escape or escape_str

[eluser]TheFuzzy0ne[/eluser]
The escape() method is the method that should be called by you. It decides what kind of input you've supplied and acts appropriately.

If you supplied a string, it uses escape_str() to escape the string.
If you supplied a boolean value, it's replaced with 1 or 0.
If you specify NULL, the value is replaced with 'NULL' (string).

I doubt you'll ever need to call upon escape_str() directly. I'd recommend you just stick to using the escape() method.