remove `\r` and \n` everywhere, right? – James M. Lay Dec 10 '17 at 00:28
1

FWIW, in PHP 7 I was able to use `$str = str_replace(PHP_EOL, '', $str);` and it successfully worked. – JustCarty Dec 11 '17 at 11:12
4

@JustCarty That might have worked in your specific case, but it assumes that the value of `$str` was created on the same platform as the system running the script. If you mix windows and unix, you'll have a bad day. – musicin3d Mar 16 '18 at 21:59
@musicin3d I know this is old, but I guess I just want to know why everyone is trashing his answer for using a php constant when the only reference we have is A php environment. I get that "\r\n" will cover more cases, but you're all on your high horse without considering "\025" for IBM... I still think PHP_EOL is the best answer in this context because the supposed need for "\r\n" is based on an assumption. I'm guessing that's why codaddict has ~100x or more the reputation of everyone else in these comments. But I'm a noob myself... maybe he's changed his mind after 8 years? Hope he weighs in – TCooper Oct 16 '18 at 22:49
@TCooper As with all things, it really depends on what assumptions you can actually make. Where will the app run, and where will the input (eg. file, database, etc) come from? If it will only ever run on one architecture and you know which one, you could get away with using the native return character. If the app will run on one arch and the same arch created/creates the input, you should use PHP_EOL. If, however, you can't guarantee where it will be run or which arch created the input you'd better be prepared to handle return characters not natively supported on all possible architectures. – musicin3d Oct 17 '18 at 23:00
@TCooper For example, what if you use linux, your teammate uses mac, and your tester uses windows? What happens when you copy one person's database to another? What happens if you move your app which was written in a "cross-platform" language to another platform? – musicin3d Oct 17 '18 at 23:04

score 21 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

21

You have to wrap \n or \r in "", not ''. When using single quotes escape sequences will not be interpreted (except \' and \\).

The manual states:

If the string is enclosed in double-quotes ("), PHP will interpret more escape sequences for special characters:

\n linefeed (LF or 0x0A (10) in ASCII)

\r carriage return (CR or 0x0D (13) in ASCII)\

(...)

edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Community

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answered Oct 21 '10 at 10:09

kapa

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This is important. I used to use single quote `'` and the text always be replaced with `"\n"`(type of string). If you're confusing with this, keep that in mind.... – Benyi May 04 '17 at 17:53

score 13 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 11 '15 at 12:27

13

Something a bit more functional (easy to use anywhere):

function replace_carriage_return($replace, $string)
{
    return str_replace(array("\n\r", "\n", "\r"), $replace, $string);
}

Using PHP_EOL as the search replacement parameter is also a good idea! Kudos.

answered Aug 11 '15 at 12:27

tfont

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Borrowed for http://stackoverflow.com/questions/33850820/parse-txt-files-and-turn-them-into-static-html-files/33851340#33851340 Thanks! +1 – Steve Nov 22 '15 at 16:04

score 7 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 03 '15 at 08:40

7

To remove new lines from string, follow the below code

$newstring = preg_replace("/[\n\r]/","",$subject);

answered Jun 03 '15 at 08:40

saravanavelu

494
6
13

works really nice in laravel for removing newline from product description. – calin24 May 15 '18 at 11:21

score 6 · Answer 5 · edited Jan 28 '15 at 15:43

6

This should be like

str_replace("\n", '', $str);
str_replace("\r", '', $str);
str_replace("\r\n", '', $str);

edited Jan 28 '15 at 15:43

JRulle

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answered Oct 21 '10 at 10:11

Asif Mulla

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score 3 · Answer 6 · answered Nov 20 '19 at 09:44

3

you can pass an array of strings to str_replace, so you can do all in a single statement:

$content = str_replace(["\r\n", "\n", "\r"], "", $content);

answered Nov 20 '19 at 09:44

rvandoni

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score 2 · Answer 7 · answered Jun 27 '16 at 18:12

2

Correct output:

'{"data":[{"id":"1","reason":"hello\\nworld"},{"id":"2","reason":"it\\nworks"}]}'

function json_entities( $data = null )
{           
    //stripslashes
    return str_replace( '\n',"\\"."\\n",
        htmlentities(
            utf8_encode( json_encode( $data)  ) , 
            ENT_QUOTES | ENT_IGNORE, 'UTF-8' 
        )
    );
}

answered Jun 27 '16 at 18:12

Jonathan

41
7

This isn't even remotely an answer to this question. In fact, the **only** thing that the question and the answer have in common is the newline character '\n' literal and the use of `str_replace`, although for entirely different purposes. – Michael Gaskill Jun 28 '16 at 01:50
You have reason, works for me because i use TextArea and sometimes need new line and this data send by angular ng-init – Jonathan Jul 07 '16 at 18:07

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered May 05 '15 at 20:59

1

$no_newlines = str_replace("\r", '', str_replace("\n", '', $str_with_newlines));

answered May 05 '15 at 20:59

Collin Anderson

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score 0 · Answer 9 · edited Mar 17 '17 at 12:14

0

Replace a string :

$str = str_replace("\n", '', $str);

u using also like, (%n, %t, All Special characters, numbers, char,. etc)

which means any thing u can replace in a string.

edited Mar 17 '17 at 12:14

Jeru Luke

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answered Mar 17 '17 at 11:50

Alagu Sundar

11

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Jun 01 '20 at 17:12

0

$str = "Hello World!\n\n";
echo chop($str);

output : Hello World!

answered Jun 01 '20 at 17:12

DILSHAD AHMAD

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This will only remove it from begging and the end of the string, not from the middle. – Dharman Jun 01 '20 at 20:49
Please add some explanation to your answer such that others can learn from it – Nico Haase Jun 02 '20 at 06:23

how to remove new lines and returns from php string?

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