function drupal_validate_utf8

Checks whether a string is valid UTF-8.

All functions designed to filter input should use drupal_validate_utf8 to ensure they operate on valid UTF-8 strings to prevent bypass of the filter.

When text containing an invalid UTF-8 lead byte (0xC0 - 0xFF) is presented as UTF-8 to Internet Explorer 6, the program may misinterpret subsequent bytes. When these subsequent bytes are HTML control characters such as quotes or angle brackets, parts of the text that were deemed safe by filters end up in locations that are potentially unsafe; An onerror attribute that is outside of a tag, and thus deemed safe by a filter, can be interpreted by the browser as if it were inside the tag.

This function exploits preg_match behaviour (since PHP 4.3.5) when used with the u modifier, as a fast way to find invalid UTF-8. When the matched string contains an invalid byte sequence, it will fail silently.

preg_match may not fail on 4 and 5 octet sequences, even though they are not supported by the specification.

The specific preg_match behaviour is present since PHP 4.3.5.

Parameters

$text: The text to check.

Return value

TRUE if the text is valid UTF-8, FALSE if not.

File

includes/bootstrap.inc, line 703

Functions that need to be loaded on every Drupal request.

Code

function drupal_validate_utf8($text) {
  if (strlen($text) == 0) {
    return TRUE;
  }
  return preg_match('/^./us', $text) == 1;
}