php string special characters code example

Example 1: determine special characters in php

<?php

$string = 'foo';

if (preg_match('/[\'^£$%&*()}{@#~?><>,|=_+¬-]/', $string))
{
    // one or more of the 'special characters' found in $string
}

Example 2: html special characters php

$string = "This is testing message "ETC" ";
htmlspecialchars($string, ENT_COMPAT)