Why not to use Magic Quotes

Portability

Assuming it to be on, or off, affects portability. Use get_magic_quotes_gpc() to check for this, and code accordingly.
Performance

Because not every piece of escaped data is inserted into a database, there is a performance loss for escaping all this data. Simply calling on the escaping functions (like addslashes()) at runtime is more efficient.

Although php.ini-dist enables these directives by default, php.ini-recommended disables it. This recommendation is mainly due to performance reasons.
Inconvenience

Because not all data needs escaping, it's often annoying to see escaped data where it shouldn't be. For example, emailing from a form, and seeing a bunch of \' within the email. To fix, this may require excessive use of stripslashes().

Code Examples / Notes » security.magicquotes.whynot

roland illig

The best way to use magic_quotes in PHP is this: <?php if (get_magic_quotes_gpc()) { die("magic_quotes must be turned off."); } ?>

11-feb-2006 09:47

It is also important to disable Magic Quotes while in development enivronment. For the reasons mentioned above, not everybody is using Magic Quotes. An application that works fine with Magic Quotes enabled may have security problems (ie can be subject to SQL attacks) when distributed.

gerard

rjh

Additionally, addslashes() is not a cure-all against SQL injection attacks. You should use your database's dedicated escape function (such as mysql_escape_string) or better yet, use parameterised queries through mysqli->prepare().

Why not to use Magic Quotes

Code Examples / Notes » security.magicquotes.whynot

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