PHP Telegram Bot: Handling Multi-line Text and Persistent Keyboards

Other Questions Telegram bot
1

I face two issues in my PHP Telegram bot: multi-line messages become URL-encoded and custom keyboards only display for new users. How can these be fixed?

<?php
$inputData = file_get_contents('php://input');
$request = json_decode($inputData, true);
$userID = isset($request['message']['from']['id']) ? $request['message']['from']['id'] : null;

$textMsg = "Line one of text." . "\n" . "Line two follows.";

function processMessage($msg, $user) {
    if (strpos($msg, "\n") !== false) {
        $msg = urlencode($msg);
    }
    $payload = [
        'chat_id'   => $user,
        'text'      => $msg,
        'parse_mode'=> 'Markdown'
    ];
    executeApiCall('sendMsg', $payload);
}

function executeApiCall($endpoint, $params){
    $botToken = 'YOUR_BOT_TOKEN';
    $apiURL = "https://api.telegram.org/bot{$botToken}/{$endpoint}";
    $ch = curl_init();
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $apiURL);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, true);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $params);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
    $result = curl_exec($ch);
    curl_close($ch);
    return $result;
}

processMessage($textMsg, $userID);
?>
2

hey, try not urlencoding your
text; use proper markdown escaping instead. also, for persistent keyboards, you need to send them with every msg using reply_markup, cuz they’re not saved automatically

3

Based on my experience, the root of the multi-line text issue lies in the treatment of newline characters when applying transformations for markdown compatibility. In my projects I’ve found that rather than encoding the entire message, selectively handling characters that clash with markdown syntax yields better results. With persistent keyboards, I’ve learned that consistently including the reply_markup field in each API call is essential, regardless of user history. Even though updating existing keyboards might seem appealing, explicitly re-sending them prevents unexpected behavior and ensures interface consistency.

4

My experience with these issues led me to a slightly different approach. I noticed that encoding the text before sending it was actually reintroducing problems rather than solving them. I decided to rely on properly escaping specific markdown-sensitive characters instead of applying a blanket URL encoding to the entire message. Similarly, for custom keyboards I opted to include the reply_markup in every response to mitigate any issues with user interface persistence. This method not only simplifies the code but ensures consistency across interactions.

5

hey, try using selective escapin instead of urlencode. i found replacin conflicting markdown chars helps a lot. also, always include reply_markup in every call so keyboards stick, even for returning users. works well for me without extra hassle.

6

Over time, I’ve discovered that the problem with multi-line messages is not really with newlines but with how special characters are being handled. Rather than encoding the entire message, I’ve moved toward selectively managing those markdown symbols that conflict with the syntax. I also realized that ensuring a constant and consistent inclusion of the reply_markup field with every response is vital to prevent intermittent keyboard issues. By refining our message formatting logic and sending the keyboard structure with each call, the bot operates more reliably, even for users who have chatted before.