CFLib.org – Common Function Library Project

Description:
Pass me a string and I'll convert it into HTML-friendly ASCII characters.

Return Values:
Returns a string.

Example:

<cfset str = "I’ve ¼ got © some ™ funky € characters ? to ? convert ¥ into ® ASCII ¶ eh?" />
<cfdump var="#stringToAscii(str)#" />

Parameters:

Full UDF Source:

/**
 * I convert a string to ASCII characters.
 * 
 * @param str      String to parse. (Required)
 * @return Returns a string. 
 * @author Stephen Withington (steve@stephenwithington.com) 
 * @version 1, June 17, 2010 
 */
function stringToAscii(str) {
    var local = StructNew();
    local.oldStr = '';
    local.newStr = '';
    if ( StructKeyExists(arguments, 'str') and IsSimpleValue(arguments.str) ) {
        local.oldStr = arguments.str;
        for ( local.i=1; local.i lte Len(arguments.str); local.i++ ) {
            local.newStr = local.newStr & '&##' & Asc(Left(local.oldStr,1)) & ';';
            local.oldStr = RemoveChars(local.oldStr,1,1);
        };
    };
    return local.newStr;
};