Hello there,
I have a small problem with a select query.  I have a table with product names that contain ampersands.  To comply with W3C I have entered these all into the table as '&'. This works perfectly except for one thing; if I do a Select query "WHERE prod_name like '%".$_REQUEST['q']."%' and the q variable is an "a", obviousy the query picks up on the a in "&" which in turn causes all sorts of javascript errors because of the semicolon.  Is there a way of saying Select where prod_name like something but only if the something is not in an html character??  
Sorry if this is unnecessarily complicated...
Thanks

Paul

Paul, I would suggest that you store the data in its real form in the MySQL database and translate it as necessary before you display it on the screen.  From a computing viewpoint your data is arteficial and unclean if you store it coded in the database, and it gives rise to problems like the one you describe; go the way I've suggested and your search and javascript issues are automatically resolved.

Very true, I didnt event think of translating it before display!!! So simple, sometimes you cant see the wood for the trees, as they say.

Thanks Graham

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