Trouble sanitizing an array from input

Question

I have trouble sanitizing my array and am hoping someone can take a look!

here is my input:

<input type="text" name="courseno[]" id="courseno" size="12" />

here is my function to sanitize my data:

function sanitizeData ($datastring) {
    if (is_array($datastring)) {
        foreach ($datastring as $indivdata) {
            $indivdata = sanitizeData($indivdata);
        }
    }
    else {
        $datastring=trim($datastring);
        $datastring=htmlspecialchars($datastring);
        $datastring = mysql_real_escape_string($datastring);
        return $datastring;
    }
}

if (isset($_POST['courseno'])) {
    $courseno = sanitizeData($_POST['courseno']);
}

the $courseno data won't post when I try to sanitize the array, while all my other data gets posted. When I don't sanitize $courseno, the data gets posted to the database just fine.

Normally, the data is sanitized after it is posted, ie in the server, how are you trying to sanitize it and then post?? — Balanivash
– Balanivash, Commented Jun 21, 2011 at 5:27

Amber · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-21 05:29:20Z

1

Well, it would help if sanitizeData() returned a value when $datastring is an array.

if (is_array($datastring)) {
    foreach ($datastring as $indivdata) {
        $indivdata = sanitizeData($indivdata);
    }
    // you need to actually return something here
}

answered Jun 21, 2011 at 5:29

Amber

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Comments

Ryan · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-21 12:07:59Z

1

In your if (is_array($datastring)) test, you assign the output of the sanitizeData call back to $indivData. So if the input contains an array, a real value is never returned. $courseno will be assigned a NULL value. You'd probably want to change it to something along the lines of this:

function sanitizeData ($datastring) {
    if (is_array($datastring)) {
        $result = '';
        foreach ($datastring as $indivdata) {
            $result .= sanitizeData($indivdata);
        }
    return $result;   
}
else {
    $datastring=trim($datastring);
    $datastring=htmlspecialchars($datastring);
    $datastring = mysql_real_escape_string($datastring);
    return $datastring;
  }
}

if (isset($_POST['courseno'])){
    $courseno = sanitizeData($_POST['courseno']);
}

edited Jun 21, 2011 at 12:07

answered Jun 21, 2011 at 5:30

Ryan

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Comments

Stephane Gosselin · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-21 05:33:40Z

0

It is just a variable scope problem.

function sanitizeData ($datastring) {
    // This is needed to hold the value between function calls ...        
    static $indivdata = array();         

    if (is_array($datastring)) {
       foreach ($datastring as $indivdata) {
          $indivdata[] = sanitizeData($indivdata);
       }
       return $indivdata;
   } 
   else {
     $datastring=trim($datastring);
     $datastring=htmlspecialchars($datastring);
     $datastring = mysql_real_escape_string($datastring);

     return $datastring; 
     } 
  }   
 // $courseno will be an array now.
 if (isset($_POST['courseno'])){
       $courseno= sanitizeData($_POST['courseno']);
 }

Unless I missed something at this late hour, it seems your function does not return the data array. There are a couple of ways to solve this, but the above code should get you in the right track.

answered Jun 21, 2011 at 5:33

Stephane Gosselin

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1 Comment

sourpatchkiddo Over a year ago

Thank you for your response! I tried this out and came up with this error: "[] operator not supported for strings in

Shawn Chin · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-27 16:25:02Z

0

I think you have put your text box outside the form tag.

edited Jun 27, 2011 at 16:25

Shawn Chin

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answered Jun 21, 2011 at 5:30

Rajesh purohit

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