Getting all values from the URL

[simmosn]

Basically I have a page that gets passed the following URL:

Code:
page.php?noNames=3&name=john&name=bob&name=alan or
page.php?noNames=5&name=john&name=bob&name=alan&name=greg&name=paul

ie. the number of names changes each time.

What is the best way to retrieve these values?

Thanks

[laserlight]

Use the $_GET array.
That said, I dont think you can have multiple name/value pairs in the query string with the same name.

[simmosn]

Originally posted by laserlight
Use the $_GET array.
That said, I dont think you can have multiple name/value pairs in the query string with the same name.

Yeah I wasn't sure about that. I really need to have them with the same name due to some JavaScript validation on the previous page :queasy:

[travelbuff]

laserlight, could you use name[]=name1&name[]=name2?

[Kudose]

Although it probably isnt the best way, if you must have all 58 or so name's retrieved at once, you could make your URL store them all like so:

page.php?noNames=58&names=john,paul,ringo,timmy

and get them like so:

<?php
if(isset($_GET['noNames']) && is_numeric($_GET['noNames'])){
  $noNames = $_GET['noNames'];
} else {
  echo 'URL tampering detected.';
  exit;
}

if(isset($_GET['names']) && !empty($_GET['names'])){
  $names = $_GET['names'];
} else {
  echo 'URL tampering detected.';
  exit;
}

$nameArray = explode(",", $names);
if(count($nameArray) !== $noNames){
  echo 'URL tampering detected.';
  exit;
}

//everything valid, do some stuff here
//names stored in $namesArray
?>

[Drakla]

Or if it's totally hardcoded and you want to still get the list as name=n1&name=n2... etc
then grab the whole input string with

$data = file_get_contents('php://input');

Then explode the values on & and you'll have an array of key=value pairs, just go through each one exploding on the = sign and check if the leftmost value is 'name' and if it is then there you go.

The string values will still be urlencoded, so you might have to take that into consideration

[laserlight]

Then explode the values on & and you'll have an array of key=value pairs, just go through each one exploding on the = sign and check if the leftmost value is 'name' and if it is then there you go.

[man]parse_str/man might be useful here.

[Drakla]

Originally posted by laserlight
[man]parse_str/man might be useful here.

I tried parse_str when I first found the input stream method, but it still comes up with the same result as if you'd got the query through the string. If you have four form items all named the same thing (not with [] on them) then it just returns the result of the last one.

I thought the default behaviour was a bit naff at first, but if you're expecting a scalar valud but get an array I suppose that's pretty annoying.

[bradgrafelman]

Okay, here's my attempt.

if(!empty($_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'])) {

$vars = explode('&', $_SERVER['QUERY_STRING']);

foreach($vars as $key => $val) { 

	$val = explode('=', $val);

	if(isset(${'url_'.$val[0]})) ${'url_'.$val[0]} .= ',' . $val[1]; else ${'url_'.$val[0]} = $val[1];

}

}

It populates variables such as $url_name, $url_noNames, etc. (case sensitive!) with their values from the URL. If multiple values exist, it will create a comma delimited list.

Is that what you wanted?

[Drakla]

Gah - I totally lost track, file_get_contents('php://input'); will grab data POSTed in.

[bradgrafelman]

WTG! lol.

As far as I understood, I believe my code does what is needed.