http_build_query

Vitaly Dyatlov (2013-04-23 11:27:04)

Correct implementation of coding the array of params without indexes (valdikks fixed code - didnt work for inner arrays):
<code>
function cr_post($a,$b='',$c=0)
{
if (!is_array($a)) return false;
foreach ((array)$a as $k=>$v)
{
if ($c)
{
if( is_numeric($k) )
$k=$b."[]";
else
$k=$b."[$k]";
}
else
{ if (is_int($k))
$k=$b.$k;
}
if (is_array($v)||is_object($v))
{
$r[]=cr_post($v,$k,1);
continue;
}
$r[]=urlencode($k)."=".urlencode($v);
}
return implode("&",$r);
}
</code>

eric dot muyser at gmail dot com (2013-04-01 10:45:45)

This function makes like this
files[0]=1&files[1]=2&...
To do it like this:
files[]=1&files[]=2&...
Do this:
$query = http_build_query($query);
$query = preg_replace('/%5B[0-9]+%5D/simU', '%5B%5D', $query);

stocki dot r at gmail dot com (2013-03-01 15:38:11)

If you need only key+value pairs, you can use this:

<?php
    $array = array(
        "type" => "welcome",
        "message" => "Hello World!"
    );
    echo urldecode(http_build_query($array, '', ';'));
?>

Result: type=welcome;message=Hello World!

anonymous (2012-07-19 15:57:12)

Is it worth noting that if query_data is an associative array and a value is itself an empty array, or an array of nothing but empty array (or arrays containing only empty arrays etc.), the corresponding key will not appear in the resulting query string?
E.g.
$post_data = array('name'=>'miller', 'address'=>array('address_lines'=>array()), 'age'=>23);
echo http_build_query($post_data);
will print
name=miller&age=23

Anonymous (2011-02-08 12:11:49)

As noted before, with php5.3 the separator is &amp; on some servers it seems. Normally if posting to another php5.3 machine this will not be a problem.
But if you post to a tomcat java server or something else the &amp; might not be handled properly.
To overcome this specify:
http_build_query($array, '', '&');
and NOT
http_build_query($array); //gives &amp; to some servers

v0idnull[try_to_spam_me_now] at gee-mail dot co (2010-03-11 11:51:26)

on my install of PHP 5.3, http_build_query() seems to use &amp; as the default separator. Kind of interesting when combined with stream_context_create() for a POST request, and getting $_POST['amp;fieldName'] on the receiving end.

irish [-@-] ytdj [-dot-] ca (2010-01-21 13:31:17)

When using the http_build_query function to create a URL query from an array for use in something like curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $post_url), be careful about the url encoding.

In my case, I simply wanted to pass on the received $_POST data to a CURL's POST data, which requires it to be in the URL format.  If something like a space [ ] goes into the http_build_query, it comes out as a +. If you're then sending this off for POST again, you won't get the expected result.  This is good for GET but not POST.

Instead you can make your own simple function if you simply want to pass along the data:

<?php
$post_url = '';
foreach ($_POST AS $key=>$value)
    $post_url .= $key.'='.$value.'&';
$post_url = rtrim($post_url, '&');
?>

You can then use this to pass along POST data in CURL.

<?php
    $ch = curl_init($some_url);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, true);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $post_url);
    curl_exec($ch);
?>

Note that at the final page that processes the POST data, you should be properly filtering/escaping it.

netrox at aol dot com (2009-08-26 19:24:00)

I noticed that even with the magic quotes disabled, http_build_query() automagically adds slashes to strings.
So, I had to add "stripslashes" to every string variable.

valdikss at gmail dot com (2007-08-27 01:15:13)

This function is wrong for http!
arrays in http is like this:

files[]=1&files[]=2&...

but function makes like this

files[0]=1&files[1]=2&...

Here is normal function:

<?php
function cr_post($a,$b=\'\',$c=0){
if (!is_array($a)) return false;
foreach ((array)$a as $k=>$v){
if ($c) $k=$b.\"[]\"; elseif (is_int($k)) $k=$b.$k;
if (is_array($v)||is_object($v)) {$r[]=cr_post($v,$k,1);continue;}
$r[]=urlencode($k).\"=\".urlencode($v);}return implode(\"&\",$r);}
?>

Ilya Rudenko (2006-01-09 23:57:07)

Params with null value do not present in result string.

<?
$arr = array('test' => null, 'test2' => 1);
echo http_build_query($arr);
?>

will produce:

test2=1