Hi everyone, Can anyone here tell me why mysql_real_escape_string("asdasddas") returns an empty string? Just writing a data import... Anyway, for security but also simply because i might have a ' in the string, i need to escape it. Apparently it is good practice to use mysql_real_escape_string() but it simply doesn't work at all on this machine. I thought it's a rather standard function. Is it maybe my Apache server setup? But i thought the function wouldn't exist then and throw an error in the php script, but it runs through fine. Please help, we need this data import by next week hence i'm working now... I can send you details of the server setup if required. Please let me know what as there are quite a few things... It's xampp on windows xp (testing/dev machine). Regards, Tim Tim-Hinnerk Heuer http://www.ihostnz.com P. J. O'Rourke - "Everybody knows how to raise children, except the people who have them."