How to use nl2br to remove \n and add breaks

Question

I'm having some trouble getting nl2br to do what I want.

Can someone explain why nl2br doesn't change the \n in the JSON data to < br /> in my PHP?

Here is the code:

$page = file_get_contents('JSON_FEED_URL');
$page2 = nl2br($page);

When I echo $page2 and view the HTML page it comes out as a big wall of text.

It would be useful to see what the data looks like. Does the data actually have new lines in it, or does it have the literal characters "\" "n"? — Trenton Trama, Jun 21 '13 at 15:48
An example from the feed is "FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY.\n\nMORE RAIN IS" — Question Asker, Jun 21 '13 at 15:51
Id seems your `\n`s are just normal chars in the string, and not a "real" line break. — Matsemann, Jun 21 '13 at 16:27

Adam · Answer 1 · 2013-06-21T16:03:32.063

3

Try

$page = file_get_contents('JSON_FEED_URL');
$page2 = preg_replace("/\\n/m", "<br />", $page);

As said, str_replace would also work a tad faster, but the above counts of multiline breaks.

edited Jun 21 '13 at 16:03

answered Jun 21 '13 at 15:55

Adam

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A `str_replace` would do just fine. No need to bring out the big guns. – adamdunson Jun 21 '13 at 15:59
But he wants to know specifically about the nl2br method anyway. – Dany Caissy Jun 21 '13 at 16:00
Yes, str_replace works but I just want to understand what nl2br doesnt why it doesn't work in this case? Thanks! – Question Asker Jun 21 '13 at 16:02
Because json probably uses \r\n but I though nl2br counted thoses? – Adam Jun 21 '13 at 16:02
If I echo the $page variable I can see the '\n's and if I echo the $page2 variable after nl2br it's the same with the '\n's still in it. – Question Asker Jun 21 '13 at 16:05

Kelly Copley · Answer 2 · 2013-06-21T17:08:32.027

3

nl2br does not replace the new lines, only ads the <br> tags. In HTML there is no need to remove the new line characters as they are considered to be white space which is collapsed to a single space for display. This fact is the very reason for having the <br> tag.

edited Jun 21 '13 at 17:08

answered Jun 21 '13 at 16:30

Kelly Copley

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score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 21 '13 at 16:35

Since you say that you can see the \ns when echoing (instead of a newline in the source), this probably means that your \ns are literal, and not "proper" newlines. This is because your JSON is read as a string. Fix this by calling json_decode();

$page2 = nl2br(json_decode($page));

Explanation:
The string

line1
line2

is in JSON saved as

"line1\nline2"

but that \n is not a real newline, just normal characters. By decoding the JSON, it will be correct.

kevinandrada · Answer 4 · 2013-06-22T03:40:36.253

0

nl2br did not interpret \n to <br /> in HTML because they were literal slashes followed by n.

On your source, the text looks like the following:

 FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY.\n\nMORE RAIN IS

Should be something similar to the ff so that it'll be interpreted:

 FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY.

 MORE RAIN IS

You can address your problem by using str_replace() or if you can update your code when putting content on "JSON_FEED_URL", add nl2br before putting those content.

edited Jun 22 '13 at 03:40

answered Jun 21 '13 at 16:20

kevinandrada

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I don't get why this got downvoted. Care to explain whoever downvoted it? – kevinandrada Jun 21 '13 at 16:47
1

Probably because it's "wrong". nl2br will create
tags for each `\n`, which the browser should interpret as a newline. – Matsemann Jun 21 '13 at 18:54
Whoops, apologies for that. You're right! Will update my answer. – kevinandrada Jun 22 '13 at 03:16

How to use nl2br to remove \n and add breaks

4 Answers4