Empty GET variables displaying in the URL

Question

Here is my form :

<?php

echo '<form method="get" action="" name="formulaire">';
echo '<input type="text" name="info1" title="" value="" />';
echo '<input type="text" name="info2" title="" value="" />';
echo '<input type="text" name="info3" title="" value="" />';
echo '<input type="submit" value="Envoyer" />';
echo '</form>';

echo '$info1 = '.$_GET["info1"].'<br />';
echo '$info2 = '.$_GET["info2"].'<br />';
echo '$info3 = '.$_GET["info3"].'<br />';

?>

My problem is that after submitting, all the variables are displayed in the URL, even if they are empty.

I would like the non-empty variables ONLY to be displayed in the URL.

Is there a way of doing that with PHP ?

Then use a conditional statement or better yet, use a ternary operator — Funk Forty Niner
– Funk Forty Niner, Commented Jan 21, 2014 at 23:56
So, why use a GET method in the first place; why not just go with POST? That way it's not going to show anything in the address bar. Is there a special reason for you to use GET? — Funk Forty Niner
– Funk Forty Niner, Commented Jan 22, 2014 at 0:03
@Fred-ii- I concur. By posting the form you avoid ugly urls and can handle empty variables accordingly — Mike Purcell
– Mike Purcell, Commented Jan 22, 2014 at 0:25
Thanks Mike. Yet, the OP made a mention to the affect that is using it for dynamic content. If it were up to me, I would just use conditional statements, because I for one, never ever use GET, it risks in opening up the proverbial "can(s) of worms", including potential security issues. @MikePurcell — Funk Forty Niner
– Funk Forty Niner, Commented Jan 22, 2014 at 0:28
(Assuming you're using a DB with this), would be very careful as to how your queries are done and which functions you're using. That's IF you're using a DB. You wouldn't want anyone putting in some pretty fancy hacking characters to DROP your table. @Guillaume — Funk Forty Niner
– Funk Forty Niner, Commented Jan 22, 2014 at 0:36

Seff · Accepted Answer · 2014-01-22 00:33:03Z

10

Like others have said, the solution is to use Javascript to change the form when its submited. Here is your example with a javascript function that does that:

<html>
<head>
<script type="text/javascript">
function myFunction()
{
    var myForm = document.getElementById('form-id');
    var allInputs = myForm.getElementsByTagName('input');
    var input, i;

    for(i = 0; input = allInputs[i]; i++) {
        if(input.getAttribute('name') && !input.value) {
            input.setAttribute('name', '');
        }
    }
}
</script>
</head>

<form id="form-id" method="get" action="" name="formulaire" onsubmit="myFunction()">
<input type="text" name="info1" title="" value="" />
<input type="text" name="info2" title="" value="" />
<input type="text" name="info3" title="" value="" />
<input type="submit" value="Envoyer" />
</form>

<?php
echo '$info1 = '.$_GET["info1"].'<br />';
echo '$info2 = '.$_GET["info2"].'<br />';
echo '$info3 = '.$_GET["info3"].'<br />';
?>
</html>

answered Jan 22, 2014 at 0:33

Seff

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2 Comments

Guillaume Over a year ago

Yes ! It works perfectly, eventhough I have to use some more JS. This solution suits me quite well, thank you very much ! :)

Funk Forty Niner Over a year ago

Good work Seff. To add to this Guillaume, if you don't want the $info1 = etc. to initially show up, you can change/modify echo '$info1 = '.$_GET["info1"].'<br />'; to if(!empty($_GET["info1"])) { echo '$info1 = '.$_GET["info1"].'<br />';} @Guillaume --- then do the rest for the others.

exussum · Accepted Answer · 2014-01-22 00:21:25Z

3

Its not a PHP problem, Its whats populating the form. All values in the form are sent. You would need to use Javascript to check for that.

If a form item is set to disabled, It wont be sent for example

<script>
$(function() {
     $('form').submit(function() {
        $(':input[value=""]').attr('disabled', true);
     }
});
</script>

http://api.jquery.com/ready/ Should work if placed anywhere on the page

Also you dont need to echo HTML

<form method="get" action="" name="formulaire">
  <input type="text" name="info1" title="" value="" />
  <input type="text" name="info2" title="" value="" />
  <input type="text" name="info3" title="" value="" />
  <input type="submit" value="Envoyer" />
</form>
<?php
echo '$info1 = '.$_GET["info1"].'<br />';
echo '$info2 = '.$_GET["info2"].'<br />';
echo '$info3 = '.$_GET["info3"].'<br />';

?>

Seperates the PHP and HTML

edited Jan 22, 2014 at 0:21

answered Jan 21, 2014 at 23:58

exussum

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2 Comments

Guillaume Over a year ago

OK for seperating the PHP and HTML (my real code was more complicated). Where do I have to add this piece of JS ? My knowledge is a bit limited, sorry.

exussum Over a year ago

Assuming your using jquery, insert it on DOM loaded. Added code

Jonathan Kuhn · Accepted Answer · 2014-01-21 23:57:18Z

1

It can't be done with php. That is standard behavior of the html form. If you wanted to do this, you would have to use javascript and onsubmit of the form, loop over and either remove empty elements or build a query string and location.href=myQueryString.

answered Jan 21, 2014 at 23:57

Jonathan Kuhn

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3 Comments

IMSoP Over a year ago

Wouldn't location.href=myQueryString replace your whole URL with the query string? I'm guessing you meant to build a whole URL and set it there...

Jonathan Kuhn Over a year ago

@IMSoP You can make a link or javascript redirect that goes to just the query string with a ? as the first character. For example, location.href="?foo=1&bar=2&test=3" would work just fine. If you don't include the page name, the current page is assumed. If you wanted to go to another page, then yes, you would need to include that page name.

IMSoP Over a year ago

Ah, fair enough. I try to act as though there are no valid URL notations other than absolute and root-relative because they're such a cause of accidents, so I didn't really think through what a leading ? would mean.

Scopey · Accepted Answer · 2014-01-21 23:56:48Z

0

The browser will form the URL when you click your submit button. There is no way to change the functionality of a browser with PHP. You can try changing the form method to POST though.

Alternatively, you can use JavaScript to intercept submitting the form, and generate the URL to forward to with JavaScript.

answered Jan 21, 2014 at 23:56

Scopey

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1 Comment

Guillaume Over a year ago

GET was a requirement for the application so I cannot do that. I need the parameters to be displayed in the URL.

Koby · Accepted Answer · 2016-07-25 03:22:46Z

0

Probably could be optimized, but here's my suggestion, using PHP:

if (!isset($_GET['clean'])) {
    $_GET['clean'] = 1;
    redirect($_SERVER['SCRIPT_URL'] . '?' . http_build_query(array_filter($_GET)));
}
unset($_GET['clean']);

This is assuming processing is done on the same page
redirect() being a custom redirection function

edited Jul 25, 2016 at 3:22

answered Oct 11, 2014 at 15:40

Koby

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Comments

nikunj · Accepted Answer · 2017-06-21 13:59:28Z

0

we can easily make the url empty without javascript or an other plugin here the code put it on the top of the code after session code but note we have to only use post method . it is safe and not more complex

header("Cache-Control: no cache");
    session_cache_limiter("private_no_expire");

cheers

edited Jun 21, 2017 at 13:59

answered Jun 21, 2017 at 11:26

nikunj

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