PHP 8 reference · String Functions

PHP nl2br() Function

Insert an HTML <br> tag before every new line in a string, so plain text keeps its line breaks on a web page.

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Syntax

nl2br(string $string, bool $use_xhtml = true): string

Parameter	Description
`string`	The input string.
`use_xhtml` optional	`true` inserts `<br />`, `false` inserts `<br>`. Default: `true`

The string with <br> tags added.

Keep line breaks in HTMLTry it yourself

<?php
echo nl2br("Line one\nLine two"), "\n";
echo nl2br("A\nB", false), "\n";

Output

Line one<br />
Line two
A<br>
B

Escape first, then add breaksTry it yourself

<?php
$comment = "<b>Hi</b>\nThanks!";
echo nl2br(htmlspecialchars($comment)), "\n";

Output

&lt;b&gt;Hi&lt;/b&gt;<br />
Thanks!

Version	Change
PHP 4.0	Added

htmlspecialchars() · Convert &, <, >, " and ' to HTML entities so user text is shown as text, not run as HTML. The main defence against XSS.
wordwrap() · Wrap a string at a given line width by inserting line breaks between words, optionally cutting long words.
PHP Strings · tutorial
PHP Form Handling · tutorial