graphxdiva
asked on
Need some help with line breaks in MySQL database.
I created a simple IT helpdesk for my companies Intranet page. My question is how can I send the text field to the MySQL database and preserve the line breaks? For example..
If I put some text
in my text box, it
looks like this by hitting
the enter key.
When I display the text field on the records page it all comes out as one paragraph. If I put <br /> in the text box at each line break then its correct but I dont want my computer illiterate coworks to have to remember to do that for each line break. Can anyone help? I am using Dreamweaver CS3 to generate the code if that matters to anyone.
Thanks for any help!
If I put some text
in my text box, it
looks like this by hitting
the enter key.
When I display the text field on the records page it all comes out as one paragraph. If I put <br /> in the text box at each line break then its correct but I dont want my computer illiterate coworks to have to remember to do that for each line break. Can anyone help? I am using Dreamweaver CS3 to generate the code if that matters to anyone.
Thanks for any help!
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> If I put <br /> in the text box
You've got a `nl2br()` function for PHP which does that for you. You can also take look at `addslashes()` and `stripslashes()` functions.
You've got a `nl2br()` function for PHP which does that for you. You can also take look at `addslashes()` and `stripslashes()` functions.
ASKER
Great nl2br worked. One last question.. If the person hits enter/return twice to leave an empty line, the form strips the empty line prior to putting it into the DB, how can I stop that so the empty line remains?
hmm it shouldn't do. it should be stored into the database ok, as it shouldn't strip the empty line (it should preserve it).
ASKER
No if I create a new or edit an existing record.. in my text field enter
some
text
it displays
some
text
some
text
it displays
some
text
i did a quick test, and it preserves this, but i was using the TEXT field type for my database field. Is this what you are using?
ASKER
You mean text as your datatype in the table? I was at medium text, switched to text and same thing.
ASKER
Well I created a new db to test it on again and it worked as you said.. Not sure why it didnt on the other but oh well. Thanks for your help!
weird thing! no problems glad to help :)
I have the same problem in my database. The fields are also type text. After using nl2br, I get both newlines and <br /> entries in the database and this causes the html code to break when drawn from the database table. I found that the extra newlines, on new data entry, went away when using type char or varchar as the database field type.
Essentially when the "enter" key is pressed, a newline is inserted and represented by \n.
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