Example of using PHP to get a value from a form:
Put this in foobar.php:
Read the above code so you understand what it is doing:
"foobar.php is an HTML document containing an HTML form. When the user presses the submit button inside the form, the form's action property is run: foobar_submit.php. The form will be submitted as a POST request. Inside the form is an input tag with the name "my_html_input_tag".
It's default value is "PILLS HERE". That causes a text box to appear with text: 'PILLS HERE' on the browser. To the right is a submit button, when you click it, the browser url changes to foobar_submit.php and the below code is run.
Put this code in foobar_submit.php in the same directory as foobar.php:
Read the above code so you know what its doing:
The HTML form from above populated the $_POST superglobal with key/value pairs representing the html elements inside the form. The echo prints out the value by key: 'my_html_input_tag'. If the key is found, which it is, its value is returned: "PILLS HERE".
Then print_r prints out all the keys and values from $_POST so you can peek as to what else is in there.
The value of the input tag with name=my_html_input_tag was put into the $_POST and you retrieved it inside another PHP file.
Hello,
Use PHP's $_POST or $_GET superglobals to retrieve the value of the input tag via the name of the HTML tag.
For Example, change the method in your form and then echo out the value by the name of the input:
Using $_GET method:
To show the value:
Using $_POST method:
To show the value:
The PHP superglobals $_GET and $_POST are used to collect form-data.
PHP - A Simple HTML Form
The example below displays a simple HTML form with two input fields and a submit button:
Example
Name:
E-mail:
Run Example »
When the user fills out the form above and clicks the submit button, the form data is sent for processing to a PHP file named "welcome.php". The form data is sent with the HTTP POST method.
To display the submitted data you could simply echo all the variables. The "welcome.php" looks like this:
Welcome
Your email address is:
The output could be something like this:
Welcome John
Your email address is
The same result could also be achieved using the HTTP GET method:
Example
Name:
E-mail:
Run Example »
and "welcome_get.php" looks like this:
Welcome
Your email address
is:
The code above is quite simple. However, the most important thing is missing. You need to validate form data to protect your script from malicious code.
Think SECURITY when processing PHP forms!
This page does not contain any form validation, it just shows how you can send and retrieve form data.
However, the next pages will show how to process PHP forms with security in mind! Proper validation of form data is important to protect your form from hackers and spammers!
GET vs. POST
Both GET and POST create an array [e.g. array[ key1 => value1, key2 => value2, key3 => value3, ...]]. This array holds key/value pairs, where keys are the names of the form controls and values are the input data from the user.
Both GET and POST are treated as $_GET and $_POST. These are superglobals, which means that they are always accessible, regardless of scope - and you can access them from any function, class or file without having to do anything special.
$_GET is an array of variables passed to the current script via the URL parameters.
$_POST is an array of variables passed to the current script via the HTTP POST method.
When to use GET?
Information sent from a form with the GET method is visible to everyone [all variable names and values are displayed in the URL]. GET also has limits on the amount of information to send. The limitation is about 2000 characters. However, because the variables are displayed in the URL, it is possible to bookmark the page. This can be useful in some cases.
GET may be used for sending non-sensitive data.
Note: GET should NEVER be used for sending passwords or other sensitive information!
When to use POST?
Information sent from a form with the POST method is invisible to others [all names/values are embedded within the body of the HTTP request] and has no limits on the amount of information to send.
Moreover POST supports advanced functionality such as support for multi-part binary input while uploading files to server.
However, because the variables are not displayed in the URL, it is not possible to bookmark the page.
Developers prefer POST for sending form data.
Next, lets see how we can process PHP forms the secure way!
PHP Exercises
Test Yourself With Exercises
Exercise:
If the form in the white section below gets submitted, how can you, in welcome.php, output the value from the "first name" field?
First name:
Welcome