Using WordPress ‘esc_xml()’ PHP function

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The esc_xml() WordPress PHP function is used to escape text for XML blocks.

Usage

Let’s say you have a string which needs to be included in an XML structure. The function will help you escape it properly.

$text = "I love <WordPress & PHP!";
$escaped_text = esc_xml($text);
echo $escaped_text;

In this example, the output would be: I love &lt;WordPress &amp; PHP!

Parameters

  • $text (string): The text that you want to escape.

More information

See WordPress Developer Resources: esc_xml()

This function is part of the WordPress core, and it’s used for safe rendering of XML content.

Examples

Escaping a Simple String

In this example, we escape a simple string with some special characters that need to be escaped in XML:

$text = "Hello <world>!";
$escaped_text = esc_xml($text);
echo $escaped_text; // Output: Hello &lt;world&gt;!

Escaping a String with HTML Entities

Here, we’ll escape a string that contains HTML entities:

$text = "3 > 2 and 2 < 3";
$escaped_text = esc_xml($text);
echo $escaped_text; // Output: 3 &gt; 2 and 2 &lt; 3

Escaping a String with Ampersands

This example escapes a string that contains ampersands:

$text = "Fish & Chips";
$escaped_text = esc_xml($text);
echo $escaped_text; // Output: Fish &amp; Chips

Escaping a String with Quotes

We can also escape a string that contains quotes:

$text = '"Hello", said the man.';
$escaped_text = esc_xml($text);
echo $escaped_text; // Output: &quot;Hello&quot;, said the man.

Escaping a Complex String

Finally, we’ll escape a more complex string with a variety of characters that need to be escaped:

$text = '<a href="http://example.com">Link</a> & "Quoted Text"';
$escaped_text = esc_xml($text);
echo $escaped_text; // Output: &lt;a href=&quot;http://example.com&quot;&gt;Link&lt;/a&gt; &amp; &quot;Quoted Text&quot;