What is PHP form handling?

We can create and use forms in PHP. To get form data, we need to use PHP superglobals $_GET and $_POST.

The form request may be get or post. To retrieve data from a get request, we need to use $_GET, for post request $_POST.

Get Form

Get request is the default form request. The data passed through get request is visible on the URL browser so it is not secured. You can send a limited amount of data through a get request.

File: form1.html

<form action=”welcome.php” method=”get”>  

Name: <input type=”text” name=”name”/>  

<input type=”submit” value=”visit”/>  

</form>  

File: welcome.php

<?php  

$name=$_GET[“name”];//receiving name field value in $name variable  

echo “Welcome, $name”;  

?>  

Post Form

Post request is widely used to submit forms that have a large amount of data such as file upload, image upload, login form, registration form etc. The data passed through post request is not visible on the URL browser so it is secured. You can send a large amount of data through a post request.

File: form1.html

<form action=”login.php” method=”post”>   

<table>   

<tr><td>Name:</td><td> <input type=”text” name=”name”/></td></tr>  

<tr><td>Password:</td><td> <input type=”password” name=”password”/></td></tr>   

<tr><td colspan=”2″><input type=”submit” value=”login”/>  </td></tr>  

</table>  

</form>   

File: login.php

<?php  

$name=$_POST[“name”];//receiving name field value in $name variable  

$password=$_POST[“password”];//receiving password field value in $password variable  

echo “Welcome: $name, your password is: $password”;  

?>