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<quoted_printable_encodertrim>
^String FunctionsLast updated: Mon, 26 Oct 2026

quotemeta

(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)

quotemeta — Quote meta characters

Description

function quotemeta(string $string): string

Returns a version of str with a backslash character (\) before every character that is among these:

. \ + * ? [ ^ ] ( $ )

Parameters

string

The input string.

Return Values

Returns the string with meta characters quoted. If an empty string is given as string, an empty string is returned.

Changelog

Version Description
8.0.0 Returns an empty string, instead of false, when string is empty.

Examples

Example #1 quotemeta() example

<?php

var_dump(quotemeta('PHP is a popular scripting language. Fast, flexible, and pragmatic.'));
?>

The above example will output:

string(69) "PHP is a popular scripting language\. Fast, flexible, and pragmatic\."

Notes

Note:

This function is binary-safe.

See Also


<quoted_printable_encodertrim>
^String FunctionsLast updated: Mon, 26 Oct 2026