nl2br() causing problems

[Kezzer]

<?
if($HTTP_POST_VARS['submit']) {
    if($HTTP_POST_VARS['password'] == 'pass') {
        if(!$HTTP_POST_VARS['name']) {
            echo "You must enter a name";
            exit;
        }
        if(!$HTTP_POST_VARS['news']) {
            echo "You must enter some news";
            exit;
        }
        if(strstr($HTTP_POST_VARS['name'],"|")) {
            echo "Name cannot contain the pipe symbol - |";
            exit;
        }
        if(strstr($HTTP_POST_VARS['news'],"|")) {
            echo "News cannot contain the pipe symbol - |";
            exit;
        }
        $fp = fopen('includes/news.txt','a');
        if(!$fp) {
            echo "Error opening file!";
            exit;
        }
        $line = date("j F Y - h:i A") . "|" . $HTTP_POST_VARS['name'] . "|" . $HTTP_POST_VARS['news'] . "|" . $HTTP_POST_VARS['title'];
        $line = str_replace("\r\n","<BR>",$line);
        $line .= "\r\n";
        fwrite($fp, $line);
        if(!fclose($fp)) {
            echo "Error closing file!";
            exit;
        }        
    } else {
        echo "Bad Password";
    }
}

?>

This is a simple script that i went through for someones website so they can submit news without the use of a database. It all works fine apart from the fact that everytime a comma occurs a backslash is added. I believe this is down to the str_replace function and as soon as i saw it i wanted to replace it with nl2br() but the problem is, when i do replace it with the nl2br() function is screws up the layout of the news completely.

Any ideas?

[Iain]

1) use $_POST not $HTTP_POST_VARS, it's easier to type
2) the nl2br function will probably mess up the content because you;ve tried formatting it before it went in the database. nl2br() is used to take the text entered into a textarea field and redisplay it with the line breaks the user entered in the first place. In your instance you don't need nl2br as you're using text files
3) why do you have the pipe check twice ?

[Kezzer]

1) ok using that global now
2) so i put nl2br() around the textarea?
3) It checks the news and the name so it's doing two different checks

[Iain]

no, you shouldn't use nl2br in your case. Which field is getting the \ added to it ?

[Kezzer]

The news field.

<?php
$data = file('includes/news.txt');
$data = array_reverse($data);
foreach($data as $element) {
    $element = trim($element);
    $pieces = explode("|", $element);
    echo '<div id="head">' . $pieces[3] . '</div><div id="date">Posted by ' . $pieces[1] . ' on ' . $pieces[0] . '</div><br />' . $pieces[2] . '<br /><br />';
}
?>

That's the output, it's pretty basic yet i still can't understand why the backslash is being added :X

[Kezzer]

So anyone have any idea why it's inserting a backslash everytime a comma occurs? I know it's an insertion operator but it shouldn't be doing it

[Iain]

as I said in IRC, turn off magic_quotes_gpc in your php.ini file, restart your web server and see if that helps. Alternatively try the stripslashes() command

[Kezzer]

Right stripslashes() worked just fine. I don't have access to the .ini file and i wouldn't be able to restart the server so that was the only option. cheers.

To save me making another thread i have a problem with a script exactly the same just doing a different job.

<?
if($_POST['submit']) {
    if($_POST['password'] == 'pword') {
        if(!$_POST['date']) {
            echo "You must enter a name";
            exit;
        }
        if(!$_POST['place']) {
            echo "You must enter some news";
            exit;
    if(!$_POST['bands']) {
        echo "You must enter a band";
        exit;
    if(!$_POST['ageprice']) {
        echo "You must enter an age or price";
        exit;
        }
        if(strstr($_POST['date'],"|")) {
            echo "Name cannot contain the pipe symbol - |";
            exit;
        }
        if(strstr($_POST['place'],"|")) {
            echo "News cannot contain the pipe symbol - |";
            exit;
        }
        $fp = fopen('includes/shows.txt','a');
        if(!$fp) {
            echo "Error opening file!";
            exit;
        }
        $line = $_POST['date'] . "|" . $_POST['place'] . "|" . $_POST['bands'] . "|" . $_POST['ageprice'];
    $line = str_replace("\r\n","<br />",$line);
        $line .= "\r\n";
        fwrite($fp, $line);
        if(!fclose($fp)) {
            echo "Error closing file!";
            exit;
        }        
    } else {
        echo "Bad Password";
    }
}

?>

<form action="<?=$PHP_SELF?>" method="POST" name="addshows">

date:<br />
<input type="text" SIZE="30" name="date"><br /><br />

place:<br />
<input type="text" size="30" name="place"><br /><br />

bands:<br />
<input type="text" size="30" name="bands"><br /><br />

ageprice:<br />
<input type="text" size="30" name="ageprice"><br /><br />

Password:<br />
<input type="password" size="30" name="password"><br /><br />

<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Post it!"><br />
</form>

I get an error on line 64 which is the very last line where it tells me "Parse error: parse error, unexpected $end" I can't seem to figure it out at all.

Any suggestions?

[Iain]

You've left two ifs unclosed

 if(!$_POST['place']) {
            echo "You must enter some news";
            exit;
    if(!$_POST['bands']) {
        echo "You must enter a band";
        exit; 

should be

 if(!$_POST['place']) {
            echo "You must enter some news";
            exit; }
  if(!$_POST['bands']) {
        echo "You must enter a band";
        exit; } 

[Kezzer]

doh, and i was checking for ages as well. ta az