Replacing accented characters php

I have tried all sorts based on the variations listed in the answers, but the following worked:

$unwanted_array = array(    'Š'=>'S', 'š'=>'s', 'Ž'=>'Z', 'ž'=>'z', 'À'=>'A', 'Á'=>'A', 'Â'=>'A', 'Ã'=>'A', 'Ä'=>'A', 'Å'=>'A', 'Æ'=>'A', 'Ç'=>'C', 'È'=>'E', 'É'=>'E',                            'Ê'=>'E', 'Ë'=>'E', 'Ì'=>'I', 'Í'=>'I', 'Î'=>'I', 'Ï'=>'I', 'Ñ'=>'N', 'Ò'=>'O', 'Ó'=>'O', 'Ô'=>'O', 'Õ'=>'O', 'Ö'=>'O', 'Ø'=>'O', 'Ù'=>'U',                            'Ú'=>'U', 'Û'=>'U', 'Ü'=>'U', 'Ý'=>'Y', 'Þ'=>'B', 'ß'=>'Ss', 'à'=>'a', 'á'=>'a', 'â'=>'a', 'ã'=>'a', 'ä'=>'a', 'å'=>'a', 'æ'=>'a', 'ç'=>'c',                            'è'=>'e', 'é'=>'e', 'ê'=>'e', 'ë'=>'e', 'ì'=>'i', 'í'=>'i', 'î'=>'i', 'ï'=>'i', 'ð'=>'o', 'ñ'=>'n', 'ò'=>'o', 'ó'=>'o', 'ô'=>'o', 'õ'=>'o',                            'ö'=>'o', 'ø'=>'o', 'ù'=>'u', 'ú'=>'u', 'û'=>'u', 'ý'=>'y', 'þ'=>'b', 'ÿ'=>'y' );$str = strtr( $str, $unwanted_array );

To remove the diacritics, use iconv:

$val = iconv('ISO-8859-1','ASCII//TRANSLIT',$val);

or

$val = iconv('UTF-8','ASCII//TRANSLIT',$val);

note that php has some weird bug in that it (sometimes?) needs to have a locale set to make these conversions work, using setlocale().

edit tested, it gets all of your diacritics out of the box:

$val = "á|â|à|å|ä ð|é|ê|è|ë í|î|ì|ï ó|ô|ò|ø|õ|ö ú|û|ù|ü æ ç ß abc ABC 123";echo iconv('UTF-8','ASCII//TRANSLIT',$val); 

output (updated 2019-12-30)

a|a|a|a|a d|e|e|e|e i|i|i|i o|o|o|o|o|o u|u|u|u ae c ss abc ABC 123

Note that ð is correctly transliterated to d instead of o, as in the accepted answer.

I just came accross the answer from Lizard which is extremely helpful - especially when you do some sorting. Isn't is beautiful how many chars we need to say mostly the same ;)

If anyone else if looking for a all-in solution (as far as the comments above tell), here's the copy&paste:

/** * Replace language-specific characters by ASCII-equivalents. * @param string $s * @return string */public static function normalizeChars($s) {    $replace = array(        'ъ'=>'-', 'Ь'=>'-', 'Ъ'=>'-', 'ь'=>'-',        'Ă'=>'A', 'Ą'=>'A', 'À'=>'A', 'Ã'=>'A', 'Á'=>'A', 'Æ'=>'A', 'Â'=>'A', 'Å'=>'A', 'Ä'=>'Ae',        'Þ'=>'B',        'Ć'=>'C', 'ץ'=>'C', 'Ç'=>'C',        'È'=>'E', 'Ę'=>'E', 'É'=>'E', 'Ë'=>'E', 'Ê'=>'E',        'Ğ'=>'G',        'İ'=>'I', 'Ï'=>'I', 'Î'=>'I', 'Í'=>'I', 'Ì'=>'I',        'Ł'=>'L',        'Ñ'=>'N', 'Ń'=>'N',        'Ø'=>'O', 'Ó'=>'O', 'Ò'=>'O', 'Ô'=>'O', 'Õ'=>'O', 'Ö'=>'Oe',        'Ş'=>'S', 'Ś'=>'S', 'Ș'=>'S', 'Š'=>'S',        'Ț'=>'T',        'Ù'=>'U', 'Û'=>'U', 'Ú'=>'U', 'Ü'=>'Ue',        'Ý'=>'Y',        'Ź'=>'Z', 'Ž'=>'Z', 'Ż'=>'Z',        'â'=>'a', 'ǎ'=>'a', 'ą'=>'a', 'á'=>'a', 'ă'=>'a', 'ã'=>'a', 'Ǎ'=>'a', 'а'=>'a', 'А'=>'a', 'å'=>'a', 'à'=>'a', 'א'=>'a', 'Ǻ'=>'a', 'Ā'=>'a', 'ǻ'=>'a', 'ā'=>'a', 'ä'=>'ae', 'æ'=>'ae', 'Ǽ'=>'ae', 'ǽ'=>'ae',        'б'=>'b', 'ב'=>'b', 'Б'=>'b', 'þ'=>'b',        'ĉ'=>'c', 'Ĉ'=>'c', 'Ċ'=>'c', 'ć'=>'c', 'ç'=>'c', 'ц'=>'c', 'צ'=>'c', 'ċ'=>'c', 'Ц'=>'c', 'Č'=>'c', 'č'=>'c', 'Ч'=>'ch', 'ч'=>'ch',        'ד'=>'d', 'ď'=>'d', 'Đ'=>'d', 'Ď'=>'d', 'đ'=>'d', 'д'=>'d', 'Д'=>'D', 'ð'=>'d',        'є'=>'e', 'ע'=>'e', 'е'=>'e', 'Е'=>'e', 'Ə'=>'e', 'ę'=>'e', 'ĕ'=>'e', 'ē'=>'e', 'Ē'=>'e', 'Ė'=>'e', 'ė'=>'e', 'ě'=>'e', 'Ě'=>'e', 'Є'=>'e', 'Ĕ'=>'e', 'ê'=>'e', 'ə'=>'e', 'è'=>'e', 'ë'=>'e', 'é'=>'e',        'ф'=>'f', 'ƒ'=>'f', 'Ф'=>'f',        'ġ'=>'g', 'Ģ'=>'g', 'Ġ'=>'g', 'Ĝ'=>'g', 'Г'=>'g', 'г'=>'g', 'ĝ'=>'g', 'ğ'=>'g', 'ג'=>'g', 'Ґ'=>'g', 'ґ'=>'g', 'ģ'=>'g',        'ח'=>'h', 'ħ'=>'h', 'Х'=>'h', 'Ħ'=>'h', 'Ĥ'=>'h', 'ĥ'=>'h', 'х'=>'h', 'ה'=>'h',        'î'=>'i', 'ï'=>'i', 'í'=>'i', 'ì'=>'i', 'į'=>'i', 'ĭ'=>'i', 'ı'=>'i', 'Ĭ'=>'i', 'И'=>'i', 'ĩ'=>'i', 'ǐ'=>'i', 'Ĩ'=>'i', 'Ǐ'=>'i', 'и'=>'i', 'Į'=>'i', 'י'=>'i', 'Ї'=>'i', 'Ī'=>'i', 'І'=>'i', 'ї'=>'i', 'і'=>'i', 'ī'=>'i', 'ij'=>'ij', 'IJ'=>'ij',        'й'=>'j', 'Й'=>'j', 'Ĵ'=>'j', 'ĵ'=>'j', 'я'=>'ja', 'Я'=>'ja', 'Э'=>'je', 'э'=>'je', 'ё'=>'jo', 'Ё'=>'jo', 'ю'=>'ju', 'Ю'=>'ju',        'ĸ'=>'k', 'כ'=>'k', 'Ķ'=>'k', 'К'=>'k', 'к'=>'k', 'ķ'=>'k', 'ך'=>'k',        'Ŀ'=>'l', 'ŀ'=>'l', 'Л'=>'l', 'ł'=>'l', 'ļ'=>'l', 'ĺ'=>'l', 'Ĺ'=>'l', 'Ļ'=>'l', 'л'=>'l', 'Ľ'=>'l', 'ľ'=>'l', 'ל'=>'l',        'מ'=>'m', 'М'=>'m', 'ם'=>'m', 'м'=>'m',        'ñ'=>'n', 'н'=>'n', 'Ņ'=>'n', 'ן'=>'n', 'ŋ'=>'n', 'נ'=>'n', 'Н'=>'n', 'ń'=>'n', 'Ŋ'=>'n', 'ņ'=>'n', 'ʼn'=>'n', 'Ň'=>'n', 'ň'=>'n',        'о'=>'o', 'О'=>'o', 'ő'=>'o', 'õ'=>'o', 'ô'=>'o', 'Ő'=>'o', 'ŏ'=>'o', 'Ŏ'=>'o', 'Ō'=>'o', 'ō'=>'o', 'ø'=>'o', 'ǿ'=>'o', 'ǒ'=>'o', 'ò'=>'o', 'Ǿ'=>'o', 'Ǒ'=>'o', 'ơ'=>'o', 'ó'=>'o', 'Ơ'=>'o', 'œ'=>'oe', 'Œ'=>'oe', 'ö'=>'oe',        'פ'=>'p', 'ף'=>'p', 'п'=>'p', 'П'=>'p',        'ק'=>'q',        'ŕ'=>'r', 'ř'=>'r', 'Ř'=>'r', 'ŗ'=>'r', 'Ŗ'=>'r', 'ר'=>'r', 'Ŕ'=>'r', 'Р'=>'r', 'р'=>'r',        'ș'=>'s', 'с'=>'s', 'Ŝ'=>'s', 'š'=>'s', 'ś'=>'s', 'ס'=>'s', 'ş'=>'s', 'С'=>'s', 'ŝ'=>'s', 'Щ'=>'sch', 'щ'=>'sch', 'ш'=>'sh', 'Ш'=>'sh', 'ß'=>'ss',        'т'=>'t', 'ט'=>'t', 'ŧ'=>'t', 'ת'=>'t', 'ť'=>'t', 'ţ'=>'t', 'Ţ'=>'t', 'Т'=>'t', 'ț'=>'t', 'Ŧ'=>'t', 'Ť'=>'t', '™'=>'tm',        'ū'=>'u', 'у'=>'u', 'Ũ'=>'u', 'ũ'=>'u', 'Ư'=>'u', 'ư'=>'u', 'Ū'=>'u', 'Ǔ'=>'u', 'ų'=>'u', 'Ų'=>'u', 'ŭ'=>'u', 'Ŭ'=>'u', 'Ů'=>'u', 'ů'=>'u', 'ű'=>'u', 'Ű'=>'u', 'Ǖ'=>'u', 'ǔ'=>'u', 'Ǜ'=>'u', 'ù'=>'u', 'ú'=>'u', 'û'=>'u', 'У'=>'u', 'ǚ'=>'u', 'ǜ'=>'u', 'Ǚ'=>'u', 'Ǘ'=>'u', 'ǖ'=>'u', 'ǘ'=>'u', 'ü'=>'ue',        'в'=>'v', 'ו'=>'v', 'В'=>'v',        'ש'=>'w', 'ŵ'=>'w', 'Ŵ'=>'w',        'ы'=>'y', 'ŷ'=>'y', 'ý'=>'y', 'ÿ'=>'y', 'Ÿ'=>'y', 'Ŷ'=>'y',        'Ы'=>'y', 'ž'=>'z', 'З'=>'z', 'з'=>'z', 'ź'=>'z', 'ז'=>'z', 'ż'=>'z', 'ſ'=>'z', 'Ж'=>'zh', 'ж'=>'zh'    );    return strtr($s, $replace);}

Note some slight changes regarding the German umlauts (ä => ae)

Edit: Included more characters based on the posting from user3682119 (except for the copyright symbol) and the comment from daker.