title: What does \\x80-\\xFF refer to?
body: <p>In the process of looking for solutions to help sanitise some output, I came across code that does the following.</p>
  
  <pre><code>preg_replace('|[^a-z0-9-~+_.?#=!&amp;;,/:%@$\|*\'()\\x80-\\xff]|i', '', $some_url)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Now, I think it's basically trying to remove anything other than the above mentioned characters. But doesn't <code>\\x80-\\xff</code> refer to some form of non-printable ascii characters ? If so, why would the code possibly be trying NOT to remove them ?</p>
  
  <p>Any indications/pointers/help would be appreciated. Thanks.</p>