Entry

why is $_GET always an empty list ?

Dec 8th, 2002 21:20
Philip Olson, Jens Clasen, nick name,

Several reasons could exist, such as:
a) You are using a PHP version prior to PHP 4.1.0 as 
   superglobals (autoglobals) such as $_GET were introduced 
   at this time:
   http://www.php.net/release_4_1_0.php
   http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.variables.predefined.php
   For older versions of PHP, use $HTTP_GET_VARS.
b) There is no GET information. An example of GET is either through an
   HTML form that has method="GET" or if you have a QUERY_STRING 
   within the URL (stuff after the ?), such as:
   http://www.example.com/foo.php?fruit=apple&color=red
   print $_GET['fruit'];  // apple
   print $_GET['color'];  // red
   See also: http://www.php.net/variables.external
c) Typo or misunderstanding.  A good way to test exactly what 
   information lives within a variable is to use var_dump() or
   print_r() which will show you content (arrays as well) and 
   type of any var:
     var_dump($_GET);
d) Put a call to phpinfo() within the script getting the GET  
   information.  phpinfo() will list all received vars as well.
And for your information, GET information also lives in the $_REQUEST
autoglobal.  $_REQUEST (as described in the manual) is a mix of GET,
POST and COOKIE information and was also introduced in PHP 4.1.0.
autoglobals are preferred over relying on the register_globals PHP
directive.