php-utf-8 | A library for UTF-8 in PHP providing UTF | Web Framework library

Using the php-utf-8 library is quite easy. Just include the php-utf8.php and any additional functions that you may need from the functions folder. Make sure that you are confident about using the library by reading [Character Sets / Character Encoding Issues][2] and [Handling UTF-8 with PHP][3]. Use these functions only if you really need them & you understand why you need to use them. In particular, do not blindly replace all use of PHP’s string functions which functions found here. Most of the time you will not need to, and you will be introducing a significant performance overhead to your application. Most of the functions here are not operating defensively, mainly for performance reasons. For example there is no extensive parameter checking and it is assumed that they are fed with well formed UTF-8. This is particularly relevant when is comes to catching badly formed UTF-8. You should screen input on the outer perimeter with help from functions in the utils/validation.php and utils/bad.php files. Throughout the library all ASCII characters (control characters included) are treated as valid throughout the library. Make sure you take the appropriate measures before outputting into XML since it can become ill-formed with some control characters. [more info][5].