title: ampersands in url read as semicolon by php explode()
body: <p>I want to allow my users to create a url link and label in a single field, like:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>Register Now; www.abc123.com</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>or just </p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>www.abc123.com</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>my code looks like this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>$cta_array = explode(";",  $field ) ;
  if( count( $cta_array ) &gt; 1 ){
    $cta = '&lt;a href="'.esc_url( $cta_array[1] ).'" class="button '.$color.'"&gt;'.esc_html( $cta_array[0] ).'&lt;/a&gt;';
  }
  else{
    $cta = '&lt;a href="'.esc_url( $field ).'" class="button '.$color.'"&gt;Select&lt;/a&gt;';
  }
  return $cta;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Only problem is if the url they enter has query strings with ampersands, the ampersands get treated as semicolons by the explode() function so if they enter</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>Book Now; <a href="http://www.abc123.com/scripts/WebObjects.dll/AAAOnline?association=CAA&amp;club=272" rel="nofollow">http://www.abc123.com/scripts/WebObjects.dll/AAAOnline?association=CAA&amp;club=272</a></p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>$cta_array variable returns this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Array
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>(
      [0] =&gt; Book Now
      [1] =&gt;  <a href="http://www.aaa.com/scripts/WebObjects.dll/AAAOnline?association=CAA&amp;amp" rel="nofollow">http://www.aaa.com/scripts/WebObjects.dll/AAAOnline?association=CAA&amp;amp</a>;
      [2] =&gt; club=272
  )</p>
  
  <p>I think its converting the '&amp;' to <code>&amp;amp;</code> and that semicolon is used as the delimiter but i'm not sure how to fix it.</p>