How to encode and decode / character with PHP -

in dynamically generated website parts of urls contain / character:

serena williams/venus williams-andrea hlavackova/lucie hradecka

and, naturally, url returns 404 error / sign considered folder url doesn't exist.

what php function encode , later decode string contains / character?

you can use php: urlencode encode , counterpart php: urldecode decode:

urlencode($stringinput)