mysql_real_escape_string does not escape "

Question

In PHP, I am escaping characters before insert in a MySQL database using mysql_real_escape_string

$array_to_insert = array_map('mysql_real_escape_string', $my_arr);
$mysql->setTbl("mytable");
$id = $mysql->insertArray($array_to_insert);

When saving, double quotes are being saved as escaped with a \. I do not want this, since some of the data is HTML and it may contain tags like <a href="www.stackoverflow.com"> etc, which will be saved as <a href=\"www.stackoverflow.com\"> and then displayed incorrectly in a WordPress setup.

I have read elsewhere on stackoverflow that to avoid escaping the double quotes, one must first insert (as above) then select and insert into a table again.

Is there a way to solve this issue without having to select and re-insert?

Thanks (note: the database I am using is in utf-8 format)

Answer 1

Your server may have magic_quotes enabled. Check it with

var_dump( get_magic_quotes_gpc() );

Otherwise, it's probably something you are doing beforehand or that your db library is doing. mysql_real_escape_string only escapes the string so that it is safe to use in a SQL query. It can't help if the string is already escaped to begin with.