PHP String quotemeta() Function

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The PHP String quotemeta() function is a built-in function. It accepts a string as input and returns a string with backslashes appended before specified predefined characters in the string.

The standard characters are −

• (.) Period

• (\) Backslash

• (+) Plus symbol

• (*) Asterisk

• (?) Question mark

• ([]) brackets

• (^) Caret

• ($) Dollar sign

• (()) Parenthesis

Syntax

Below is the syntax of the PHP String quotemeta() function −

string quotemeta ( string $string )

Parameters

This function accepts $string parameter which is an input string.

Return Value

The quotemeta() function returns the string with meta characters on success or FALSE on failure.

PHP Version

First introduced in core PHP 4, the quotemeta() function continues to function easily in PHP 5, PHP 7, and PHP 8.

Example 1

First we will show you the basic example of the PHP String quotemeta() function to return a string with backslashes appended before given characters.

<?php
   var_dump(quotemeta('PHP is a very famous scripting language. It is Fast, flexible, and pragmatic.'));
?>

Output

Here is the outcome of the following code −

string(79) "PHP is a very famous scripting language\. It is Fast, flexible, and pragmatic\."

Example 2

Now the below code prints the string by adding backslashes in front of the predefined characters '$' and '?' after applying the quotemeta() function.

<?php
   $str = "Tutorials$ point?"; 
    
   echo(quotemeta($str)); 
?> 

Output

This will create the below output −

Tutorials\$ point\?

Example 3

Here is the PHP program to show the working of quotemeta() function to print the string by adding backslashes in front of the '*', '.' and '+'.

<?php
   $str = "+The* Tutorials point."; 
   
   echo(quotemeta($str)); 
?> 

Output

Following is the output of the above code −

\+The\* Tutorials point\.

Example 4

In the below PHP code we will use the quotemeta() function and add backslashes in front of many predefined characters.

<?php
   $str1 = "2 + 3 = 2";
   echo ($str1."\n");
   $str2 = "2 * 3 = 1";
   echo ($str2."\n");
   $str3 = "Could you give me 5 rupees?";
   echo ($str3."\n");
   $str4 = "Are you okay? (I am..)";
   echo ($str4."\n");
   $str5 = "The caret [ ^ ] Looks like a hat!";
   echo ($str5);
?> 

Output

This will generate the below output −

2 \+ 3 = 2
2 \* 3 = 1
Could you give me 5 rupees\?
Are you okay\? \(I am\.\.\)
The caret \[ \^ \] Looks like a hat!