How to read the request URI? - php

Question

For my own MVC I need to read the request URI from the global variables ($_GET or $_SERVER).
First I thought to read it from $_GET array. But then I discovered that it's contained in the $_SERVER array as well.
So, I would like to ask, from which global array should the request URI be read?
An example:
The URI could have the following structure:
http://local.mvc/PsrTest/testRequest/123?var=someval
with:
PsrTest as controller name;
testRequest as action name;
123 as argument for the controller action;
var=someval as some query string key/value pair;
By applying a RewriteRule in ".htaccess", it will be translated to:
http://local.mvc/index.php?url=PsrTest/testRequest/123&var=someval
and it will be saved in the following items of the $_GET and $_SERVER arrays:
------------
$_GET array:
------------
'url' => 'PsrTest/testRequest/123'
'var' => 'someval'
---------------
$_SERVER array:
---------------
'HTTP_REFERER' => 'http://local.mvc/PsrTest/testRequest/123?var=someval'
'REDIRECT_QUERY_STRING' => 'url=PsrTest%2ftestRequest%2f123&var=someval'
'REDIRECT_URL' => '/PsrTest/testRequest/123'
'QUERY_STRING' => 'url=PsrTest%2ftestRequest%2f123&var=someval'
'REQUEST_URI' => '/PsrTest/testRequest/123?var=someval'
Thank you for your time!

Answer 1

But if you want to use .htaccess this is a start.
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{SCRIPT_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{SCRIPT_FILENAME} !-f
# One param
RewriteRule ^/?([^/]*)$ index.php?section=$1 [NC,L]
# Two params
# IE: search/12345
RewriteRule ^edituser/([a-zA-Z0-9]+)/?$ index.php?section=edituser&id=$1 [NC,L]
# Three params
# IE: search/12345/676767
RewriteRule ^editcontact/([a-zA-Z0-9]+)/([a-zA-Z0-9]+)/?$ index.php?section=editcontact&contactID=$1&reservationID=$2 [NC,L]
This is a small example from an older program I wrote.

Answer 2

As #teresko suggested, .htaccess are not always a possibility. Then it makes indeed no more sense (at least for me) to write RewriteRules in .htaccess, which translate the given URI into query string parameters. It will be sufficient to:
Just write a simple rule, like RewriteRule ^ index.php [L] in .htaccess;
Just parse the $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] value in PHP, in order to get the URI components needed to call a controller action and to pass the corresponding parameters to it.
I'm grateful to all the users who helped me finding my answer. Thanks!