Passing PHP Variables in a URL

GarDouth

I'm very new to PHP as I normally deal with ASP but want to upgrade.

I'm having trouble passing a variable from the address bar. I have fixed the problem but don't understand why!...

Origingal code i was using was:

<a href="test.php?test=Hello">TEST CLICK</a>

<?php
echo"$test";
?>

When I clicked the link, nothing apeared.

I fixed it (with advice from this site) and used:

<a href="test.php?test=Hello">TEST CLICK</a>

<?php
echo $_GET['test'];
?>

This works fine, but why doesn't the first one? Every book I have looked at says I should use "$test".
The server is using PHP version 4.3.2 if thats any help.

hthighway

Is register_globals set to OFF in your php.ini file ?

TheDefender

PHP version 4.3.2 Chances are very high that Register Globals is, in fact, off. GarDouth. Significant changes to PHP regarding security came about with the change to turn it off by default sometime around v 4.2 (or so) I am not sure of the exact version, but yours would definitely be off by default.

Search this forum for "Register Globals" or look in the PHP manual and you can read all about it. It was a hot topic of discussion for a while.

To answer your question, your book simply assumes register globals is on. You could refer to it as $test, but not until you defined the variable... $test = $_GET['test'];

It is a lot more code with register globals off, but the security risks associated with turning it on can be devastating, so it's worth the extra code. (in my personal opinion).