Can I strip and save an element from a URL?

schwim

Hi there guys,

I'm trying to forward a person from an old URL to a new one. I have the following structure to start with:

index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&p=28341&highlight=inner#28341

There are 4 possible GET vars that I know of: t, f, p and highlight.

The problem I'm encountering is that the '#<numbers>' can show up at the end of any of the GET variables, like so:

index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&p=28341#28341

index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=1234#28341

To get the proper variables, I need to make sure that I strip the '#' along with anything behind it and save that for inclusion on the new URL leaving me variables listed above if they exist and a new var with just the #<numbers>. Can someone tell me how I might go about doing this?

Thanks for your time!

laserlight

Unfortunately, the URL fragment identifier is not sent to the server. What you could do is place say, a piece of Javascript on that page to do the redirection.

schwim

Thanks laserlight.

Since I can't save that part, can I include some code that will check each variable for the existence of a '#' and if it's there, strip it and anything after it, leaving just the proper variable that's being passed?

For instance:

index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&p=28341&highlight=inner#28341

looks like $_GET['highlight'] is going to return a value of 'inner#28341'

Can I include something in my code that will leave me with the proper var instead, which in this case is 'inner'?

Here's the code I've written so far before I realized I might have an issue with '#'

if(ISSET($_GET['name'])){
$module_name = substr($_GET['name'], 0, 20);
if($module_name == 'PNphpBB2'){
	if(ISSET($_GET['file'])){
		$file = substr($_GET['file'], 0, 10);
		if($file == 'viewtopic'){
			$i = 1;
			// Old forum is being called.  Forward to new topic.
			if(ISSET($_GET['f'])){
				//Forum ID has been passed.
				$forum_id = substr($_GET['f'], 0, 3);
				$f_url = 'f='.$forum_id;
				$i++;
			}else{
				$f_url = '';
			}
			if(ISSET($_GET['t'])){
				//Topic ID has been passed.
				$topic_id = substr($_GET['t'], 0, 9);
				if($i > 1){
					$t_url = '&t='.$topic_id;
				}else{
					$t_url = 't='.$topic_id;
				}
				$i++;
			}else{
				$t_url = '';
			}
			if(ISSET($_GET['p'])){
				//Post ID has been passed.
				$post_id = substr($_GET['p'], 0, 9);
				if($i > 1){
					$p_url = '&p='.$post_id;
				}else{
					$p_url = 'p='.$post_id;
				}
				$i++;
			}else{
				$p_url = '';
			}
			if(ISSET($_GET['highlight'])){
				//Highlight for search function.
				$highlight = substr($_GET['highlight'], 0, 40);
				if($i > 1){
					$h_url = '&highlight='.$highlight;
				}else{
					$h_url = 'highlight='.$highlight;
				}
				$i++;
			}

		// Assembling the new URL.
		$new_url = '/forum/viewtopic.php?'.$f_url.''.$t_url.''.$p_url.''.$h_url.'';
	}
}
}

laserlight

schwim wrote:
Since I can't save that part, can I include some code that will check each variable for the existence of a '#' and if it's there, strip it and anything after it, leaving just the proper variable that's being passed?

You could, but the existence of a '#' in a query string variable does not denote that the fragment identifier follows.

schwim wrote:
looks like $GET['highlight'] is going to return a value of 'inner#28341'

No, $GET['highlight'] == 'inner'. If you want $_GET['highlight'] == 'inner#28341', then it should be:

index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&p=28341&highlight=inner%2328341

Notice that there is no more '#', but rather %23, since 23 is the hexadecimal representation for the value of the '#' character in ASCII/Unicode.