Alternative to mysql_real_escape_string without connecting to DB

I'd like to have a function behaving as mysql_real_escape_string without connecting to database as at times I need to do dry testing without DB connection. mysql_escape_string is deprecated and therefore is undesirable. Some of my findings:

http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=448909

http://w3schools.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=20064

It is impossible to safely escape a string without a DB connection. mysql_real_escape_string() and prepared statements need a connection to the database so that they can escape the string using the appropriate character set - otherwise SQL injection attacks are still possible using multi-byte characters.

If you are only testing, then you may as well use mysql_escape_string(), it's not 100% guaranteed against SQL injection attacks, but it's impossible to build anything safer without a DB connection.

Well, according to the mysql_real_escape_string function reference page: "mysql_real_escape_string() calls MySQL's library function mysql_real_escape_string, which escapes the following characters: \x00, \n, \r, \, ', " and \x1a."

With that in mind, then the function given in the second link you posted should do exactly what you need:

function mres($value)
{
    $search = array("\\",  "\x00", "\n",  "\r",  "'",  '"', "\x1a");
    $replace = array("\\\\","\\0","\\n", "\\r", "\'", '\"', "\\Z");

    return str_replace($search, $replace, $value);
}

In direct opposition to my other answer, this following function is probably safe, even with multi-byte characters.

// replace any non-ascii character with its hex code.
function escape($value) {
    $return = '';
    for($i = 0; $i < strlen($value); ++$i) {
        $char = $value[$i];
        $ord = ord($char);
        if($char !== "'" && $char !== "\"" && $char !== '\\' && $ord >= 32 && $ord <= 126)
            $return .= $char;
        else
            $return .= '\\x' . dechex($ord);
    }
    return $return;
}

I'm hoping someone more knowledgeable than myself can tell me why the code above won't work ...