Encoding my PHP code

Should I be encoding my PHP code to stop it being stolen?
If so how do I go about it?

huh! No how can it be stolen??? : Have you ever heard of PHP script get stolen?

PHP is a server side scripting language and it never meets the web browser of the user. So then, anyone cannot view it's source by anyway. You do not need to hide the code manually.... Only client-side scripts can be seen by users. That's it! Hope I'm clear! No need to worry about stoling PHP scripts :laugh:

yes i agree but if it is a form you are refering to it is possible to insert executable code which COULD reveal the source code of the script.
But to prevent that you would use php to filter out any executable code. But you dont hear much about php source codes being stolen.

Depends on what the form does. But I highly doubt it.

If you are passing a variable to the system() or exec() functions then I would use the escapeshellcmd()

Normally PHP codes are encoded when it comes to Commercial PHP Application. Also when developers distribute PHP Applications.

If you should encode i think depends on what you are using the script for. If you are storing top secret material then i would encode it to the full. Because php is generally secure in itself, i wouldnt normally do much encoding. But thats just me.