A reminder: if you are considering using urldecode() on a $_GET variable, DON'T!
Evil PHP:
<?php
# BAD CODE! DO NOT USE!
$term = urldecode($_GET['sterm']);
?>
Good PHP:
<?php
$term = $_GET['sterm'];
?>
The webserver will arrange for $_GET to have been urldecoded once already by the time it reaches you!
Using urldecode() on $_GET can lead to extreme badness, PARTICULARLY when you are assuming "magic quotes" on GET is protecting you against quoting.
Hint: script.php?sterm=%2527 [...]
PHP "receives" this as %27, which your urldecode() will convert to "'" (the singlequote). This may be CATASTROPHIC when injecting into SQL or some PHP functions relying on escaped quotes -- magic quotes rightly cannot detect this and will not protect you!
This "common error" is one of the underlying causes of the Santy.A worm which affects phpBB < 2.0.11.
caribe at flash-brasil dot com dot br
13-Oct-2003 10:55
To allow urldecode to work with Brazilian characters as � � � and other just place this header command :
header('Content-type: text/html; charset=UTF-8');