Losing the + sign in a function

When this function I have is run, it removes any + signs for some reason. I looked for where it's doing it and can't seem to find it (even used ctrl+f). If someone can help me figure out why this is happening, that would be great.


//$p example = '<m t="2+2" u="123" i="0" />'
//m = packet type
//t = text
//u = user id
//i = unknown still
function parse($p, $handle = true)
{
global $bot;
if(substr_count($p, '>') > 1)
$p = explode('/>', $p);
foreach((Array)$p as $p2)
{
$p2 = trim($p2);
if($bot->debug)
echo "->>\t $p2\n";
if(strlen($p2) < 5) return;
$type = trim(strtolower(substr($p2, 1, strpos($p2.' ', ' '))));//packet type
$p2 = trim(str_replace("<$type",'', str_replace('/>', '', $p2)));//remove details so it is just the info to be parsed
parse_str(str_replace('"', '', str_replace('" ', '&', str_replace('="', '=', str_replace('&', '__38', $p2)))), $this->packet[$type]);
foreach($this->packet[$type] as $k => $v)
{
$this->packet[$type][$k] = str_replace('__38', '&', $v); //htmlspecial chars are protected instead of being parsed
}
if($handle)
$this->handle($type, $this->packet[$type]);
}
}


Also, if your wondering, this is for my chat bot (I've asked other questions for it here).

I'm fairly certain none of the other functions are needed. Some of them are just variables and when the handle function is called, the + sign is gone (I printed the packet variable for ['t'] and it was blank (or space) in place of the sign.

Variables:
$bot->debug = Tells whether to print the text in the command prompt
The + sign still shows at this point
$this->packet = Stores the packet

The rest of the variables are set in the function.

Again when function handle is called, I put print $p; on the first line (or second after globals, but doesn't matter) and the sign was gone, but on the echo "->>\t $p2\n"; line it is


Narrowed it down to this line:

parse_str(str_replace('"', '', str_replace('" ', '&', str_replace('="', '=', str_replace('&', '__38', $p2)))), $this->packet[$type]);



Narrowed it down to the parse_str. Apparently the function is supposed to convert + to spaces so I'm working on a workaround for it.



Fixed with str_replace('+', '__39', $str);
Then again swapped back in the foreach

Narrowed it down to the parse_str. Apparently the function is supposed to convert + to spaces so I'm working on a workaround for it.


Thats because parse_str() also decodes url data. The urlencoded character of ' ' is + so when decoded it will replace with ' '.

I'm sure you've probably already figured that out yourself so my post is really for other googlers.

Thats because parse_str() also decodes url data. The urlencoded character of ' ' is + so when decoded it will replace with ' '.

I'm sure you've probably already figured that out yourself so my post is really for other googlers.

Yeah I found that out on php.net
The str_replace seems to kind of bypass it right now so I'll just leave it like that