What are the potential pitfalls of using htmlspecialchars() on XML strings in PHP?

Using htmlspecialchars() on XML strings in PHP may not properly encode characters that are significant in XML, such as <, >, and &. This can lead to invalid XML output and potential security vulnerabilities. To properly encode XML strings in PHP, you can use the htmlentities() function with the ENT_QUOTES flag to encode all characters that have special meaning in XML. 

$xmlString = &#039;&lt;example&gt;Some &lt;data&gt; &amp; special characters&lt;/data&gt;&lt;/example&gt;&#039;;
$encodedXmlString = htmlentities($xmlString, ENT_QUOTES);
echo $encodedXmlString;

Keywords

htmlspecialchars XML strings encoding special characters escaping

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