How to Decode UTF-8 Encoded URLs Beyond urldecode() in PHP?

URL Decoding in PHP: Beyond urldecode()

PHP's urldecode() function is a valuable tool for decoding URL-encoded strings. However, it can fall short when the string is also UTF-8 encoded.

The Problem:

Consider the following URL-encoded string:

Ant%C3%B4nio+Carlos+Jobim

Attempting to decode it using urldecode() results in the following output:

Antônio Carlos Jobim

Instead of the expected "Antônio Carlos Jobim."

The Solution:

To resolve this issue, we must decode the UTF-8 encoding as well. PHP's utf8_decode() function serves this purpose:

echo utf8_decode(urldecode("Ant%C3%B4nio+Carlos+Jobim"));

This will output the correct string:

Antônio Carlos Jobim

Explanation:

URL encoding involves replacing certain characters with their hexadecimal counterparts. UTF-8 encoding, on the other hand, represents characters using multiple bytes, which can be misinterpreted as hex codes. By combining utf8_decode() and urldecode(), we can correctly decode strings that have been encoded in both UTF-8 and URL formats.

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