Is there any way to echo '×tamp' in php?

Question

Code:

function getShopInfo()
    {
        $url = $this->env['url'] . "shop/get?partner_id=" . $this->partner_id . "&shopid=" . $this->shop_id . "&timestamp=" . $this->getTimestamp();
        echo $url;
    }

Result:

https://url.com/api/v2/shop/get?partner_id=99999&shopid=123456×tamp=1613629442

Why the output for &timestamp is printed as ×tamp?

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 18 '21 at 06:34

2

& has special meaning in HTML, it's used to start an entity specification.

Use the htmlspecialchars() function to encode all the special characters so you can see them literally.

echo htmlspecialchars($url);

answered Feb 18 '21 at 06:34

Barmar

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Is this a unique question, Barmar? – mickmackusa Feb 18 '21 at 07:11
I tried to find a duplicate. I found questions about `<` and `>`, but not a good one about `&`. – Barmar Feb 18 '21 at 07:11

steven7mwesigwa · Answer 2 · 2021-02-18T07:14:48.293

1

Better yet, you should be using http_build_query() to build URL-encoded query strings. i.e:

function getShopInfo()
{
    $data = [
        "partner_id" => $this->partner_id,
        "shopid" => $this->shop_id,
        "timestamp" => $this->getTimestamp()
    ];

    $url =  $this->env['url'] . "shop/get?". http_build_query($data);
    echo $url;
}

edited Feb 18 '21 at 07:14

answered Feb 18 '21 at 06:52

steven7mwesigwa

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That won't work if you try to use the URL with `file_get_contents()` as in the commented-out part of the code. – Barmar Feb 18 '21 at 07:12
@Barmar I've fixed it. Thanks for pointing it out. – steven7mwesigwa Feb 18 '21 at 07:15
1

This is my preferred technique because it is reliable, readable, and uses native php functions for exactly their designated purpose. – mickmackusa Feb 18 '21 at 07:17

Is there any way to echo '×tamp' in php?

2 Answers2

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