title: PHP replacing special characters like à->a, è->e
body: <p>I have php document signup.php which save the content from form (in form.php document) to MySQL base. The problem arises when I want to reformat the input content. I want do decode UTF-8 charachters like  à->a.</p>
  
  <pre><code>  $first_name=$_POST['first_name'];
    $last_name=$_POST['last_name'];
    $course=$_POST['course'];
  
    $chain="prêt-à-porter";
  
  $pattern = array("'é'", "'è'", "'ë'", "'ê'", "'É'", "'È'", "'Ë'", "'Ê'", "'á'", "'à'", "'ä'", "'â'", "'å'", "'Á'", "'À'", "'Ä'", "'Â'", "'Å'", "'ó'", "'ò'", "'ö'", "'ô'", "'Ó'", "'Ò'", "'Ö'", "'Ô'", "'í'", "'ì'", "'ï'", "'î'", "'Í'", "'Ì'", "'Ï'", "'Î'", "'ú'", "'ù'", "'ü'", "'û'", "'Ú'", "'Ù'", "'Ü'", "'Û'", "'ý'", "'ÿ'", "'Ý'", "'ø'", "'Ø'", "'œ'", "'Œ'", "'Æ'", "'ç'", "'Ç'");
  
  $replace = array('e', 'e', 'e', 'e', 'E', 'E', 'E', 'E', 'a', 'a', 'a', 'a', 'a', 'A', 'A', 'A', 'A', 'A', 'o', 'o', 'o', 'o', 'O', 'O', 'O', 'O', 'i', 'i', 'i', 'I', 'I', 'I', 'I', 'I', 'u', 'u', 'u', 'u', 'U', 'U', 'U', 'U', 'y', 'y', 'Y', 'o', 'O', 'a', 'A', 'A', 'c', 'C'); 
  
  $chain = preg_replace($pattern, $replace, $chain);
  
  echo $chain; // print pret-a-porter
  
  $first_name =  preg_replace($pattern, $replace, $first_name);
  
  echo $first_name; // does not change the input!?!
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Why it works perfectly for $chain, but for $first_name or $last_name doesnt work?</p>
  
  <p>Also i try</p>
  
  <pre><code>echo $first_name; // print áááááábéééééébšššš
  $trans = array("á" =&gt; "a", "é" =&gt; "e", "š" =&gt; "s");
  echo strtr("áááááábéééééébšššš", $trans); // print aaaaaabeeeeeebssss
  echo strtr($first_name,$trans);  // print áááááábéééééébšššš
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>but the problem, as you can see, is same!</p>