im starting to learn about php, and so far i have gotten pretty good at it

now that i understand programming in php, im starting to explore the idea of protecting my php code. but when i put a link and save it in my db, i can't seem to get it working, the characters in the url at not working, how do i change the code in the url to make it

like for example, the % is giving me headache, and the & character also, they are not working