PHP post all form inputs without creating variables for each

Question

Usually when I use PHP I create a variable and post statement for each form input like so:

   $myVar1 = $_POST["formItem1"];
   $myVar2 = $_POST["formItem2"];
   ect......

I know if i use:

  echo $_POST;

I can get all the key and values from the form inputs but I don't know how to use them in a script.

So I guess I have 2 questions:

How do I quickly post all form inputs without creating a variable for each input?
How do I use a posted in a script without having it assigned to a specific variable?

i dont really understand your question...can you be clearer? — jcobhams
– jcobhams, Commented Nov 20, 2013 at 15:25

Amal · Accepted Answer · 2013-11-20 15:24:54Z

6

To simply echo all the inputs, you can use a foreach loop:

foreach ($_POST as $key => $value) {
    echo $value.'<br/>';
}

If you don't want to store them in variables, use arrays:

$data = array();
foreach ($_POST as $key => $value) {
    $data[] = $value;
}

Now, $data is an array containing all the data in $_POST array. You can use it however you wish.

answered Nov 20, 2013 at 15:24

Amal

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5 Comments

AdRock Over a year ago

What I would have said

Austin Over a year ago

Well lets say within my POST I have normal string values from a text field and array values from a group of check boxes. How would I isolate the checkbox array so I can manipulate it?

Amal Over a year ago

@Austin: For that, you can simply do: $checkBoxArray = $_POST['nameAttributeOfTheCheckbox'];.

Austin Over a year ago

cool so use the foreach loop for all normal string posts and a individual post for arrays?

Amal Over a year ago

@Austin: It really depends on what you want to do. You could use is_array() inside the foreach to check if it's an array and loop it further. Example.

Asenar · Accepted Answer · 2013-11-20 15:25:37Z

0

You don't have to assign to a variable. You can use directly $_POST['input_name']

If you want to deal with each sended params, you can use foreach loop:

foreach ($_POST as $key => $val)
{
  echo "$key : $val <br/>";
}

answered Nov 20, 2013 at 15:25

Asenar

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2 Comments

jcobhams Over a year ago

using directly wont that expose the OP to security risks?

Asenar Over a year ago

of course you need to checks all input datas before manipulating them. never trust any user inputs. But it's the same security risk than assigning to a var first

Joe · Accepted Answer · 2013-11-20 15:31:40Z

for this instance of just quickly checking and testing i typically just use the print_r() function: documentation here

as quoted from the docs:

print_r() displays information about a variable in a way that's readable by humans.

one line easy to toggle on and off (with comments)- no need to use any form of variables

print_r($_POST);

if i need my output nice and readable i like to expand it as follows:

function print_r2($x){
     echo '<pre>';
     print_r($x);
     echo '</pre>';
}

and then you can call with: print_r2($_POST);

this way you get the pre-formatted text block on your html page and can see the line breaks and tabbed spacing provided from the $_POST object printout

Community · Accepted Answer · 2023-11-21 15:10:29Z

0

Another way to extract (besides the extract function) variables is;

$array = array('foo'); // Which POST variables do you want to get
foreach($array as $key) {
    if(!isset(${$key})) { // Check if variable hasn't been assigned already
        ${$key} = $_POST[$key];
    }
}
echo $foo;

I would not recommend it because it can get quite messy to keep up.

edited Nov 21, 2023 at 15:10

CommunityBot

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answered Nov 20, 2013 at 15:33

vonUbisch

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Comments

MonkeyZeus · Accepted Answer · 2013-11-20 15:35:36Z

0

View everything in `$_POST` is useful for debugging

echo '<pre>'.print_r($_POST, true).'</pre>';

Access a specific checkbox

HTML

<input type="checkbox" value="something" name="ckbox[]" checked>
<input type="checkbox" value="anotherthing" name="ckbox[]" checked>

PHP

echo $_POST['ckbox'][0]; // something
echo $_POST['ckbox'][1]; // anotherthing

// isolate checkbox array
$ckbox_array = $_POST['ckbox'];

answered Nov 20, 2013 at 15:35

MonkeyZeus

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Comments

Dave · Accepted Answer · 2013-11-20 17:37:06Z

Define a function that allows you to access a specific $_POST item by name (key):

function get_post_value($name, $default)
{
    if ( isset($_POST[$name]) ) {
        return $_POST[$name];
    } else if ( $default ) {
        return $default;    
    }
    return null;
}

$default allows you to pass a value that can be used as a fallback if the key you specify isn't present in the $_POST array.

Now you can reference $_POST items without assigning them to a variable, and without worrying if they are set. For example:

if ( get_post_value('user-login-submit', false) ) {
    // attempt to log in user
}

Mohamed Amine · Accepted Answer · 2013-11-20 15:38:45Z

-2

You can use extract($_POST), it will create variables for you.

For example, you can have for the code you posted :

<?php

$_POST["formItem1"] = "foo";
extract($_POST);
echo $formItem1; // will display "foo"

?>

EDIT : it's not PHP explode, it's extract.

edited Nov 20, 2013 at 15:38

answered Nov 20, 2013 at 15:25

Mohamed Amine

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5 Comments

Lorenzo Marcon Over a year ago

did you mean extract instead of explode?

Amal Over a year ago

explode on what? I think you're looking for extract(). I do not recommend this. It's a very bad idea.

Mohamed Amine Over a year ago

No, I'm talking about explode :)

Asenar Over a year ago

so you're wrong, explode is to transform a string into an array. for example explode('-', 'a-b-c') will result array('a','b','c')

Mohamed Amine Over a year ago

Oh, I guess I'm having a bad day... Sorry for my mistake, it was extract :)

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