Getting checkbox values on submit

Question

I have 6 options, I want to get the checked values to store them in variable on second page. How do I go on doing that?

<form action="third.php" method="get">
    <!-- Choices -->
    Red     <input type="checkbox" name="color[]" id="color" value="Red">
    Green   <input type="checkbox" name="color[]" id="color" value="Green">
    Blue    <input type="checkbox" name="color[]" id="color" value="Blue">
    Cyan    <input type="checkbox" name="color[]" id="color" value="Cyan">
    Magenta <input type="checkbox" name="color[]" id="color" value="Magenta">
    Yellow  <input type="checkbox" name="color[]" id="color" value="Yellow">
    Black   <input type="checkbox" name="color[]" id="color" value="Black">
    <!-- Submit -->
    <input type="submit" value="submit">
</form>

And third.php page :

$color = $_GET['color'];

echo 'The color is '.$color;

If I remove [], I get the color is on, when I do it like color[] I get a notice saying :

Array to string conversion

What I want is the value of checked, checkboxes so I can store it in variable.

@AmmarKhan Have a look at my answer below, with a few additional options you can use. — Funk Forty Niner, Aug 24 '13 at 23:59
I would suggest to use `post` method instead of `get` for form submit. — Nagama Inamdar, Mar 17 '14 at 08:10

score 150 · Accepted Answer · edited Dec 20 '20 at 12:52

A good method which is a favorite of mine and for many I'm sure, is to make use of foreach which will output each color you chose, and appear on screen one underneath each other.

When it comes to using checkboxes, you kind of do not have a choice but to use foreach, and that's why you only get one value returned from your array.

Here is an example using $_GET. You can however use $_POST and would need to make both directives match in both files in order to work properly.

###HTML FORM

<form action="third.php" method="get">
    Red<input type="checkbox" name="color[]" value="red">
    Green<input type="checkbox" name="color[]" value="green">
    Blue<input type="checkbox" name="color[]" value="blue">
    Cyan<input type="checkbox" name="color[]" value="cyan">
    Magenta<input type="checkbox" name="color[]" value="Magenta">
    Yellow<input type="checkbox" name="color[]" value="yellow">
    Black<input type="checkbox" name="color[]" value="black">
    <input type="submit" value="submit">
</form>

###PHP (using $_GET) using third.php as your handler

<?php

$name = $_GET['color'];

// optional
// echo "You chose the following color(s): <br>";

foreach ($name as $color){ 
    echo $color."<br />";
}

?>

Assuming having chosen red, green, blue and cyan as colors, will appear like this:

red
green
blue
cyan

##OPTION #2

You can also check if a color was chosen. If none are chosen, then a seperate message will appear.

<?php

$name = $_GET['color'];

if (isset($_GET['color'])) {
    echo "You chose the following color(s): <br>";

    foreach ($name as $color){
        echo $color."<br />";
    }
} else {
    echo "You did not choose a color.";
}

?>

##Additional options: To appear as a list: (<ul></ul> can be replaced by <ol></ol>)

<?php

$name = $_GET['color'];

if (isset($_GET['color'])) {
    echo "You chose the following color(s): <br>";
    echo "<ul>";
    foreach ($name as $color){
        echo "<li>" .$color."</li>";
    }
    echo "</ul>";
} else {
    echo "You did not choose a color.";
}

?>

I know this is an old piece but I squirmed a little bit with all those `id`s being color. I always thought that was a big no-no - or is it somehow ok for a radio or checkbox group? The `name`s all being the same is the easiest solution but `id`s are the most secure way to manipulate the DOM for presetting forms etc. I just hear people rolling in their graves when I see identical ids! — BeNice, Dec 04 '19 at 21:45
@BeNice I understand what you're saying but "id"'s alone cannot be passed in PHP where name attributes are required. I tend to think that one would need JS for that. — Funk Forty Niner, Dec 04 '19 at 21:48
Oh I missed out the important word(s) - jQuery/JavaScript. I usually do a tiny bit of jQuery and then get that to tick the relevant box(s). IDs are important as they have the strongest "weight" of any selector is JavaScript. Anyhow this answer has sat for 6 years without anyone moaning about so I will shut up. Nice neat answer BTW. — BeNice, Dec 04 '19 at 21:53
@BeNice I agree. Your comment(s) were well founded, thanks :) and thanks. — Funk Forty Niner, Dec 04 '19 at 21:54

score 16 · Answer 2 · edited Aug 24 '13 at 23:13

(It's not action="get" or action="post" it's method="get" or method="post"

Try to do it using post method:

<form action="third.php" method="POST">
    Red<input type="checkbox" name="color[]" id="color" value="red">
    Green<input type="checkbox" name="color[]" id="color" value="green">
    Blue<input type="checkbox" name="color[]" id="color" value="blue">
    Cyan<input type="checkbox" name="color[]" id="color" value="cyan">
    Magenta<input type="checkbox" name="color[]" id="color" value="Magenta">
    Yellow<input type="checkbox" name="color[]" id="color" value="yellow">
    Black<input type="checkbox" name="color[]" id="color" value="black">
    <input type="submit" value="submit">
</form>

and in third.php

or for a pericular field you colud get value in:

$_POST['color'][0] //for RED
$_POST['color'][1] // for GREEN

Ahh, so this is when things start to get wonky with PHP. $_POST is an array, and when looking at the solutions, I wondered, "$_POST['color'] is also it's own array, too, isn't it?" — DeltaFlyer, Nov 30 '18 at 20:07

score 10 · Answer 3 · edited Dec 24 '15 at 18:25

What i suggest is , its better to use post than get. here are some difference between post VS get

Some notes on GET requests:

GET requests can be cached
GET requests remain in the browser history
GET requests can be bookmarked
GET requests should never be used when dealing with sensitive data
GET requests have length restrictions
GET requests should be used only to retrieve data

Some notes on POST requests:

POST requests are never cached
POST requests do not remain in the browser history
POST requests cannot be bookmarked
POST requests have no restrictions on data length

HTML Code

            <html>
    <head></head>
    <body>
    <form action="output.php" method="post">
    Red<input type="checkbox" name="color[]" id="color" value="red">
    Green<input type="checkbox" name="color[]" id="color" value="green">
    Blue<input type="checkbox" name="color[]" id="color" value="blue">
    Cyan<input type="checkbox" name="color[]" id="color" value="cyan">
    Magenta<input type="checkbox" name="color[]" id="color" value="Magenta">
    Yellow<input type="checkbox" name="color[]" id="color" value="yellow">
    Black<input type="checkbox" name="color[]" id="color" value="black">
    <input type="submit" value="submit">
    </form>
    <body>
    </html>

PHP code

    <?php


    if(isset($_POST['color'])) {
    $name = $_POST['color'];

    echo "You chose the following color(s): <br>";
    foreach ($name as $color){
    echo $color."<br />";
    }} // end brace for if(isset

    else {

    echo "You did not choose a color.";

    }

    ?>

What's about 2-dimension arrays? Does GET support something like this: ` ` which will work with mehtod=POST — The Bndr, Apr 24 '18 at 11:56

score 4 · Answer 4 · edited Oct 11 '18 at 17:29

It's very simple.

The checkbox field is like an input text. If you don't write anything in the field, it will say the field doesn't exist.

<form method="post">
    <input type="checkbox" name="check">This is how it works!<br>
    <button type="submit" name="submit">Submit</button>
</form>
<?php
if(isset($_POST['submit'])) {
    if(!isset($_POST['check'])) {
        echo "Not selected!";
    }else{
        echo "Selected!";
    }
}
?>

score 2 · Answer 5 · answered May 23 '18 at 03:40

foreach is the best way to get array of values.

here the example code: html code:

<form action="send.php" method="post">
    Red<input type="checkbox" name="color[]" id="color" value="red">
    Green<input type="checkbox" name="color[]" id="color" value="green">
    Blue<input type="checkbox" name="color[]" id="color" value="blue">
    Cyan<input type="checkbox" name="color[]" id="color" value="cyan">
    Magenta<input type="checkbox" name="color[]" id="color" value="Magenta">
    Yellow<input type="checkbox" name="color[]" id="color" value="yellow">
    Black<input type="checkbox" name="color[]" id="color" value="black">
    <input type="submit" value="submit">
</form>

phpcode:

<?php

$name = $POST['color'];



foreach ($name as $color){ 
    echo $color."<br />";
}

?>

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Apr 06 '15 at 17:10

1

Just for printing you can use as below :

print_r($_GET['color']);

or

var_dump($_GET['color']);

answered Apr 06 '15 at 17:10

Vaibhavraj Roham

1,138
11
26

Blacboy · Answer 7 · 2015-12-24T17:39:05.500

1

I think the value for the $_POST['color'] should be read only after checking if its set.

<?php


    if(isset($_POST['color'])) {
      $name = $_POST['color'];  

    echo "You chose the following color(s): <br>";
    foreach ($name as $color){
   echo $color."<br />";
  }} // end brace for if(isset

else {

echo "You did not choose a color.";

}

?>

edited Dec 24 '15 at 17:39

answered Dec 24 '15 at 17:27

Blacboy

13
5

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered May 25 '16 at 10:43

Perhaps a better way is using the php function in_array() like this:

$style='V';//can be 'V'ertical or 'H'orizontal
$lineBreak=($style=='V')?'<br>':'';
$name='colors';//the name of your options
$Legent="Select your $name";//dress it up in a nice fieldset with a ledgent
$options=array('red','green','blue','orange','yellow','white','black');
$boxes='';//innitiate the list of tickboxes to be generated
if(isset($_REQUEST["$name"])){ 
//we shall use $_REQUEST but $_POST would be better
   $Checked=$_REQUEST["$name"];
}else{
   $Checked=array();
}
foreach($options as $option){
$checkmark=(in_array($option,$Checked))?'checked':'';
$nameAsArray=$name.'[]';//we would like the returned data to be in an array so we end with []
$boxes.=($style=='V')?"<span class='label2' align='right'><b>$option : </b></span>":"<b>$option </b>";
$boxes.="<input style='width:2em;' type='checkbox' name='$nameAsArray' id='$option' value='$option' $checkmark >$lineBreak";
}

echo<<<EOF
<html>
<head></head>
<body>
<form name="Update" method="GET" action="{$_SERVER['PHP_SELF']}">\n
<fieldset id="tickboxes" style="width:25em;">
<legend>{$Legent}</legend>
{$boxes}
</fieldset>
<button type="submit" >Submit Form</button>
</form>
<body>
</html>
EOF
;

To start with we have created a variable $style to set if we want the options in a horizontal or vertical way. This will infrequence how we display our checkboxes. Next we set the $name for our options, this is needed as a name of the array where we want to keep our options. I have created a loop here to construct each option as given in the array $options, then we check each item if it should be checked in our returned form. I believe this should simplify the way we can reproduce a form with checkboxes.

score 1 · Answer 9 · edited Aug 11 '16 at 09:44

//retrive check box and gender value
$gender=$row['gender'];
$chkhobby=$row['chkhobby'];
<tr>
    <th>GENDER</th>
    <td>
            Male<input type="radio" name="gender" value="1" <?php echo ($gender== '1') ?  "checked" : "" ;  ?>/>
            Female<input type="radio" name="gender" value="0" <?php echo ($gender== '0') ?  "checked" : "" ;  ?>/>

    </td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <th>Hobbies</th>
    <td>
        <pre><?php //print_r($row);

            $hby = @explode(",",$row['chkhobby']);
            //print_r($hby);
        ?></pre>
        read<input id="check_1" type="checkbox" name="chkhobby[]" value="read" <?php if(in_array("read",$hby)){?> checked="checked"<?php }?>>
        write<input id="check_2" type="checkbox" name="chkhobby[]" value="write" <?php if(in_array("write",$hby)){?> checked="checked"<?php }?>>
        play<input id="check_4" type="checkbox" name="chkhobby[]" value="play" <?php if(in_array("play",$hby)){?> checked="checked"<?php }?>>


    </td>
    </tr>
//update
$gender=$_POST['gender'];
$chkhobby = implode(',', $_POST['chkhobby']);

score 1 · Answer 10 · 2017-11-09T22:26:00.787

If you want to turn specific values in to new variables if they have been selected:

// Retrieve array color[] and set as variable    
$colors = $_GET['color'];
// Use array_search to find the key for "red"
$key_red = array_search('red', $colors);
// If "red" exists, the key will be an integer (or FALSE)
if (is_int($key_red)) {
    $red_color = 'Red was selected';
}

Getting checkbox values on submit

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