[php] Alternative to mysql_real_escape_string without connecting to DB

Well, according to the mysql_real_escape_string function reference page: "mysql_real_escape_string() calls MySQL's library function mysql_real_escape_string, which escapes the following characters: \x00, \n, \r, \, ', " and \x1a."

With that in mind, then the function given in the second link you posted should do exactly what you need:

function mres($value)
{
    $search = array("\\",  "\x00", "\n",  "\r",  "'",  '"', "\x1a");
    $replace = array("\\\\","\\0","\\n", "\\r", "\'", '\"', "\\Z");

    return str_replace($search, $replace, $value);
}