PHP function nl2br()

This function converts line breaks (\n) in a string to the HTML tag <br>.

Parameters

Parameter	Data type	Default value	Note
$string	string	not	Input string.
$is_xhtml	bool	null	Switches the escaping method according to the context.

Detailed description

$retezec = 'text
next text
and something else';
echo nl2br($retezec);

Returns:

text<br>
more text<br>
and something else

Converts broken lines in text to html tags. This tag is used in places where the user enters any text (textarea) and there is a risk of using multiple lines of text.

The treatment of classic inputs (type="text") is meaningless, as multi-line text cannot be entered here.

Note: As of PHP 4.0.5, the nl2br() XHTML function is eligible. All versions before 4.0.5 will return a string with a tag inserted before the line breaks instead of <br />.

Example

echo nl2br("Welcome\r\nThis is my HTML document", false);

Returns:

Welcome<br>
This is my HTML document

Return values

string

Returns an edited string including HTML tags.

Changes in versions

Version	Note
5.3.0	Added optional is_xhtml parameter.
4.0.5	nl2br () is now XHTML compatible. All earlier versions will return a string with line breaks inserted instead of <br />.

Other resources

[Official nl2br function documentation](Official nl2br() documentation)