Remove HTML tags from data in PHP

To remove HTML tags from a PHP string, you need to use the strip_tags() function.

The strip_tags() function is used to strip HTML and PHP tags from a string.

The syntax is as follows:

strip_tags(
    string $string, 
    array|string|null $allowed_tags = null
): string

The function accepts two parameters:

• The $string to remove tags from (required)
• The $allowed_tags for tags to ignore (optional)

This function returns the parameter $string with the tags removed.

Here’s an example of using the function:

// 👇 remove <h1> tag
$str = "<h1>Hello World!</h1>";
echo strip_tags($str); // Hello World!

// 👇 remove <p> and <br> tag
$str = "<p>Hi! <br>My name is Nathan</p>";
echo strip_tags($str); // Hi! My name is Nathan

// 👇 allow <p> tag but remove others
$str = "<p>Hi! <br><strong>My name is <span>Nathan</span><strong></p>";
echo strip_tags($str, "<p>"); // <p>Hi! My name is Nathan</p>

Calling the strip_tags() function is the easiest way to remove HTML tags from a PHP string.