looking for the Ñ

[eluser]alebenson[/eluser]
Hey
The db charset its wierdone, that my provider dont let me change, dont know why, but i dont have problems saving any character

well im trying to add a thing to the validation process and there change the 'ñ' to ñi did a MY_validation library

Code:

function latinchar($str)
{
    $str = str_replace('ñ','ñ',$str);
    return $str;
}

and it works, but when i see the HTML code looks like <p>Feliz Año Nuevo</p>
(i know it works coz ive try it with other letters)
so the replace is not taking the & n t i l d e ; as characters, is taking it as a code for ñ, again, im with the f****** ñ