PHP mb_encode_numericentity() Function

The mb_encode_numercentity() function is an inbuilt function in PHP that is used to encode HTML entities with numerical values encoded using either decimal or hexadecimal representation.

Syntax:

string mb_encode_numericentity( 
    string $string, 
    array $map, 
    string $encoding,
    bool $hex 
)

Parameters: This function accepts four parameters that are described below.

• $string: The input string to encode.
• $map: An array that sets the range of Unicode characters to encode. The array is of the form array (start, end, offset, mask).
• $encoding: The character encoding of the input and output strings.
• $hex: An array that sets the range of Unicode characters to encode. The array is of the form array (start, end, offset, mask).

Return Values: The mb_encode_numericentity() function returns the encoded string, or “false” if an error occurs.

Examples of PHP mb_encode_numericentity() Function

Example 1: The following program demonstrates the mb_decode_numercentity() function.

PHP

<?php

$text = "I ♥ PHP!";

// Encode special characters as HTML entities
$encodedText = mb_encode_numericentity($text,
    [0x80, 0xffff, 0, 0xffff], 'UTF-8');

echo $encodedText;

?>

Output

I ♥ PHP!

Example 2: The following program demonstrates the mb_decode_numercentity() function.

PHP

<?php

$text = "Hello, <b>World</b>";

// Array of tags to check for
$tagsToEncode = ['<b>', '<strong>', '<i>', '<em>'];

// Encode special characters as HTML entities
// if the string contains any specified tags
foreach ($tagsToEncode as $tag) {
    if (strpos($text, $tag) !== false) {
        $encodedText = mb_encode_numericentity( $text,
            [0x80, 0xffff, 0, 0xffff], 'UTF-8');
        break;
    } else {
        $encodedText = $text;
    }
}

echo $encodedText;

?>

Output

Hello, <b>World</b>

Example 3: The following program demonstrates the mb_decode_numercentity() function.

PHP

<?php
$userContent = "<p>This is a <strong>test</strong> article with some &nbsp; entities.</p>";

// Function to decode HTML entities
function decodeUserContent($content) {
    return mb_decode_numericentity($content, array(0x0, 0x10FFFF, 0, 'UTF-8'));
}

// Display the user-submitted content safely
echo decodeUserContent($userContent);
?>

Output

<p>This is a <strong>test</strong> article with some &nbsp; entities.</p>                                                                                                           

Reference: https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.mb-encode-numericentity.php