Inserting into database text that has parens

[Gexus]

Im trying to insert a string into a database that contains ( ) in the text, this seems to be breaking the query.... does anyone know how to do this?

Thanks!

[Dan Grossman]

Since all text type fields have to be surrounded by quotes in your query anyway, parentheses inside the string has no effect. If you're running into a problem because your input has parentheses in it, you're doing something else very wrong.

This would run just fine:

$name = "Dan";
$favoriteColor = "Blue (or cyan)";
mysql_query("INSERT INTO table (name, favoriteColor) VALUES ('$name', '$favoriteColor')", $connection); 

Other characters might give you problems if you don't handle them somewhere, like quotes. You should pass your input through mysql_real_escape_string() before using it in a query at the least.

[Gexus]

Hi Dan, I'm trying to use the mysql_real_excape_string but I always receive an error "Called to undified function"... isnt this a built in function?

[Dan Grossman]

You may have a very old copy of PHP on your server. That function is listed in the manual as 4.3.0+ or 5.0+.

[molder101]

Hi Dan, I'm trying to use the mysql_real_excape_string but I always receive an error "Called to undified function"... isnt this a built in function?

I take it the above is supposed to be mysql_real_escape_string? (no "x")... it was implemented in 4.3.0. So anything <= and you are good to go!