Sanitize String - PHP.

sanitize-string.php

<?php

    /**
	 * Sanitize String
	 * 
	 * @param  string $str string to be cleaned
	 * @return string      new string without special characters
	 */
	function sanitizeString($str) {
	    $str = preg_replace('/[áàãâä]/ui', 'a', $str);
	    $str = preg_replace('/[éèêë]/ui', 'e', $str);
	    $str = preg_replace('/[íìîï]/ui', 'i', $str);
	    $str = preg_replace('/[óòõôö]/ui', 'o', $str);
	    $str = preg_replace('/[úùûü]/ui', 'u', $str);
	    $str = preg_replace('/[ç]/ui', 'c', $str);
	    $str = preg_replace('/[,(),;:|!"#$%&/=?~^><ªº-]/', '_', $str);
	    $str = preg_replace('/[^a-z0-9]/i', '_', $str);
	    $str = preg_replace('/_+/', '_', $str);
	    return $str;
	}

?>