(PHP 4 >= 4.3.0, PHP 5)
mysql_real_escape_string — Escapes special characters in a string for use in an SQL statement
Suggested alternatives
Use of this extension is discouraged. Instead, the MySQLi or PDO_MySQL extension should be used. See also MySQL: choosing an API guide and related FAQ for more information. Alternatives to this function include:
$unescaped_string
[, resource $link_identifier = NULL
] )
Escapes special characters in the unescaped_string,
taking into account the current character set of the connection so that it
is safe to place it in a mysql_query(). If binary data
is to be inserted, this function must be used.
mysql_real_escape_string() calls MySQL's library function mysql_real_escape_string, which prepends backslashes to the following characters: \x00, \n, \r, \, ', " and \x1a.
This function must always (with few exceptions) be used to make data safe before sending a query to MySQL.
The character set must be set either at the server level, or with the API function mysql_set_charset() for it to affect mysql_real_escape_string(). See the concepts section on character sets for more information.
unescaped_string
The string that is to be escaped.
link_identifierThe MySQL connection. If the
link identifier is not specified, the last link opened by
mysql_connect() is assumed. If no such link is found, it
will try to create one as if mysql_connect() was called
with no arguments. If no connection is found or established, an
E_WARNING level error is generated.
Returns the escaped string, or FALSE on error.
Example #1 Simple mysql_real_escape_string() example
<?php
// Connect
$link = mysql_connect('mysql_host', 'mysql_user', 'mysql_password')
OR die(mysql_error());
// Query
$query = sprintf("SELECT * FROM users WHERE user='%s' AND password='%s'",
mysql_real_escape_string($user),
mysql_real_escape_string($password));
?>
Example #2 An example SQL Injection Attack
<?php
// We didn't check $_POST['password'], it could be anything the user wanted! For example:
$_POST['username'] = 'aidan';
$_POST['password'] = "' OR ''='";
// Query database to check if there are any matching users
$query = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE user='{$_POST['username']}' AND password='{$_POST['password']}'";
mysql_query($query);
// This means the query sent to MySQL would be:
echo $query;
?>
The query sent to MySQL:
SELECT * FROM users WHERE user='aidan' AND password='' OR ''=''
This would allow anyone to log in without a valid password.
Note:
A MySQL connection is required before using mysql_real_escape_string() otherwise an error of level
E_WARNINGis generated, andFALSEis returned. Iflink_identifierisn't defined, the last MySQL connection is used.
Note:
If magic_quotes_gpc is enabled, first apply stripslashes() to the data. Using this function on data which has already been escaped will escape the data twice.
Note:
If this function is not used to escape data, the query is vulnerable to SQL Injection Attacks.
Note: mysql_real_escape_string() does not escape % and _. These are wildcards in MySQL if combined with LIKE, GRANT, or REVOKE.