Trying to replace new lines from what the user enters in a textarea into the html code '<br/>'

Of course nl2br() was created for this very reason. Somehow its not working though.

PHP Code:

  $title = $_POST['pgtitle'];
  $heading = $_POST['heading'];
  $content = $_POST['content'];
  $content = nl2br($content);
                                                            
  $ecm2 = preg_replace ('/\[title\](.*?)\[\/title\]/is', '</p><h1>$1</h1><p>', $ecm2);
                        
   $ecm2 = preg_replace ('/\[b\](.*?)\[\/b\]/is', '<strong>$1</strong>', $ecm2);
                        
   $ecm2 = preg_replace ('/\[i\](.*?)\[\/i\]/is', '<em>$1</em>', $ecm2);
                        
   $ecm2 = preg_replace ('/\[u\](.*?)\[\/u\]/is', '<u>$1</u>', $ecm2);
                        
   $ecm2 = preg_replace ('/\[img\](.*?)\[\/img\]/is', '<img src="$1" alt="Image" />', $ecm2);
                        
   $ecm2 = preg_replace ('/\[url=(.*?)\](.*?)\[\/url\]/i', '<a href="$1">$2</a>', $ecm2);
                        
    $ecm2 = htmlentities($ecm2);

     $form = $ecm2;

     echo '<form action="download.php" method="post"><textarea name="textarea" cols="80" rows="20">'.$form.'
                         </textarea><input type="hidden" name="filename" value="'.$title.'">
                         <br><input type="submit" value="Download"></form>'; 


Some more info:

$form = $ecm2
$ecm2 is in a separate file which has been included on the top line of my whole php page.

$content
$content is part of $ecm2.

PHP Warnings
No warnings received from this script.

preg_replace
Is fully working

If $ecm2 is just a string and $content is just a string then updating $content will not update the part of $ecm2 that is defined by $content. Once the string is created by concatenating $content into it, all references to $content are lost.

So how would I get it to update the $content part in $ecm2 ??

Try setting a value for $content before you include your file.

I think you just need to change this bit:

PHP Code:

 $ecm2 = preg_replace ('/\[title\](.*?)\[\/title\]/is', '</p><h1>$1</h1><p>', $ecm2); 


</SPAN>

to

PHP Code:

 $ecm2 = preg_replace ('/\[title\](.*?)\[\/title\]/is', '</p><h1>$1</h1><p>', $content); 


</SPAN>

hope this helps

TP aprieciated

DAN! ><

Sorry for not replying sooner.

VirtuosiMedia, setting the value for the string above the include actaully worked. Thanks a lot

Dan,
Don't get greedy with TP

No problem, glad it worked out.