Save HTML form drop down option value attribute as HTML instead of special character (& instead of &)

Question

I have a input form which has a select field. In the options you have a value attribute which I have a special character included. This is the code:

<option id="Applicant_Industry" value="Engineering &amp; Manufacturing | Food &amp; Snacks">Food &amp; Snacks</option>

When is stores to the database using PHP and mySQLi it saves it as its special character of &.

I was wondering if there is a way to allow PHP to save the HTML value instead of the special character? (eg & amp;)

I hope that makes sense!

Thanks!

Answer 1

You can't/shouldn't really, I suggest using the php function htmlspecialchars_decode()

Like this you can store the HTML in a safer way and decode it when echoing the data wherever you need it, and if you really have to save it use the function before inserting it. Hope this helps