PHP Filter for special characters before passing to sql database

How can I have my 开发者_高级运维code replace the body text rather than just "returning":

if($body == "Garçon") 
    return;

Also, since == is looking for exact string of text, how do I make it look for the body containing "Garçon"?

Essentially, I'm trying to build in a filter to change "Garçon" to "Garcon" since the special "ç" character comes up "null" in my database.

Thanks for your help.

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You don't have to filter anything, nor replace any symbols.
Just setup your database to use utf8 encoding.

if your database is fresh new, create your tables with CHARACTER SET=utf8 option.

and add to your PHP scripts this call, right after db connect:

mysql_set_charset("<encoding>");

where <encoding> is the actual encoding of your pages