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PHP get_html_translation_table() Function Explained: Usage and Example Tutorial

gitbox 2025-06-13

Overview of PHP get_html_translation_table() Function

The get_html_translation_table()

2. Parameter Explanation

The function has three parameters:

Parameter Description
$table Required. Specifies which HTML translation table to use. Set it to HTML_ENTITIES to convert special characters to HTML entities.
$flags Optional. Specifies how HTML should be escaped. Common values include:
  • ENT_COMPAT - Default. Converts only double quotes.
  • ENT_QUOTES - Converts both double and single quotes.
  • ENT_NOQUOTES - Does not convert any quotes.
  • ENT_HTML401 - Converts to HTML 4.01 compatible entities.
  • ENT_XML1 - Suitable for XML.
  • ENT_XHTML - Suitable for XHTML.
  • ENT_HTML5 - Suitable for HTML5.
$encoding Optional. Specifies the encoding format, with the default being UTF-8.

3. Usage Example

Here is a simple example that demonstrates how to use get_html_translation_table() to retrieve an HTML translation table:

// Get HTML translation table
$trans = get_html_translation_table(HTML_ENTITIES);

// Output the translation table
var_dump($trans);

Output:

array(252) {
  ["&"] => string(6) "&"
  ["<"] => string(4) "<"
  [">"] => string(4) ">"
  ...
}

4. Summary

The get_html_translation_table() function in PHP is a very useful tool for escaping HTML. It can convert special characters to HTML character entities. This function is commonly used to prevent HTML injection and XSS attacks. In real-world projects, it can be combined with the htmlspecialchars() function to enhance HTML escaping functionality.