php: how to shorten many $_POST[]; - php

Question

I'm working on a page with many insert fields.
how can i shorten the following code?
$title_1 = $_POST['title_1'];
$content_1 = $_POST['content_1'];
$link_1 = $_POST['link_1'];
$img_link_1 = $_POST['img_link_1'];
$title_2 = $_POST['title_2'];
$content_2 = $_POST['content_2'];
$link_2 = $_POST['link_2'];
$img_link_2 = $_POST['img_link_2'];
$title_3 = $_POST['title_3'];
$content_3 = $_POST['content_3'];
$link_3 = $_POST['link_3'];
$img_link_3 = $_POST['img_link_3'];

Answer 1

You could loop through the $_POST array like this:
foreach ($_POST as $key => $value) {
${$key} = $value;
}
This will make your post variable like $_POST['title_1'] into $title_1
Remember your post names will have to be the exact names you want your variables to be referenced by.

Answer 2

I would do:
$howmany = 3; // How many sets of fields are submitted.
for($i=0;$i<$howmany;$i++){
$field[$i]['title'] = $_POST['title_'.$i];
$field[$i]['content'] = $_POST['content_'.$i];
$field[$i]['link'] = $_POST['link_'.$i];
$field[$i]['img_link'] = $_POST['img_link_'.$i];
}
Then you can access data in $field[1]['title'] form.

Answer 3

You can use extract (http://php.net/manual/en/function.extract.php): extract($_POST)
But you should be careful -- what if the client POSTs user_id, or something? At the least, you should specify that $_POST values won't overwrite already-defined variables: extract($_POST, EXTR_SKIP)

Answer 4

I redid this answer after you edited your post. Use variable variables.
foreach ($_POST as $key => $val)
{
if (preg_match('/^(([a-z]+_)+\d)$/', $key, $match)
{
$$match[0] = $val;
}
}
Use [a-z0-9] or [a-zA-Z0-9] as alternatives.

Answer 5

<?php
$key_prefixes = array (
'title',
'content',
'link',
'img_link'
);
$i = 1;
while (true) {
$post_values_missing = 0;
foreach ($key_prefixes as $key_prefix) {
$key = $key_prefix . '_' . $i;
if (!isset($_POST[$key])) {
$post_values_missing += 1;
continue;
};
$val = $_POST[$key];
// do something with $val
}
// did you get any values through this iteration?
$post_values_exist_bool = (count($key_prefixes) !== $post_values_missing);
// if not, you must've gotten them all
if (false === $post_values_exist_bool) {
break;
}
$i += 1;
}

Answer 6

The cleanest way to do this would be to use PHP's POST data processing capabilities to do the work for you.
Consider using your HTML form names as follows:
<form action="{url}" method="post">
<input type="text" name="data[0][title]" />
<input type="text" name="data[0][content]" />
<input type="text" name="data[0][link]" />
<input type="text" name="data[0][image_link]" />
<input type="text" name="data[1][title]" />
<input type="text" name="data[1][content]" />
<input type="text" name="data[1][link]" />
<input type="text" name="data[1][image_link]" />
...
</form>
In PHP extract the data as follows:
$data = $_POST['data'];
This shortens your PHP code to just one line. This statement will directly give you an array in PHP of the data form input. A var_dump will look as follows:
array (
0 => array('title'=>'...','content'=>'...','link'=>'...','image_link'=>'...'),
1 => array('title'=>'...','content'=>'...','link'=>'...','image_link'=>'...'),
...
)

Answer 7

You don't have to change your name, just make it array;
<input type="text" name="title[]" />
<input type="text" name="content[]" />
<input type="text" name="link[]" />
<input type="text" name="image_link[]" />
<input type="text" name="title[]" />
<input type="text" name="content[]" />
<input type="text" name="link[]" />
<input type="text" name="image_link[]" />
<input type="text" name="title[]" />
<input type="text" name="content[]" />
<input type="text" name="link[]" />
<input type="text" name="image_link[]" />
PHP:
extract($_POST);
$count=count($title);
for($i=0;$i<$count;$i++) {
//You can perform your any function on this loop, to get title use $title[$i]
}