Retrieving value from url

rjs

Basically I will need to pass a phone number to a url (that I don't have access to) which will then return a comman separated value based on that phone number.

What is the best way to do this?

Thanks.

laserlight

If you do not have access to the other script, then there is no way to pass the data to it.

If you mean that you do not have access to modify the other script, then the only thing you may control is how to pass the data to it. It then depends on what way the other script accepts data, e.g., from the query string, or a form via the post method.

rjs

Here is some more info.

http://accounting.mstar2.net/subscribe/PreQualResponse?num=8915716305

If you click on that link it will return a comma separated response. I basically want to retrieve that response.

Relisys

Hi RJS,

Here's one possible way to retrieve the information. This code could be optimised a bit more however I've left it showing the individual steps.

<?
// Declare variable for use in URL. Not required but handy if you want to change the number frequently.
$num = '8915716305';

// This will read the entire file into an array and assign that to $ret
// http://uk.php.net/file for more information
$ret = file("http://accounting.mstar2.net/subscribe/PreQualResponse?num=$num");

// This retrieves the 4th line from the array, i.e. ignores <html> etc etc
$line = $ret[3];

// This then splits that line into a new array based on the position of ;
$data = split(';', $line);

// The use of <pre> is just to format the array nicely on screen. Each part split by ; is an element in the array.
echo '<pre>'; print_r($data); echo '</pre>';

A word of caution, at the moment this only works based on the example you gave, where the data retried is all on a single line. If this isn't the case then the above code will need adapting to allow for this. Best bet is to try it and see how it goes.

Thanks

Relisys

TheDefender

[man]CURL[/man] may be an interesting read to you if the script points to a URL on a server that is not your own...

rjs

Thank you both!

I appreciate it!