PHP Manual: Convert a string from one character encoding to another

Description

arraystringfalse mb_convert_encoding(arraystring $string, string $to_encoding, arraystringnull $from_encoding = null)

Converts string from from_encoding, or the current internal encoding, to to_encoding. If string is an array, all its string values will be converted recursively.

Parameters

string

The string or array to be converted.

to_encoding

The desired encoding of the result.

from_encoding

The current encoding used to interpret string. Multiple encodings may be specified as an array or comma separated list, in which case the correct encoding will be guessed using the same algorithm as mb_detect_encoding.

If from_encoding is omitted or null, the mbstring.internal_encoding setting will be used if set, otherwise the default_charset setting.

See supported encodings for valid values of to_encoding and from_encoding.

Return Values

The encoded string or array on success, or false on failure.

Errors/Exceptions

As of PHP 8.0.0, a ValueError is thrown if the value of to_encoding or from_encoding is an invalid encoding. Prior to PHP 8.0.0, a E_WARNING was emitted instead.

Changelog

Version	Description
8.2.0	mb_convert_encoding will no longer return the following non text encodings: `"Base64"`, `"QPrint"`, `"UUencode"`, `"HTML entities"`, `"7 bit"` and `"8 bit"`.
8.0.0	mb_convert_encoding will now throw a ValueError when `to_encoding` is passed an invalid encoding.
8.0.0	mb_convert_encoding will now throw a ValueError when `from_encoding` is passed an invalid encoding.
8.0.0	`from_encoding` is nullable now.
7.2.0	This function now also accepts an array as `string`. Formerly, only strings have been supported.

Examples

Example #1 mb_convert_encoding example


<?php
/* Convert internal character encoding to SJIS */
$str = mb_convert_encoding($str, "SJIS");

/* Convert EUC-JP to UTF-7 */
$str = mb_convert_encoding($str, "UTF-7", "EUC-JP");

/* Auto detect encoding from JIS, eucjp-win, sjis-win, then convert str to UCS-2LE */
$str = mb_convert_encoding($str, "UCS-2LE", "JIS, eucjp-win, sjis-win");

/* If mbstring.language is "Japanese", "auto" is expanded to "ASCII,JIS,UTF-8,EUC-JP,SJIS" */
$str = mb_convert_encoding($str, "EUC-JP", "auto");
?>

mb_convert_encoding