swas

  // http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10152894/php-replacing-special-characters-like-a-a-e-e?answertab=votes#tab-top
  
    // PHP.net User notes
    <?php
    $string = "ʿABBĀSĀBĀD";

    echo iconv('UTF-8', 'ISO-8859-1//TRANSLIT', $string);
    // output: [nothing, and you get a notice]

    echo iconv('UTF-8', 'ISO-8859-1//IGNORE', $string);