php file_get_contents encoding issue - php

I am trying to Integrate an SMS service into my website. I need to make a HTTP call with a param named "msg" (urlencoded).
Currently, I am constructing the entire URL with msg param being urlencoded (i.e $msg = urlencode($msg)), and I am sending the SMS.
$msg = urlencode("Hello World");
Although what I receive on my phone is "Hello+World" and NOT "Hello World".
So is there an issue with file_get_contents ?
Also, is there anyway, I can see the string "file_get_contents" finally sends out ?

Try using rawurlencode() instead.
The principal difference (although there are others) is that it encodes spaces as %20 instead of +. This is quite likely the source of your problem.

I figured what was the issue:
I was using http_build_query to create the query string, and I was passing a urlencode'd param to it. Hence it was being encoded twice.
So is there an issue with file_get_contents ?
No.
Also, is there any way, I can see the string file_get_contents finally sends out ?
Yes, with a network sniffer.

You need to use urldecode() after retrieving data and then display to user

Related

How to use GET method to send string which includes'#"?

I want to use the GET method to send a string to the receive page, but if the string includes '#', the receiver page can only get the sub string before the '#'.
As the following example:
test
When I click the 'test' link to open the 'test.php' page, which has the following code:
<?php
if(isset($_GET["q"])) {
echo $_GET["q"];
}
?>
It only display 'string1' on the page, '#string2' is missing.
So I want to know what happened to the string, and how to fix this problem.
Thank you for any help!
=======Update===========
With the help of #Eric Shaw and #JP Dupéré, I know how to fix this problem.
The simplest way is encoding the string before using the get method.
To encode the query string, you can:
use urlencode() in PHP, and urldecode() can decode the string.
use encodeURIComponent() in JavaScript, and decodeURIComponent() can decode the string.
Try
urlencode("string1#string2")
before calling GET.
The #foo is used to jump to an <a name="foo"/> tag on the page, rather than viewing the top of the page when the browser loads it.
The stuff after the # is processed by the browser and NOT sent to the server.
You can escape the # and the escaped version will be sent to the server, i.e.
test
will do what you want I think
This escaping is also a common technique to get the # passed along in the URL for redirectors.

How can I add a URL to a query string?

I have a small problem with my PHP script. I want to be able to have a URL within a query string so it would look like this:
http://example.com/?url=http://google.com/
This works absolutely fine and $_GET['url'] will return http://google.com.
The problem is when the URL in my query string already has query string, for example:
http://example.com/?url=http://www.amazon.com/MP3-Music-Download/b/ref=sa_menu_mp3_str?ie=UTF8&node=163856011
will return:
http://www.amazon.com/MP3-Music-Download/b/ref=sa_menu_mp3_str?ie=UTF8
and I want it to return:
http://www.amazon.com/MP3-Music-Download/b/ref=sa_menu_mp3_str?ie=UTF8&node=163856011
I am using PHP for server side.
Could anybody please help?
Update
I am using Codeigniter, so if this is the reason why it isn't working as it should then please let me know.
You need to encode the url passed as query argument:
If you send it from PHP, use urlencode or rawurlencode.
If you send it from JS, use encodeURIComponent.
Use urldecode() to pass query string

Plus signs ("+") disappears

I am sending sms to cellphones using PHP and an API key provided by my sms service provider.
The sms that I send reaches the target cellphone perfectly but the problem is when I have a "+" sign in my message the "+" do not appear in the cellphone. This is probably happening because the "+" sign is basically used for indicating a space.
When I run the api my code looks like following:
$msg="A+";
$x= file_get_contents("http://someurl...&msg=$msg");
Could you please tell me what to do to make the "+" appear in cellphones.
Thanks
You'll need to look into using the function urlencode.
$x = file_get_contents("http://someurl...&msg=" . urlencode($msg));
Try to use urlencode
$msg = urlencode("A+");
As php manual says:
This function is convenient when encoding a string to be used in a query part of a URL, as a convenient way to pass variables to the next
page.
Use urlencode...
$msg="A+";
$msg = urlencode($msg);
$x= file_get_contents("http://someurl...&msg=$msg");
Try This:
$msg=urlencode("A+");
$x= file_get_contents("http://someurl...&msg=".$msg);
urlencode function is convenient when encoding a string to be used in a query part of a URL, as a convenient way to pass variables to the next page.

cutting special chars in folder name when using GET

I've been visiting stackoverflow.com for a long time and always found the solution to my problem. But this time it's different. That's why I'm posting my first question here.
The situation looks like this: My website provides a directory explorer which allows users to download whole directory as a zip file. The problem is I end up with error when I want to download a dir containg special characters in it's name, i.e. 'c++'. I don't want to force users to NOT name their folders with those special chars, so I need a clue on this one. I noticed that the whole problem comes down to GET protocol. I use ajax POST for example to roll out the directory content, but for making a .zip file and downloading it I need GET:
var dir_clicked = $(e.target).attr('path'); //let's say it equals '/c++'
window.location = 'myDownloadSite.php?directory_path='+dir_clicked;
I studied whole track of dir_clicked variable, step by step, and it seems that the variable in adress is sent correctly (I see the correct url in browser) but typing:
echo $_GET['directory_path']
in myDownloadSite.php prints
'/c'
instead of
'/c++'
Why the GET protocol is cutting my pluses?
You can use:
encodeURIComponent() //to get the url then use
decodeURIComponent() //to decode and access ur filename.
Use urlencode() and urldecode() on server side.
Try encoding your URI with encodeURI(url) JavaScript function.
window.location = encodeURI('myDownloadSite.php?directory_path=' + dir_clicked);
Maybe use encodeURIComponent() and then remove all %xx occurrences?
When the information is posted it is encoded with special chars, sounds like you just need to decode them before using the information.
You can use php function urldecode() to decode the folder names before using them...
$_GET[directory_path]=urldecode($_GET[directory_path]);

php redirect and querystring

i have script
<?php
$to = $_GET["to"];
header("Location: $to");
?>
if i call script such
out.php?to=http://site.ru/page.php?param1=1&param2=2
in param $to be only http://site.ru/page.php?param1=1&
how to fix? i want that $to = http://site.ru/page.php?param1=1&param2=2
You can escape the URL at the site calling out.php:
Go to $to
& is a reserved character in an URI. When you access this URL, &param2=2
is interpreted as belonging to the current URL and not to the value of to.
If you want to transmit it literally, you have to encode it with %26:
http://site.ru/page.php?param1=1%26param2=2
Most programming languages provide a function to do so. (e.g. JavaScript, PHP). The best thing is to encode the whole URL.
$to must be urlencoded, but note that you giving a redirect script to anyone, so, any phisher can use it.
So, it would be better to store urls in the database and pass only an identifier.
try encoding the to URL in base64 and then in the example that u have shown decode it before you pass it to the header :)
urlencode it
urlencode($to)
I ran into the same problem before, this is what I did:
$arr=explode('?to=',$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'],2);
$new_to=$arr[1];
Now you can use the $new_to variable.
Of course if you're using this for production environment, I would recommend encoding the url as the other answers advised. I was using it for testing curl script. getting the variable this way has lots of flaws, so be careful.
You can use a Function called "html_entity_decode"
Click Here for more information about this function
or use md5 function to encrypt the URL and then decrypt it when you put it into a varriable.
I hope this can help you

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