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Variablen aus externen Quellen

HTML-Formulare (GET and POST)

Sobald ein Formular an ein PHP-Skript übergeben wird, werden die Informationen dieses Formulars dem Skript automatisch verfügbar gemacht. Es gibt viele Möglichkeiten, auf diese Informationen zuzugreifen, zum Beispiel:

Beispiel #1 Ein einfaches HTML-Formular

<form action="foo.php" method="post">
    Name:  <input type="text" name="username" /><br />
    Email: <input type="text" name="email" /><br />
    <input type="submit" name="submit" value="Und ab!" />
</form>

Abhängig von Ihrem speziellen Setup und Ihren persönlichen Vorlieben gibt es viele Möglichkeiten, auf die Daten von Ihren HTML-Formularen zuzugreifen. Hier einige Beispiele:

Beispiel #2 Zugriff auf die Daten von einem einfachen POST HTML-Formular

<?php
// Seit PHP 4.1.0 verfügbar

   echo $_POST['benutzername'];
   echo $_REQUEST['benutzername'];

   import_request_variables('p', 'p_');
   echo $p_benutzername;

// Ab PHP 6.0.0 nicht mehr verfügbar. Ab PHP 5.0.0 können diese langen
// vordefinierten Variablen mit der Anweisung register_long_arrays
// deaktiviert werden.

   echo $HTTP_POST_VARS['benutzername'];

// Verfügbar, falls die PHP-Anweisung register_globals = on. Ab
// PHP 4.2.0 ist der standardmäßige Wert von register_globals = off.
// Es ist nicht empfehlenswert, diese Methode zu verwenden, bzw. sich
// darauf zu verlassen.

   echo $benutzername;
?>

Die Verwendung eines GET Formulars ist, davon abgesehen, dass Sie stattdessen die entsprechende vordefinierte GET-Variable erhalten, ähnlich. Außerdem wird GET auch für den QUERY_STRING (die Information nach dem '?' in einer URL) verwendet. So enthält zum Beispiel http://www.example.com/test.php?id=3 GET-Daten, auf die mit $_GET['id'] zugegriffen werden kann. Siehe auch $_REQUEST und import_request_variables().

Hinweis:

Superglobale Arrays wie $_POST und $_GET stehen seit PHP 4.1.0 zur Verfügung.

Wie gezeigt, war register_globals vor PHP 4.2.0 standardmäßig on. Die PHP-Gemeinschaft ermuntert alle, sich nicht auf diese Anweisung zu stützen, weil es vorzuziehen ist, davon auszugehen, dass sie off ist und entsprechend zu programmieren.

Hinweis:

Die Konfigurationseinstellung zu magic_quotes_gpc betrifft Get-, Post- und Cookie-Werte. Ist diese Einstellung aktiv, wird der Wert (It's "PHP!") automatisch zu (It\'s \"PHP!\"). Escaping ist notwendig, wenn Sie ihre Daten in eine Datenbank einfügen wollen. Siehe auch addslashes(), stripslashes() und magic_quotes_sybase.

Im Zusammenhang mit Formular-Variablen versteht PHP auch Arrays (siehe auch die verwandte Faq). Sie können z.B. die betreffenden Variablen gruppieren oder dieses Leistungsmerkmal nutzen, um Werte aus Mehrfach-Auswahl-Bereichen zu erhalten. Schicken wir zum Beispiel ein Formular an sich selbst und lassen nach dem Abschicken die Daten anzeigen:

Beispiel #3 Komplexere Formular-Variablen

<?php
if ($_POST) {
    echo 
'<pre>';
    echo 
htmlspecialchars(print_r($_POSTtrue));
    echo 
'</pre>';
}
?>
<form action="" method="post">
    Name:  <input type="text" name="personal[name]" /><br />
    Email: <input type="text" name="personal[email]" /><br />
    Bier: <br />
    <select multiple name="bier[]">
        <option value="warthog">Warthog</option>
        <option value="guinness">Guinness</option>
        <option value="stuttgarter">Stuttgarter Schwabenbräu</option>
    </select><br />
    <input type="submit" name="submit" value="Und ab!" />
</form>

IMAGE SUBMIT Variablen-Bezeichner

Zur Ãœbertragung eines Formulars kann auch ein Bild (Image) statt eines Ãœbertragungs-Schalters (Submit-Button) benutzt werden, dessen Tag wie folgt aussieht:

<input type="image" src="image.gif" name="sub" />

Klickt der Benutzer irgendwo auf das Bild, wird das entsprechende Formular an den Web-Server übertragen. Hierbei sind zwei zusätzliche Variablen vorhanden, sub_x und sub_y. Diese enthalten die Koordinaten des Klick-Punktes innerhalb des Bildes. Die Erfahreneren werden sagen, dass die Variablen, die vom Browser gesendet werden einen Punkt enthalten statt eines Unterstrichs. Dieser Punkt wird von PHP automatisch in einen Unterstrich verwandelt.

HTTP-Cookies

PHP unterstützt HTTP-Cookies, wie sie in » Netscape's Spec definiert sind. Cookies ermöglichen die Daten-Speicherung innerhalb der jeweiligen Browser-Umgebung zur Weiterleitung oder wiederholten Identifikation von Benutzern. Sie können Cookies erzeugen, indem Sie die Funktion setcookie() benutzen. Cookies sind Teil des HTTP-Headers, deshalb muss die setcookie-Funktion aufgerufen werden, bevor irgendeine Ausgabe an den Browser gesendet wird. Dabei handelt es sich um die gleiche Einschränkung, die auch für die header()-Funktion gilt. Cookie-Daten stehen dann sowohl in den entsprechenden Cookie-Daten-Arrays, wie zum Beispiel $_COOKIE, $HTTP_COOKIE_VARS als auch in $_REQUEST zur Verfügung. Für weitere Details und Beispiele lesen Sie bitte die setcookie()-Seite des Handbuchs.

Wenn Sie einer einzelnen Cookie-Variable mehrere Werte zuweisen wollen, müssen Sie diese als Array übertragen. Zum Beispiel:

<?php
setcookie
("MeinCookie[foo]""Ich teste 1"time()+3600);
setcookie("MeinCookie[bar]""Ich teste 2"time()+3600);
?>

Das erzeugt zwei einzelne Cookies obwohl MeinCookie in Ihrem Skript nun ein einziges Array ist. Wenn Sie nur ein Cookie mit mehreren Werten setzen wollen, sollten Sie zuerst serialize() oder explode() auf das Array anwenden.

Bedenken Sie, dass ein Cookie ein vorhergehendes Cookie gleichen Namens überschreibt, es sei denn, der Pfad oder die Domain ist anders. Für eine Warenkorb-Anwendung können Sie deshalb z.B. einen Zähler bilden und diesen weiterleiten:

Beispiel #4 Ein setcookie()-Beispiel

<?php
if (isset($_COOKIE['zaehler'])) {
    
$zaehler $_COOKIE['zaehler'] + 1;
} else {
    
$zaehler 1;
}
setcookie("zaehler"$zaehlertime()+3600);
setcookie("Cart[$zaehler]"$itemtime()+3600);
?>

Punkte in eingelesenen Variablen-Bezeichnern

Normalerweise verändert PHP die Variablen-Bezeichner nicht, wenn sie einem Skript übergeben werden. Es sollte aber beachtet werden, dass der Punkt (".") kein gültiger Bestandteil eines Variablen-Bezeichners ist. Deshalb achten Sie auf folgendes:

<?php
$varname
.ext;  /* ungültiger Variablen-Bezeichner */
?>
Der PHP-Parser sieht eine Variable namens $varname, gefolgt von einem Zeichenketten-Verbindungs-Operator, dieser wiederrum gefolgt von der offenen Zeichenkette 'ext' (also nicht eingegrenzt durch '"' und auch keinem Schlüssel oder reserviertem Bezeichner entsprechend). Das kann natürlich nicht zum gewünschten Ergebnis führen.

Deshalb ist es wichtig zu wissen, dass PHP in den ihm übergebenen Variablen alle Punkte (.) automatisch durch einen Unterstrich (_) ersetzt.

Bestimmung des Variablen-Typs

Da PHP den Typ der Variablen bestimmt und (im Allgemeinen) selbst eine entsprechende Umformung vornimmt, ist es nicht immer klar, welchen Typ eine Variable gerade hat. PHP beinhaltet einige Funktionen, die dies herausfinden, wie zum Beispiel: gettype(), is_array(), is_float(), is_int(), is_object() und is_string(). Lesen Sie bitte auch das Kapitel über Typen.


49 BenutzerBeiträge:
- Beiträge aktualisieren...
POSTer
13.11.2009 23:28
Here's a simple function to give you an uncorrupted version of $_POST:

<?php
// Function to fix up PHP's messing up POST input containing dots, etc.
function getRealPOST() {
   
$pairs = explode("&", file_get_contents("php://input"));
   
$vars = array();
    foreach (
$pairs as $pair) {
       
$nv = explode("=", $pair);
       
$name = urldecode($nv[0]);
       
$value = urldecode($nv[1]);
       
$vars[$name] = $value;
    }
    return
$vars;
}
?>
chris at chriswere dot com
20.01.2009 13:55
In addition to anonymous' list of characters that are replaced with an underscore.

If you use arrays in your variable names, the second and subsequent levels are not replaced. For example:

<input name="a field name" />
<input name="data[first data]" />
<input name="data[second data]" />

will produce $_POST as follows:

array(
   "a_field_name" => ...
   data => array(
       "first data" => ...
       "second data" => ...
   )
);

I expect this is the same with other characters, not just space, but haven't tested this.

Ideally if register globals is off, this replacement wouldn't occur as it isn't necessary - but we have to deal with it.
wayne
11.04.2008 13:52
I liked what Jonas Lindel�v suggested (below) and added a bit more to it:
Removes the $_POST data and puts it in the session to avoid the F5 <refresh> msg that browsers give
If $_POST data is received it is serialized to session and the page is redirected to itself without POST data.
If $_GET data is received it converts arrays (from checkbox or select with multiple selections) to comma separated string and redirects the page to itself with the nicer GET string
- instead of index.php?col%5B%5D=1&col%5B%5D=2&col%5B%5D=3&col%5B%5D=4
- we get index.php?col=1,2,3,4

<?php
if($_POST or ($_GET and (!isset($_SESSION['skipnextget'])))) { //is there POST or GET data we should look at
   
if($_GET) { //is there GET data?
       
$newgetarr = array();
        foreach(
$_GET as $key => $value) {
            if(
is_array($value)) {
               
$newvalue = implode(',',$value); //if it's an array, convert it to comma separated
           
} else {
               
$newvalue = $value;
            }
           
$newgetarr[] = $key.'='.$newvalue;
        }
       
$newget = implode('&',$newgetarr);
       
$_SESSION['skipnextget'] = 1;
    }
    foreach(
$_POST as $key => $value) {
       
$this[$key] = $value;
    }
   
$_SESSION['postvars'] = serialize($this); //put POST in the session
   
header("Location: http://" .$_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] . $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'] . '?' . $newget); //reload page without POST data and shorter GET data
   
exit();
} else {
//after reloading we'll come right to this spot
   
session_unregister('skipnextget');
    if(isset(
$_SESSION['postvars'])) {
       
$this = unserialize($_SESSION['postvars']); //load the POST variables from the session
       
session_unregister('postvars'); //delete the session stuff
       
return $this;
    }
}
?>
Anonymous
13.02.2008 15:46
The full list of field-name characters that PHP converts to _ (underscore) is the following (not just dot):
chr(32) ( ) (space)
chr(46) (.) (dot)
chr(91) ([) (open square bracket)
chr(128) - chr(159) (various)

PHP irreversibly modifies field names containing these characters in an attempt to maintain compatibility with the deprecated register_globals feature.
pepesantillan at gmail dot com
22.12.2007 0:17
[someone]  on  04-Mar-2003 07:21 wrote:
"...the dot (period, full stop) is not a valid character in a PHP variable name."

That's not completely correct, consider this example:
$GLOBALS['foo.bar'] = 'baz';
echo ${'foo.bar'};
This will output baz as expected.
_____________________________________________

Its a really old post but I just wanted to point out...
thats a key he is talking about - 'foo.bar' - not a variable, and a key can be a string or a number.
vierubino dot r3m0oFdisB1T at gmail dot com
25.08.2007 6:12
When you are using checkboxes to submit multiple choices, there is no need to use the complex method further down the page where you assign a unique name to each checkbox.

Instead, just name each checkbox as the same array, e.g.:

<input type="checkbox" name="items[]" value="foo" />
<input type="checkbox" name="items[]" value="bar" />
<input type="checkbox" name="items[]" value="baz" />

This way your $_POST["items"] variable will return as an array containing all and only the checkboxes that were clicked on.
t.montg AT gmail DOT com
27.04.2007 2:05
For anyone else having trouble figuring out how to access values in a SELECT element from a POST or GET form, you can't set the "id" attribute to the same thing as your "name" attribute.  i.e. don't do this:

<?php
 
//Not so good
 
<select multiple="multiple" id="selectElem" name="selectElem[]">
     <
option value="ham">Ham</option>
     <
option value="cheese">Cheese</option>
     <
option value="hamcheese">Ham and Cheese</option>
  </
select>
?>

If you do the above, the variable $_POST['selectElem'] will not be set.  Instead, either change the id or name attribute so that they are dissimilar.  i.e. do this:

<?php
 
//So good (notice the new "id" value)
 
<select multiple="multiple" id="selectElemId" name="selectElem[]">
     <
option value="ham">Ham</option>
     <
option value="cheese">Cheese</option>
     <
option value="hamcheese">Ham and Cheese</option>
  </
select>
?>

Then you can access the value(s) of the SELECT element through the array $_POST['selectElem'][] or $_GET['selectElem'][].  It took me quite some time to figure out the problem.
Hyan Christian
25.05.2006 9:51
Just to complete Murat TASARSU's post in this page.
I hope this will help anyone who is going to add it with fsockopen

<html>
  <body>
    <form method="post" action="">
      <input name="fruit" value="banana" /><br />
      <input name="color" value="yellow" /><br />
      <input type="submit" value="Click It">
    </form>
    <br />
    <b>POST</b> :
<?php
$be_var
= $_POST;
foreach (
$be_var as $key => $value ) {
$be_var = $be_var."&".$key."=".$value;
}
echo
str_replace( "Array&", "", $be_var ); // fruit=banana&color=yellow
?>
  </body>
</html>
ch1902uk at hotmail dot com
18.03.2006 20:47
Regarding image input buttons, above where it says:

"When the user clicks somewhere on the image, the accompanying form will be transmitted to the server with two *additional* variables, sub_x and sub_y. These contain the coordinates of the user click within the image."

This is the case with Firefox (and probably other standards browsers), however my experience with Internet Explorer is that when image inputs are clicked, they only submit the location of the click on the button and *not* the name of the input.

So if you have a form to move/delete entries like this

entry[]  [delete_0] [up_0] [down_0]
entry[]   [delete_1] [up_1] [down_1]
entry[]   [delete_2] [up_2] [down_2]

Then submitting the form in firefox will give you post variables such as

<?php
   $_POST
['delete_2'];   // "Delete" - button value
  
$_POST['delete_2_x'];   // 23 - x coord
  
$_POST['delete_2_y'];   // 3 - y coord
?>

In IE you only get

<?php
   $_POST
['delete_2_x'];   // 23 - x coord
  
$_POST['delete_2_y'];   // 3 - y coord
?>

So if you are checking for what button was clicked do something like this

<?php
  
for ($i = 0; $i < count($_POST['entry']); $i++)
   {
      if (isset(
$_POST['delete_' . $i . '_x']))
      {
        
// do delete
     
}
   }
?>
IMarvinTPA at bigfoot dot com
21.11.2005 6:52
I saw a note from
jan.gacioch at motorola dot com
posted on
19-Feb-2004 11:52
"Just a correction regarding 'cscotti@ifrance' contribution: code '$first = $item_value;' should be place just BEFORE the 'else if' condition and NOT AFTER."

This is not true, if the form has things posted in an unusual order, the $first value will be from a completely different variable.

Also, nobody mentioned this, but in the PHP.ini file there is an option called "always_populate_raw_post_data".  It'll fill in that variable.  It took me a while to find it.

I think it is bad to consider form name fields to be case sensitive, so my version uses all uppercase form values.

I also use a Request function to pull the data out of the global variables so I don't get warnings or errors when I try to access an undefined variable.  I usually just want an empty string for them.  (I have the same for Session and Server.)

UCase is shorter than strtoupper and I have a lot of converted ASP code and it was easier to create alias functions than to replace them.

<?

$_ATBREQUEST
= multi_post_item();

function
multi_post_item() {
   
$rawpost = Globals('HTTP_RAW_POST_DATA');
   
$array_output = array();
   
$raw_input_items = split("&", addbit3(Server("QUERY_STRING"), $rawpost, "&"));
    foreach (
$raw_input_items as $input_item) {
       
// split this item into name/value pair
        //Print $input_item . BR;
       
if ($input_item != "") {
           
$item = split("=", $input_item);
           
// form item name
           
$item_name = ucase(urldecode($item[0]));
           
// form item value
           
if (empty($item[1]))
               
$item_value = "";
            else
               
$item_value = urldecode($item[1]);
           
            if ( !isset(
$array_output[$item_name]) ) {
               
$array_output[$item_name] = $item_value;           
            } elseif ( !
is_array($array_output[$item_name]) ) {
               
$first = $array_output[$item_name];
               
$array_output[$item_name] = array();
               
$array_output[$item_name][]= $first;
               
$array_output[$item_name][]= $item_value;
            } else {
               
$array_output[$item_name][]= $item_value;
            }
        }
    }
    return
$array_output;
}

function
Request2($param){
    if (empty(
$_REQUEST[$param])) {
        return
"";
    }
    else
        return
$_REQUEST[$param];
}

function
Request($param){
    global
$_ATBREQUEST;
   
$uparam = ucase($param);
    if (empty(
$_ATBREQUEST[$uparam])) {
        return
Request2($param);
    }
    else{
        if (
is_array($_ATBREQUEST[$uparam])){
            return
implode(", ", $_ATBREQUEST[$uparam]);
        }
        else
            return
$_ATBREQUEST[$uparam];
    }
}
//We want the array
function RequestArray($param){
    global
$_ATBREQUEST;
   
$uparam = ucase($param);
    if (empty(
$_ATBREQUEST[$uparam])) {
        return array(
Request2($param));
    }
    else{
        return
$_ATBREQUEST[$uparam];
    }
}
//AddBit 1 and 2 are commas and semicolons respectively.
function AddBit3($mystr, $mynew, $mysep) {
    if (
$mystr . "" == "")
       
$mystr = $mynew;
    else
       
$mystr .= $mysep . $mynew;
    return
$mystr;
}

function
Server($param){
    if (empty(
$_SERVER[$param]))
        return
"";
    else
        return
$_SERVER[$param];
}

function
UCase($str){
    return
strtoupper($str);
}

?>
aescomputer AT yahoo DOT com
28.10.2005 8:01
Here are two usefull functions for forms:

<?php
// clean html tags out of url attributes
   
if(!empty($_REQUEST)){
        foreach(
$_REQUEST as $x => $y){
           
$_REQUEST[$x] = str_replace('<', '&lt;', str_replace('>', '&gt;', $y));
        }
    }

// replace carrage returns in url attributes with <br>
   
if(!empty($_REQUEST)){
        foreach(
$_REQUEST as $x => $y){
           
$_REQUEST[$x] = str_replace("\n", '<br>', $y);
        }
    }
?>
mordae at mordae dot net
17.07.2005 14:47
Small note to previous post; $this can not be redeclared in PHP 5.
Jonas Lindeløv
11.07.2005 0:49
Here is my solution to the following annoying problems:
 - When POSTing data and updating/going back one page, an annoying message appears from the browser since the POST data has been preserved.
 - External user-inputs (POST and GET) are devided into two arrays (POST and GET).

Problems often solved with rather exotic solutions, dependent on the specific context. This is my exotic solution, independent of context. A little code-block to be copy-pasted to the top of the desired PHP document. Performing in about 0.1 ms, session_start() not included + around 0.01 ms pr. input variable.
Filestreams and URL modifications must be executed before this class is executed.

Overview: collects POST and GET data in a class. When data is POSTed, the data is serialized into a session variable, page is reloaded (without POST data) and the data is unserialized into the class again for use through the rest of the document.

<?PHP
session_start
();

class
_xvar {
    function
_xvar() {
        if(!
$_SESSION['xvars_serialized']) {
           
// If data has just been recieved, it is saved in $this and the current URL is builded.
           
foreach ($_GET as $key => $value) $this->{$key} = $value;
            foreach(
$_POST as $key => $value) $this->{$key} = $value;
           
$this->doc_url = 'http://' .$_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] .$_SERVER['PHP_SELF'] .'?' .$_SERVER['argv'][0];
           
           
// If no POST data is recieved, nothing more is to be done. If POST data is recieved it is serialized to session and the page is redirected to itself with GET data but without POST data.
           
if($_POST) {
               
$_SESSION['xvars_serialized'] = serialize($this);
               
header('Location: ' .$this->doc_url);
                exit();
            }
        }

       
// Just after the above redirecting, GET and POST data is unserialized into the object.
       
else {
           
$this = unserialize($_SESSION['xvars_serialized']);
           
$_SESSION['xvars_serialized'] = 0;
        }
    }
}
$_XVAR = new _xvar;

// Calling the data throughout the document.
echo $_XVAR->foo;
?>

I find it very useful in my project-management systems with lots of forms and links as user-inputs. The code is completly $_GET and $_POST free! :-)
krydprz at iit dot edu
3.05.2005 22:14
This post is with regards to handling forms that have more than one submit button.

Suppose we have an HTML form with a submit button specified like this:

<input type="submit" value="Delete" name="action_button">

Normally the 'value' attribute of the HTML 'input' tag (in this case "Delete") that creates the submit button can be accessed in PHP after post like this:

<?
$_POST
['action_button'];
?>

We of course use the 'name' of the button as an index into the $_POST array.

This works fine, except when we want to pass more information with the click of this particular button.

Imagine a scenario where you're dealing with user management in some administrative interface.  You are presented with a list of user names queried from a database and wish to add a "Delete" and "Modify" button next to each of the names in the list.  Naturally the 'value' of our buttons in the HTML form that we want to display will be "Delete" and "Modify" since that's what we want to appear on the buttons' faceplates.

Both buttons (Modify and Delete) will be named "action_button" since that's what we want to index the $_POST array with.  In other words, the 'name' of the buttons along cannot carry any uniquely identifying information if we want to process them systematically after submit. Since these buttons will exist for every user in the list, we need some further way to distinguish them, so that we know for which user one of the buttons has been pressed.

Using arrays is the way to go.  Assuming that we know the unique numerical identifier of each user, such as their primary key from the database, and we DON'T wish to protect that number from the public, we can make the 'action_button' into an array and use the user's unique numerical identifier as a key in this array.

Our HTML code to display the buttons will become:

<input type="submit" value="Delete" name="action_button[0000000002]">
<input type="submit" value="Modify" name="action_button[0000000002]">

The 0000000002 is of course the unique numerical identifier for this particular user.

Then when we handle this form in PHP we need to do the following to extract both the 'value' of the button ("Delete" or "Modify") and the unique numerical identifier of the user we wish to affect (0000000002 in this case). The following will print either "Modify" or "Delete", as well as the unique number of the user:

<?
$submitted_array
= array_keys($_POST['action_button']);
echo (
$_POST['action_button'][$submitted_array[0]] . " " . $submitted_array[0]);
?>

$submitted_array[0] carries the 0000000002.
When we index that into the $_POST['action_button'], like we did above, we will extract the string that was used as 'value' in the HTML code 'input' tag that created this button.

If we wish to protect the unique numerical identifier, we must use some other uniquely identifying attribute of each user. Possibly that attribute should be encrypted when output into the form for greater security.

Enjoy!
user: "someuser" at mai1server "ua.fm"
2.05.2005 21:17
Numerous string like:

if (isset($_POST["var1"]))
    $var1=$_POST["var1"];
else $var1='';
...
if (isset($_POST["varN"]))
    $varN=$_POST["varN"];
else $varN='';

Can be replaced with:

get_superglobal_vars_from_POST('var1',...,'varN');

function get_superglobal_vars_from_POST()
{
    $numargs = func_num_args();
    $setargs = 0; // for counting set variables
    for ($i=0; $i<$numargs; $i++)
    {
    $varname=func_get_arg($i);
    if (!isset($_POST[$varname]))
        $result='';
    else
    {
        $result=$_POST[$varname];
        $setargs++;
    }   
    $GLOBALS["$varname"]=$result;
    }
    return $setargs; // who cares?
}
tim at timpauly dot com
30.04.2005 15:57
This code module can be added to every form using require_once().
It will process any and all form data, prepending each variable with
a unique identifier (so you know which method was used to get the data).

My coding could be neater, but this sure makes processing forms much easier!

<?php
// -----------------------------------------------------------------
// Basic Data PHP module. This module captures all GET, POST
// and COOKIE data and processes it into variables.
// Coded April, 2005 by Timothy J. Pauly
// www.timpauly.com
// -----------------------------------------------------------------
//
// coo_ is prepended to each cookie variable
// get_ is prepended to each GET variable
// pos_ is prepended to each POST variable
// ses_ is prepended to each SESSION variable
// ser_ is prepended to each SERVER variable

session_start(); // initialize session data
$ArrayList = array("_POST", "_GET", "_SESSION", "_COOKIE", "_SERVER"); // create an array of the autoglobal arrays
// we want to process

foreach($ArrayList as $gblArray) // process each array in the array list
{
  
$prefx = strtolower(substr($gblArray,1,3))."_"; // derive the prepend string
// from the autoglobal type name
  
$tmpArray = $$gblArray;
  
$keys = array_keys($tmpArray); // extract the keys from the array being processed
  
foreach($keys as $key) // process each key
   
{
      
   
$arcnt = count($tmpArray[$key]);
   
    if (
$arcnt > 1) // Break down passed arrays and
// process each element seperately
   
{
     
$lcount = 0;
      foreach (
$tmpArray[$key] as $dval)
        {
          
$prkey = $prefx.$key; // create a new key string
// with the prepend string added
          
$prdata['$prkey'] = $dval; // this step could be eliminated
          
${$prkey}[$lcount] = $prdata['$prkey']; //create new key and insert the data
          
$lcount++;
        }
     
        } else {
// process passed single variables
       
               
$prkey = $prefx.$key; // create a new key string
// with the prepend string added
               
$prdata['$prkey'] = $tmpArray[$key]; // insert the data from
// the old array into the new one
               
$$prkey = $prdata['$prkey']; // create the newly named
// (prepended) key pair using variable variables :-)
              
               
              
}
    }
}

// -------------------------------------------------------------
?>
tmk-php at infeline dot org
8.04.2005 18:38
To handle forms with or without [] you can do something like this:

    function repairPost($data) {
        // combine rawpost and $_POST ($data) to rebuild broken arrays in $_POST
        $rawpost = "&".file_get_contents("php://input");
        while(list($key,$value)= each($data)) {
            $pos = preg_match_all("/&".$key."=([^&]*)/i",$rawpost, $regs, PREG_PATTERN_ORDER);       
            if((!is_array($value)) && ($pos > 1)) {
                $qform[$key] = array();
                for($i = 0; $i < $pos; $i++) {
                    $qform[$key][$i] = urldecode($regs[1][$i]);
                }
            } else {
                $qform[$key] = $value;
            }
        }
        return $qform;
    }

    // --- MAIN

    $_POST = repairPost($_POST);

The function will check every field in the $_POST with the raw post data and rebuild the arrays that got lost.
agup at cpr dot org
16.03.2005 2:43
If you have multiple checkboxes that you want to submit from an html form to process elsewhere, you might try using this methodology:

1) create a unique id number for each row in the table
2) assign that unique row id to each checkbox input name
3) pass the total number of rows as a hidden value in the form
4) recover all the checkbox booleans by iterating through all the unique settings.
5) on the downstream page you can assign any value you want to the variable before writing it to the database or whatever you need to do. For example; you can assign the value 0 if the boolean for the checkbox is FALSE.

row=0;
do{
<form name="some_name" action="some_action.php" method="post">
<td><input type="checkbox" name="unique_item[<?echo$row?>]">
<INPUT TYPE="hidden" name="row_count" value="<?echo$row?>"></INPUT>
<INPUT TYPE="submit" name="....">
.
.
row++;
}
while (something);
</table>
</form>

Upon submit, all the unique checkbox booleans can then be recovered on another PHP page using:

$some_data = $_POST['some_data'];
$row_count = $_POST['row_count'];

$row=0;
do {

if($some_data[$row]){
...do something...e.g. assign a variable, write to db, etc.
}

if(!$some_data[$row]){
...do something...e.g. assign a variable, write to db, etc.
}

$row++;
}

while ($row<$row_count);

I left out alot of syntax since this example is simply illustrative to cover multiple scenarios. Don't forget to always validate form data before entering it into a database. I hope this helps.
Murat TASARSU
3.03.2005 1:29
if you want your multiple select returned variable in comma seperated form you can use this. hope that helps. regards...

$myvariable
   Array ( [0] => one [1] => two [2] => three )
turns into
   one,two,three

<?php
$myvariable
="";
$myseperator="";
foreach (
$_POST["myvariable"] as $v) {
if (!isset(
$nofirstcomma)) $nofirstcomma=0; else $myseperator=",";
$myvariable = $myvariable.$myseperator.$v;
}
echo
$myvariable;
?>
jlratwil at yahoo dot com
2.02.2005 2:35
To get multiple selected (with "multiple" ) lists in <select> tag, make sure that the "name" attribute is added to braces, like this:

<select multiple="multiple" name="users[]">
     <option value="foo">Foo</option>
     <option value="bar">Bar</option>
</select>

When submitted to PHP file (assume that you have a complete form) it will return an array of strings. Otherwise, it will just return the last element of the <select> tag you selected.
__kbanks at (__ignoreunderscores) dot gmail dot com
17.01.2005 12:05
Hi all:

I'm presently building a solution to programmatically build, view, and validate HTML forms when I came across the ol' PHP non-scalar form variable handling problem.  Because my form validator class would really have no way of knowing if a given form variable was meant to be scalar or not, I decided to TREAT ALL PHP FORM VARIABLES AS ARRAYS, i.e., to use the '[]' syntax for all variables, scalar or not.  This way, the form designer need not remember to specify the '[]' syntax, and the Form->HTML transformer need not scan for every input within the form, looking for duplicate names.  This also eliminates the risk of losing data you meant to keep in an array but to which you forgot to apply the '[]' syntax. 

You may then either treat all form variables as arrays in your form handling code, or you may, as I intend to do, filter each HTML request through a Front Controller (desc. in Fowler, PoEAA).  The Front Controller would convert all arrays of length 1 to a scalar variable and leave multi-element arrays as they are.  This should essentially convert PHP's handling of non-scalar form variables to that of ASP's (or slightly better, since multiple form values of the same name will actually be arrays, not just comma-seperated values). 

This way my Form Validator class can just check if the input to validate is an array, and then apply some constraint across each element in the array.
dreptack at op dot pl
2.01.2005 21:33
I needed to post html form through image input element. But my problem was I had to use multiple image-buttons, each one for a single row of form table. Pressing the button was mention to tell script to delete this row from table and also (in the same request) save other data from the form table.
I wrote simple test-script to see what variable I should check for in a script:

I have a html document:

<form action="test.php" method="post">
<input type="image" name="varscalar" src="/images/no.gif" />
<input type="image" name="vararray[12]" src="/images/no.gif" />
</form>

And a php script:
<?php
 
if ($_POST) {
    echo
"post: <pre>"; print_r($_POST); echo '</pre>';
  }
?>

What I've discovered suprised me a lot.

After hitting on varscalar:

post:
Array
(
    [varscalar_x] => 6
    [varscalar_y] => 7
)

After hitting on upper right corner of vararray:

post:
Array
(
    [vararray] => Array
        (
            [12] => 2
        )

)

This mean when clicking on image-type input element, which name is an array, only y-part of a value is remembered.

The result is the same on: php 4.1.2 on Win98se, php 4.3.9-1 on linux
mattij at nitro fi no at no dot no
5.11.2004 16:39
If you try to refer or pass HTML-form data which has arrays with javascript remember that you should point to that array like this

<script type="text/javascript">
    window.opener.document.forms[0]["to[where][we][point]"];
</script>
pascal dot poncet at netconsult dot com
28.10.2004 17:33
Concerning the use of both javascript and php in working with forms :

In a php code, it's quiet easy and practical to use names like "fieldname[]" in checkbox input type html elements. You will then retrieve the value(s) transmitted in the "fieldname" array type variable.

But a difficulty appears in coding some javascript function able to manipulate those fields values to verify them, as "fieldname[]" must not be recognize directly as an array in the script.

Here is a nice way to solve this question :

(html code)
  <form method="post" action="..." onsubmit="return verifyForm(this)">
    <input type="checkbox" name="colors[]" value="black"> black<br>
    <input type="checkbox" name="colors[]" value="white"> white<br>
    <input type="checkbox" name="colors[]" value="other"> other color<br>
  </form>

(javascript code)
  function verifyForm(form) {
    var selColors=new String();
    for(i=0;i<form["colors[]"].length;i++)
      if(form["colors[]"][i].checked) selColors+=form["colors[]"][i].value;
    if(selColors=="") msgErr="You have to check at least one choice of color";
    ...
  }

Of course, you may also verify anything else about the checked values, like the value itself, only by using 'form["colors[]"][i].value' instead of '...checked'.

Happy to help you,
Pascal

PS : apologying for my bad english.
任侠(hsh_crack at tom dot com)
3.08.2004 21:12
a simple example:

<?
if(!isset($_POST["username"]))
{
?>
<form action=<? echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'] ?> method="post">
&#22995;&#21517;:<input type="text" name="username"><br>
&#30005;&#23376;&#37038;&#20214;:<input type="text" name="email"><br>
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="&#25552;&#20132;">
</form>
<?
}
else{echo
$_POST["username"];} ?>
lennynyktyk at yahoo dot com
9.07.2004 23:42
When dealing with multiple select boxes and the name=some_name[] so that PHP will understand that is needs to interpet the input as an array an not as a single value. If you want to access this in Javascript you should assign an id attribute to the select box as well as the name attribute. Then proceed to use the id attribute in Javascript to reference the select box and the name attribute to reference the select box in PHP.
Example

<select multiple id="select_id" name="select_name[]">
....

</select>

<?PHP
   
echo $select_name[0];
?>

<script language="javascript">
  document.forms[0].select_id.options[0].selected = true;
</script>

I hope you get the idea
arjini at mac dot com
27.03.2004 8:48
When dealing with form inputs named_like_this[5] and javascript, instead of trying to get PHP to do something fancy as mentioned below, just try this on the javascript side of things:

<form name="myForm">

<script>
my_fancy_input_name = 'array_of_things[1]';
/* now just refer to it like this in the dom tree

document[myForm][my_fancy_input_name].value

etc*/
</script>

<input type="text" name="array_of_things[1]" value="1"/>
</form>

No fancy PHP, in fact, you shouldn't need to change your PHP at all.
jan.gacioch at motorola dot com
19.02.2004 20:52
Just a correction regarding 'cscotti@ifrance' contribution: code '$first = $item_value;' should be place just BEFORE the 'else if' condition and NOT AFTER.
So correct code would be:

function multi_post_item() {
    $array_output = array();
    $raw_input_items = split("&", $_SERVER["QUERY_STRING"]);
    foreach ($raw_input_items as $input_item) {
        // split this item into name/value pair
        $item = split("=", $input_item);
        // form item name
        $item_name = urldecode($item[0]);
        // form item value
        $item_value = urldecode($item[1]);
        if ( !isset($array_output[$item_name]) ) {
            $array_output[$item_name] = $item_value;
            $first = $item_value;
        } elseif ( !is_array($array_output[$item_name]) ) {
            $array_output[$item_name] = array();
            $array_output[$item_name][]= $first;
            $array_output[$item_name][]= $item_value;
        } else {
            $array_output[$item_name][]= $item_value;
        }
    }
    return $array_output;
}
epr3
11.02.2004 22:40
there is more simple to generate the checkbox and recognize
which box is clicked

<?php

echo '<script language="JavaScript" type="text/JavaScript">

var t = 0;

</script>'
;

for(
$i = 0 ;$i <5 ;$i++){
 
  echo
'
  <script language="JavaScript" type="text/JavaScript">
 
  t++;
 
  document.writeln(t);
  document.writeln("<input type=\"checkbox\" name=\"cbx_foo[]\" value=\"" + t + "\">");
 
  </script>
  '
;
}

foreach(
$_POST['cbx_foo'] as $value) {

    echo
"<BR>You clicked checkbox number " . $value . "\n";   
}

?>
jim at jamesdavis dot it
22.01.2004 20:59
How to pass a numerically indexed array.
This is the part inside the form. Notice that the name is not 'english[$r]' which you would normally write, but 'english[]'. PHP adds the index when it receives the post and it starts at 0.

<?php

for ($r=0; $r <= count($english)-1; $r++){
         echo
"<TEXTAREA NAME='english[]'>".$english[$r]."</TEXTAREA>";       
         
}
?>
<?php

And this will get it out at the other end
function retrieve_english(){
    for (
$r=0; $r <= count($_POST['english'])-1; $r++){
        echo
$_POST['english'][$r]."<BR>";
    }
}
?>

Keys are useful but so are numerical indices!
Cheers everyone
darren at sullivan dot net
1.12.2003 17:37
This function is a simple solution for getting the array of selectes from a checkbox list or a dropdown list out of the Querry String. I took an example posted earlier and simplified it.

function multi_post_item($repeatedString) {
    // Gets the specified array of multiple selects and/or
    // checkboxes from the Query String
    $ArrayOfItems = array();
    $raw_input_items = split("&", $_SERVER["QUERY_STRING"]);
    foreach ($raw_input_items as $input_item) {
        $itemPair = split("=", $input_item);
        if ($itemPair[0] == $repeatedString) {
            $ArrayOfItems[] = $itemPair[1];
        }
    }
    return $ArrayOfItems;
}

Use the name of the field as the agrument. Example:
$Order = $_GET['Order'];
$Name = $_GET['Name'];
$States = multi_post_item('States');
$Products = multi_post_item('Products');

Be sure to check for NULL if there are no selections or boxes checked.

7.11.2003 6:07
It's been driving me mad, but I've finally worked out the only way to reliably allow form data to be fed back into a form (for editing a record, for instance) is like this:

echo "<input type='text' name='varname' ";
if(isset($existingvalue))
   echo "value=\"".htmlspecialchars(stripslashes($existingvalue))."\" ";
echo "/>";

This assumes that variables have been escaped (such as addslashes) after being retrieved from the database or after being received from a (probably this) form.

Note the type of quotes used in the code above: the value attribute must use escaped double-quotes, and the echo command must use double-quotes, or errors occur when single quotes appear in the data. htmlspecialchars will protect the form from errors caused by data that contains double quote marks, and it stops errors occurring when triangle brackets < > are present in the data.

Alas, to make your site display properly, you must also use htmlspecialchars every time string data is displayed to the user.

There might be an easier way of allowing data to safely be put back into a form, but if there is, I've spent a lot of time not finding it.
soeren at hattel dot dk
6.11.2003 13:07
The decision in PHP to translate a query string like:

a=2&a=3&a=4

into one single variable a=4 is simply strupid!

The "wonderful" hack allowing multiple values to be read only if one uses:

a[]=2&a[]=3&a[]=4

is - at first sight - a nice feature but soon become a pain in the a..!

In ASP and ASPX the first situation is handled as:

a=2,3,4

which is better than the PHP behaviour but still bad (what if your variable values contain commas?).

It seems to me that the proper behaviour would be:

a=2&a=3&a=4

automatically generates an array with all the variables inside. I know this would require proper error handling but evevy things does anyway!
kevinrlat nospam dot ccs dot neu dot edu
7.08.2003 19:47
if you use an array of checkboxes to submit info to a database or what have you, be careful of the case when no boxes are checked.  for example:

<form method="post">
<input type="checkbox" name="checkstuff[]" value="0">
<input type="checkbox" name="checkstuff[]" value="1">
<input type="checkbox" name="checkstuff[]" value="2">

. . .

</form>

if these are submitted and none are checked, the $_POST['checkstuff'] variable will not contain an empty array, but a NULL value.  this bothered me when trying to implode() the values of my checkboxes to insert into a database, i got a warning saying the 2nd argument was the wrong type. 

hope this helps!
-kevin
nospam at thenerdshow dot calm
12.07.2003 12:04
I've combined the method of converting old code suggested by solar at heliacal dot net into the improved script below.  This one works whether the submit is get or post and, as in my previous contribution, sets any unsubmitted variables to null, preventing errors.  This supercedes my previous post below (if it hasn't been deleted yet).

$expected=array(

'name',    //    Only accept these variables from a submit!
'email',
'favorite_color'

); foreach ($expected as $formvar)
$$formvar = (isset(${"_$_SERVER[REQUEST_METHOD]"}[$formvar]))?
   ${"_$_SERVER[REQUEST_METHOD]"}[$formvar]:NULL;
nospam at thenerdshow dot calm
9.07.2003 14:57
you can convert old code to work with register_globals=off without sacrificing security.  Or maybe you like working with variables the old way better.  I know I do!

I looked all over for something like this so here it is:

$expected=array(

'name',    //    Only accept these variables from a submit!
'email',
'favorite_color'

); for ($i=0;$i < count($expected);$i++)
    $$expected[$i] = (isset($_GET[$expected[$i]]))?$_GET[$expected[$i]]:NULL;

    // This is a test.
echo "Name: $name<br>";
echo "Email: $email<br>";
echo "Fav. Color: $favorite_color<br>";
cscotti@ifrance
9.07.2003 13:53
In reply to the second post:

This function construct an HTTP vars array

It is useful for javascript/dom incompatibility with form_input_item[] names for checkboxes, multiple selects, etc.

function multi_post_item() {
    $array_output = array();
    $raw_input_items = split("&", $_SERVER["QUERY_STRING"]);
    foreach ($raw_input_items as $input_item) {
           // split this item into name/value pair
           $item = split("=", $input_item);
           // form item name
           $item_name = urldecode($item[0]);
           // form item value
           $item_value = urldecode($item[1]);
           if (!isset($array_output[$item_name]) ) {
                $array_output[$item_name] = $item_value; 
           }else if (!is_array($array_output[$item_name])){
                   $first = $item_value;
                   $array_output[$item_name] = array();
                   $array_output[$item_name][]= $first;
                   $array_output[$item_name][]= $item_value;
           }else{
                   $array_output[$item_name][]= $item_value;
           }
    }
   return $array_output;
}
mraymer at universal-solutions dot net
28.05.2003 14:37
A further thought about the checkbox without check mentioned above.  Rather than writing in a HIDDEN element.  Why not have your validation code check for the variable of the checkbox like so:

Assume HTML form has the following unchecked checkbox:

<INPUT TYPE='CHECKBOX' NAME="CATEGORY[]">Category Name</INPUT>

then your ACTION script in the form points to a script which has:

if (!isset($checkbox))
  {
  CATEGORY[] = "off";
  }

If you were dynamically creating the checkboxs, then, most likely, you would have your hands on the keys for each CATEGORY and you could create something like:

while (list($cat_id,$cat_title) = each($categories))
  {
    if (isset($category))
      {
    if (!$category[$cat_id])
      {
        $category[$cat_id] = "off";
      }
    else
      {
        $category[$cat_id] = "on";
      }
      }
    else
      {
    $category[$cat_id] = "off";
      }
  }

Assuming that you have an array named $categories constructed with unique keys and category titles.
un shift at yahoo dot com
1.04.2003 20:07
This function takes a recurring form item from php://input and loads it into an array - useful for javascript/dom incompatibility with form_input_item[] names for checkboxes, multiple selects, etc.  The fread maxes out at 100k on this one.  I guess a more portable option would be pulling in ini_get('post_max_size') and converting it to an integer.

function multi_post_item($input_item_name) {
     $array_output = array();
     $in_handle = fopen("php://input", "r");
     $raw_input_items = split("&", urldecode(fread($in_handle, 100000)));
     foreach ($raw_input_items as $input_item) {
            // split this item into name/value pair
            $item = split("=", $input_item);
            // form item name
            $item_name = $item[0];
            // form item value
            $item_value = $item[1];
            if ($item_name == $input_item_name) {
                    $array_output[] = $item_value;
            }
     }
     return $array_output;
}
vb at bertola dot eu dot org
19.03.2003 18:38
For what I understand, since PHP 4.3 it is possible to access the content of a POST request (or other methods as well) as an input stream named php://input, example:

readfile("php://input");  
[to display it]

or

$fp = fopen("php://input", "r");   
[to open it and then do whatever you want]

This is very useful to access the content of POST requests which actually have a content (and not just variable-value couples, which appear in $_POST).

This substitutes the old $HTTP_RAW_POST_DATA variable available in some of the previous 4.x versions. It is available for other upload methods different from POST too, but it is not available for POSTs with multipart/form-data content type, since the file upload handler has already taken care of the content in that case.
mail at paulodeon dot com
12.03.2003 14:42
If you have form data that could be coming in via either GET or POST and register_globals is off (as it should be) use the empty() function to find out where the data is coming from, as in the following example

if(empty($_GET)) {
        $clientfilter = $_POST['clientfilter'];
        $branchfilter = $_POST['branchfilter'];
}
if(empty($_POST)) {
    $clientfilter = $_GET['clientfilter'];
    $branchfilter = $_GET['branchfilter'];
}

Big thank you to all the people posting helpful comments on these boards, I dont know what i'd do without you. <a href="www.paulodeon.com">www.paulodeon.com</a>

4.03.2003 16:21
"...the dot (period, full stop) is not a valid character in a PHP variable name."

That's not completely correct, consider this example:
$GLOBALS['foo.bar'] = 'baz';
echo ${'foo.bar'};
This will output baz as expected.
keli at kmdsz dot ro
3.02.2003 16:37
image type inputs apparently return their "value" argument from Mozilla, but not from IEXplorer... :(

example:

 <input type="image" name="sb" value="first" src="first.jpg">

using a mozilla will give you
  $sb="first" AND $sb_x, $sb_y ... whereas from IE there's just no $sb. :(

[this in short form, as I'm still using trackvars :) ]
steiner277 at charter dot net
10.07.2002 2:55
When accessing variables from a post, do NOT put $_POST['fieldname'] in double quotes or you will get an error message.

e.g. the following works fine:

$msg = "The message is:\t" . $_POST['message'] . "\n";

but the following will cause errors:

$msg = "The message is:\t$_POST['message']\n";
hjncom at hjncom dot net
25.05.2002 12:34
I think '[' and ']' are valid characters for name attributes.

http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/interact/forms.html#h-17.4
-> InputType of 'name' attribute is 'CDATA'(not 'NAME' type)

http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/types.html#h-6.2
-> about CDATA('name' attribute is not 'NAME' type!)
...CDATA is a sequence of characters from the document character set and may include character entities...

http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/sgml/entities.html
--> about Character entity references in HTML 4
([ - &#91, ] - &#93)
jesper at codecrew dot dk
11.05.2002 16:12
Just to help others with the same stupid problem i have:

I you use a checkbox in your form, it will only return the value specified in value if it is checked.

ex. <input type="checkbox" value="yes">

in php code you then write

$checkboxchecked = ($checkbox == "yes");

I guess :)
a at b dot c dot de
3.02.2002 13:49
As far as whether or not "[]" in name attributes goes, The HTML4.01 specification only requires that it be a case-insensitive CDATA token, which can quite happily include "[]". Leading and trailing whitespace may be trimmed and shouldn't be used.

It is the id= attribute which is restricted, to a case-sensitive NAME token (not to be confused with a name= attribute).
carl_steinhilber at NOSPAMmentor dot com
30.01.2002 23:19
A group of identically-named checkbox form elements returning an array is a pretty standard feature of HTML forms. It would seem that, if the only way to get it to work is a non-HTML-standard-compliant workaround, it's a problem with PHP.

Since the array is passed in the header in a post, or the URL in a get, it's the PHP interpretation of those values that's failing.
yasuo_ohgaki at hotmail dot com
11.03.2001 13:02
Important:  Pay attention to the following security concerns when handling user submitted  data :

http://www.php.net/manual/en/security.registerglobals.php
http://www.php.net/manual/en/security.variables.php



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