# scanDir() and Special Characters

**URL:** <https://forum.kirupa.com/t/scandir-and-special-characters/298026>\
**Category:** programming\
**Created:** [October 12, 2009, 7:07pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/scandir-and-special-characters/298026 "2009-10-12T19:07:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ruiganga](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/ruiganga/32/3679_2.png) [@ruiganga](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/ruiganga)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2009, 7:07pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/scandir-and-special-characters/298026/1 "2009-10-12T19:07:50Z")

</div>

Hi

I am using scanDir() to generate a XML with the directory content. It is done, and I was very happy until I figured that the special characters like ªºçáé … are not displayed correctly in XML.

This is my code:

```php
<? 

// will scan for privates dir
$files = scandir("private/");

$totalFiles = count($files);

echo $totalFiles;

//starting XML
echo "<?xml version='1.0'?>"."
";
echo "<!-- ## WE HAVE ".$totalFiles." DIR ## -->"."
";
echo "<lista>"."
";
// filling the info
foreach($files as $key => $value){ 
	echo "<album>"."
";
		echo "<pasta>".$value."</pasta>"."
";
		// verify if gallery is private
		if (file_exists("private/".$value."/_info/_privado_sim")) {
			echo "<privado>1</privado>"."
";
		} else {
			echo "<privado>0</privado>"."
";
		};
		// verify if gallery is active
		if (file_exists("private/".$value."/_info/_activo_sim")) {
			echo "<activo>1</activo>"."
";
		} else {
			echo "<activo>0</activo>"."
";
		};
		// catch the gallery name
		$nome = scandir("private/".$value."/_info/");
		echo "<nome>".$nome[2]."</nome>"."
";
		
	echo "</album>"."
";
}

// ending XML
echo "</lista>"."
";
?>

```

and this is the link: [http://www.ruiganga.com/gallery/scanPrivate.php](http://www.ruiganga.com/gallery/scanPrivate.php) so everybody can see the outputs.

Any idea on how to fix this?

Thanks a lot everyone!