Question

The following PHP function outputs JS:

function dothething( $data ){
    $res = "
        <div id=\"blah\">
            Here's some stuff, ". $data['name'] ."
        </div>";
    echo "$('#container').html('". $res ."');";
}

This function is called via jQuery’s $.ajax(), using dataType: 'script' … so whatever is echoed runs like a JS function. There’s more to it of course, but my question has to do with encoding. The ajax will fail when $res contains newlines or apostrophes. So adding this above the echo seems to be working for now:

$res = str_replace("\n", "\\n", addslashes($res));

Is this the best way to format the PHP variable $res to yield valid javascript for ajax?

Is there anything else I should add in there?

Answer 1

In your case I would use json_encode() over anything else:

echo "$('#container').html(" . json_encode($res) . ");";

When applied to a string value, it will automatically encapsulate it with double quotes and escape anything inside that would otherwise cause a parse error.