collecting multiple GET or POST values - php

Question

I have a form that passes something like in a URL
?choice=selection+A&choice=selection+C
I'm collecting it in a form with something like (I remember that $_GET is any array)
$temp = $_GET["choice"];
print_r($temp);
I'm only getting the last instance "selection C". What am I missing

Answer 1

I am assuming 'choice' is some kind of multi-select or checkbox group? If so, change its name in your html to 'choice[]'. $_GET['choice'] will then be an array of the selections the user made.

Answer 2

If you don't intend to edit the HTML, this will allow you to do what you're looking to do; it will populate the $_REQUEST superglobal and overwrite its contents.
This assumes PHP Version 5.3, because it uses the Ternary Shortcut Operator. This can be removed.
$rawget = isset($_SERVER['QUERY_STRING']) ? $_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'] : false;
$rawpost = file_get_contents('php://input') ?: false;
$target = $rawget;
$_REQUEST = array();
if ($target !== false) {
$pairs = explode('&',$rawget);
foreach($pairs as $pair) {
$p = strpos($pair,'=');
if ($p === false && !empty($pair)) {
$_REQUEST[$pair] = null;
}
elseif ($p === 0 || empty($pair)) {
continue;
}
else {
list($name, $value) = explode('=',$pair,2);
$name = preg_replace('/\[.*\]/','',urldecode($name));
$value = urldecode($value);
if (array_key_exists($name, $_REQUEST)) {
if (is_array($_REQUEST[$name])) {
$_REQUEST[$name][] = $value;
}
else {
$_REQUEST[$name] = array($_REQUEST[$name], $value);
}
}
else {
$_REQUEST[$name] = $value;
}
}
}
}
As it stands, this will only process the QueryString/GET variables; to process post as well, change the 3rd line to something like
$target = ($rawget ?: '') . '&' . ($rawpost ?: '');
All that having been said, I'd still recommend changing the HTML, but if that's not an option for whatever reason, then this should do it.