CODEWITHSUNDEEP
phpiconv
Ben
Ben

Reputation: 62384

iconv - Detected an illegal character in input string

I don't see anything illegal - any suggestions on what might be the problem?

    if (strtolower($matches[1]) != 'utf-8') {
        var_dump($matches[1]);
        $xml = iconv($matches[1], 'utf-8', $xml);
        $xml = str_replace('encoding="'.$matches[1].'"', 'encoding="utf-8"', $xml);
    }

Below is my debug/error

string(12) "windows-1252"
Notice (8): iconv() [http://php.net/function.iconv]: Detected an illegal character in input string [APP/models/sob_form.php, line 16]

I've verified that the above code is indeed line 16

Upvotes: 47

Views: 144168

Answers (7)

Franck Theeten
Franck Theeten

Reputation: 140

I had the same error with files with "é" characters in ASCII format generated by Notepad++

$row_tmp[$index]=iconv("ASCII", "UTF-8//TRANSLIT",$value);

Using

$row_tmp[$index]=iconv("ISO-8859-1", "UTF-8//TRANSLIT",$value);

...seems to solve it (using a Windows computer with Belgian locale). iconv apparently needs the exact code of the ASCII extension for the source encoding. mb_detect_encoding returns "ASCII" for the same file, so be careful if the source encoding parameter comes from a variable...

Upvotes: 1

Abdifatah Ciilka
Abdifatah Ciilka

Reputation: 11

this bellow solution worked for me

$result_encr="##Sƒ";

iconv("cp1252", "utf-8//IGNORE", $result_encr);

Upvotes: 1

atmacola
atmacola

Reputation: 387

PHP 7.2

iconv('UTF-8', 'ASCII//TRANSLIT', 'é@ùµ$`à');
// "e@uu$`a"

iconv('UTF-8', 'ASCII//IGNORE', 'é@ùµ$`à');
// "@$`"

iconv('UTF-8', 'ASCII//TRANSLIT//IGNORE', 'é@ùµ$`à');
// "e@uu$`a"

PHP 7.4

iconv('UTF-8', 'ASCII//TRANSLIT', 'é@ùµ$`à');
// PHP Notice:  iconv(): Detected an illegal character

iconv('UTF-8', 'ASCII//IGNORE', 'é@ùµ$`à');
// "@$`"

iconv('UTF-8', 'ASCII//TRANSLIT//IGNORE', 'é@ùµ$`à');
// "e@u$`a"

iconv('UTF-8', 'ASCII//TRANSLIT//IGNORE', Transliterator::create('Any-Latin; NFD; [:Nonspacing Mark:] Remove; NFC')->transliterate('é@ùµ$`à'))
// "e@uu$`a" -> same as PHP 7.2

Upvotes: 17

Mike Casan Ballester
Mike Casan Ballester

Reputation: 1760

BE VERY CAREFUL, the problem may come from multibytes encoding and inappropriate PHP functions used...

It was the case for me and it took me a while to figure it out.

For example, I get the a string from MySQL using utf8mb4 (very common now to encode emojis):

$formattedString = strtolower($stringFromMysql);
$strCleaned = iconv('UTF-8', 'utf-8//TRANSLIT', $formattedString); // WILL RETURN THE ERROR 'Detected an illegal character in input string'

The problem does not stand in iconv() but stands in strtolower() in this case.

The appropriate way is to use Multibyte String Functions mb_strtolower() instead of strtolower()

$formattedString = mb_strtolower($stringFromMysql);
$strCleaned = iconv('UTF-8', 'utf-8//TRANSLIT', $formattedString); // WORK FINE

MORE INFO

More examples of this issue are available at this SO answer

PHP Manual on the Multibyte String

Upvotes: 20

Irshad Khan
Irshad Khan

Reputation: 6046

I found one Solution :

echo iconv('UTF-8', 'ASCII//TRANSLIT', utf8_encode($string));

use utf8_encode()

Upvotes: 2

NobleUplift
NobleUplift

Reputation: 6015

If you used the accepted answer, however, you will still receive the PHP Notice if a character in your input string cannot be transliterated:

<?php
$cp1252 = '';

for ($i = 128; $i < 256; $i++) {
    $cp1252 .= chr($i);
}

echo iconv("cp1252", "utf-8//TRANSLIT", $cp1252);

PHP Notice:  iconv(): Detected an illegal character in input string in CP1252.php on line 8

Notice: iconv(): Detected an illegal character in input string in CP1252.php on line 8

So you should use IGNORE, which will ignore what can't be transliterated:

echo iconv("cp1252", "utf-8//IGNORE", $cp1252);

Upvotes: 57

Ranty
Ranty

Reputation: 3362

The illegal character is not in $matches[1], but in $xml

Try

iconv($matches[1], 'utf-8//TRANSLIT', $xml);

And showing us the input string would be nice for a better answer.

Upvotes: 38

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