How to remove emoji from text. Source: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12807176/php-writing-a-simple-removeemoji-function Tested. Works.

removeEmoji.php

function removeEmoji($text)
    {
        $cleanText = "";

        // Match Emoticons
        $regexEmoticons = '/[\x{1F600}-\x{1F64F}]/u';
        $cleanText = preg_replace($regexEmoticons, '', $text);

        // Match Miscellaneous Symbols and Pictographs
        $regexSymbols = '/[\x{1F300}-\x{1F5FF}]/u';
        $cleanText = preg_replace($regexSymbols, '', $cleanText);

        // Match Transport And Map Symbols
        $regexTransport = '/[\x{1F680}-\x{1F6FF}]/u';
        $cleanText = preg_replace($regexTransport, '', $cleanText);

        return $cleanText;
    }