variables through the URL

Anon

Hey, i got a question. I know that you can make a script that selects all the items from a table based on what the user input via a form on a previous page like this:

select * from stuff where name=$userinput

And $userinput is whatever the use types in when they submitted the form
but how would you do it through a URL? like when you goto the forums on this site the url is http://www.phpbuilder.com/forum/list.php3?num=1 or something like that.

How i make a script that selects the stuff from a table? would it be:

select * from stuff where name=$urlvalue

and the url would be http://www.blah.com/search.php?urlvalue=squirtgun

would that work?

blackmamba

Yes.

Anon

Store page urls in radio buttons named "myentry"or whatever then your header location could be
header ("location: mypage.php?id=$myentry");

techek

Heya Bryan

If you're really lazy and don't want to learn PHP the best way, write me and I'll whip of some basic code for you. If not, here's a few USEFUL hints :

1) Make a script that echo's the content of a variable and try it. Eg. :
<?php
echo "variable = |$variable|<br>\n";
?>
Call the script and add ?variable=<whatever>

2) If you know how FORMS in HTML works, you'll also know that when you use method='post' the content of the form-element(s) are sent "hidden" using the URL (almost like above!)
Make a form on a HTML-page when eg. 2 elements and a submit-button which has action set to your PHP-script (which will echo the contents of the FORM-elements)

3) Fiddle around with nr. 1 and 2 and see what you get from it.

Hint : No need to use DB's for such easy and small tasks. Study the way PHP handles variables!