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phpjqueryhtmlspecialchars

Using htmlspecialchars() with a textbox

I have a textbox with user input on page 1. Its content is stored in a Session variable on page 2. Now, I want to add a "Back" button on page 2. Do I have to use htmlspecialchars() before inserting the Session variable back in the textbox? If yes, what do I have to do with " or ' inputs? I guess html_entity_decode(htmlspecialchars($text)) does not make sense, does it?

Thanks a lot for your help!

EDIT:

Back on page 1 I use jQuery to fill in the textbox. Currently I use

var usertext = <?php echo htmlspecialchars($_SESSION['text'], ENT_QUOTES); ?>;
$('#textbox').val(usertext);

By doing this I unfortunately don't get the exact User input back (if characters like " or ' are inserted by the user).

Solution

  • Do I have to use htmlspecialchars() before inserting the Session variable back in the textbox?

    If you want to insert into a textbox with jQuery, you need to store the value within the page somewhere. e.g. 

    <body data-text-value="<?php echo htmlspecialchars($_SESSION['text']) ?>">

    Then to insert it into your text box using jQuery:

    $('#textbox').val($('body').data('text-value'));