spaces in URL links

[eluser]nir[/eluser]
Hello all,

i am trying to generate anchor url links based on entries from a field in a database as follow:

Code:

'<a href='.base_url().'>'.$row['city'].'</a>'

when the entry in the database has no space the anchor link would work just fine, but when there is a space (e.g. Los Angeles) the link would be something like ..../index.php?/city/edit/Los , which will results in no data when clicking on the link.
i am aware of the html encoding but i do not no how to actually do it for the generated anchor url links.

thx in advanced,
nir