MySQL: escape special characters

This article  shows all the special characters with the escape strings:
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/string-literals.html

So how do I apply that to a basic SELECT query?  The below query doesnt work

SELECT id, mysql_real_escape_string(company), mysql_real_escape_string(contact) FROM crm;

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This article shows how to use regular expressions in MySQL which combined with the escape strings should do what you need.
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/regexp.html

You only escape the values you are passing to mysql

"select * from table where column='" . mysql_real_escape_string($the_value) . "'";

"insert into table (column1, column2) values ('".mysql_real_escape_string($the_value1)."','".mysql_real_escape_string($the_value2)."')";

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Though the old mysql library is now deprecated and you should be using MySQLi or PDO

You shouldn't need escape strings in a select statement, only on INSERTS or UPDATES.

INSERT INTO crm (id, company, contact)
VALUES (mysql_real_escape_string($val1), mysql_real_escape_string($val2), mysql_real_escape_string($val3))

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Assuming you wanted to use REGEX:

INSERT INTO crm (id, company, contact)
VALUES ('$val1' REGEX 'expresion1', '$val2' REGEX 'expression2', '$val3' REGEX 'expression3')

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A little background on what I am doing;

I have an ODBC connection that imports data from Lotus Notes.  The table doesnt have an auto_id etc... and is packed with carriage returns and single/double quotes.

I can do a simple INSERT INTO to get the auto id, but I'd like to remove carriage returns and escape any other special characters.

When I tried  mysql_real_escape_string() it returns the following error.  Function does not exist.

This is a scheduled task being run on the MySQL server (not via a PHP script)

mysql_real_escape_string() is a PHP function,not a MySQL function

So how exactly are you getting the data and inserting it - you must be using some language.

It's native mySQL script run via SQLyog on a scheduled task.

Thanks, I thought there would be something built into MySQl.  I've done it via a PHP script.