title: Can I use simplexml_load_file($url) without the automatic escaping of $url?
body: <p>I am trying to use simplexml_load_file($url) with</p>
  
  <pre><code>$url = "http://www.example.com/dir/file.php?id=test&amp;output=xml";
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Now, unfortunately simplexml_load_file() automatically escapes all ampersands and replaces them with "&amp; amp;"s - which in turn breaks file.php because for some weird reason it can't handle "&amp; amp;" but only regular ampersands.</p>
  
  <p>Is it possible to somehow load a file without escaping the URL so that I keep my regular &amp; instead of "&amp; amp;"s?</p>
  
  <p>Thanks!</p>