Variable in $_POST returns as string instead of array

Question

In my form i have fields with name photoid[] so that when sent they will automatically be in an array when php accesses them.

The script has been working fine for quite some time until a couple days ago. And as far as i can remember i havent changed any php settings in the ini file and havent changed the script at all.

when i try to retrieve the array using $_POST['photoid'] it returns a string with the contents 'ARRAY', but if i access it using $_REQUEST['photoid'] it returns it correctly as an array. Is there some php setting that would make this occur? As i said i dont remember changing any php settings lately to cause this but i might be mistaken, or is there something else i am missing.

What does $_GET['photoid'] say?

Explosion Pills
– Explosion Pills

2011-05-11 00:44:33 +00:00
Commented May 11, 2011 at 0:44 — Explosion Pills
– Explosion Pills, Commented May 11, 2011 at 0:44
$_GET['photoid'] is empty as the form method="POST"

Patrick Evans
– Patrick Evans

2011-05-11 00:58:49 +00:00
Commented May 11, 2011 at 0:58 — Patrick Evans
– Patrick Evans, Commented May 11, 2011 at 0:58

cdeszaq · Accepted Answer · 2011-12-20 19:56:19Z

3

I had the same problem. When I should recieve array via $_POST, but var_dump sad: 'string(5) "Array"'. I found this happens, when you try use trim() on that array! Double check your code, be sure you're not doing anything else with $_POST!

edited Dec 20, 2011 at 19:56

cdeszaq

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answered Sep 30, 2011 at 18:19

TadeasB

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Comments

mario · Accepted Answer · 2011-05-11 00:52:01Z

2

Raise your error_reporting level to find any potential source. It's most likely that you are just using it wrong in your code. But it's also possible that your $_POST array was mangled, but $_REQUEST left untouched.

// for example an escaping feature like this might bork it
$_POST = array_map("htmlentities", $_POST);
// your case looks like "strtoupper" even

To determine if your $_POST array really just contains a string where you expected an array, execute following at the beginning of your script:

var_dump($_POST);

And following for a comparison:

var_dump(array_diff($_REQUEST, $_POST));

Then verifiy that you are really using foreach on both arrays:

foreach ($_POST["photoid"] as $id) { print $id; }

answered May 11, 2011 at 0:52

mario

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2 Comments

mario Over a year ago

Use it in your from entry script as top-most command. Then gradually move it to isolate where the array was modified. Only php setting that could potentially introduce it earlier is auto_prepend_file.

Patrick Evans Over a year ago

Found the problem somehow i had a statement actually setting $_POST dont even know how that got in there...

Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams · Accepted Answer · 2011-05-11 00:42:32Z

0

If you use an array in a string context then you'll get "Array". Use it in an array context instead.

$arr = Array('foo', 42);

echo $arr."\n";
echo $arr[0]."\n";

Array
foo

answered May 11, 2011 at 0:42

Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams

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2 Comments

Patrick Evans Over a year ago

Yea i am not using it as a string i am currently dumping the information using var_dump and print_r

Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams Over a year ago

Then something else is interfering. But this is not a problem with PHP itself.

adamors · Accepted Answer · 2011-05-11 00:50:52Z

0

$_POST['photoid'] is still an array. Just assign it to a variable, and then treat it like an array. ie: $array = $_POST['photoid']; echo $array[0];

answered May 11, 2011 at 0:50

adamors

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1 Comment

Patrick Evans Over a year ago

No, it is a string, var_dump and gettype even confirms its a string containing the text ARRAY.

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