Avoiding the conversion of HTML entities in http_build_query in php

Question

Prevent conversion of HTML entities.

Please look at the code below:

$array = array(
  "id" => 123456,
  "currency" => "EUR",
);

var_dump(http_build_query($array));

//OUTPUT:
string 'id=123456&currency=EUR' (length=22)

Ok that works. But some servers give me this output:

string(25) "pspid=123456¤cy=EUR"

So, some servers treat &curren as an HTML entity. But I don't want that.

How can I avoid the unwanted conversion of HTML Entities?

This is just output. If you pass this url to server - everything will be okay — u_mulder, May 23 '17 at 09:03
What php version are you using? There are a few differences on how http_build_query works in different php versions — lloiacono, May 23 '17 at 09:05
@u_mulder Yes, but why is `&curren` converted to Entities and on other servers it is not converted? — Julian, May 23 '17 at 09:06

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered May 23 '17 at 09:18

The solution is simple. Just use htmlentities on the output.

ini_set("display_errors", 1);
$array = array(
  "id" => 123456,
  "currency" => "EUR",
);
print_r(http_build_query($array));
echo PHP_EOL;
print_r(htmlentities(http_build_query($array)));

//OUTPUT:
id=123456&currency=EUR
id=123456&amp;currency=EUR

Link: https://eval.in/803318

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered May 23 '17 at 09:28

Check your php version since:

PHP 5.3.1 (Buggy Behavior) http_build_query DOES escape the '&' ampersand character that joins the parameters. Example: user_id=1&setting_id=2.

PHP 5.4+ http_build_query DOES NOT escape the '&' ampersand character that joins the parameters. Example: user_id=1&setting_id=2

For more details check here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/42317655/1016425

Avoiding the conversion of HTML entities in http_build_query in php

2 Answers2