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I have a URL string like https://example.com/path/?welcome_screen=1&email_address=something+else@example.com

In PHP, I call <?php echo $_GET['email_address']; ?>

Which produces something else@example.com

Specifically, a space instead of the + in the email address.

  1. Is this expected?
  2. If so, is there a way to prevent this from happening in the echo code above?
  3. Or should it be handled when collecting the email address somehow?
ADyson
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Nathan
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  • The `$_GET` is auto decoded so the `+` becomes the space. If you want the `+` you should URL encode it. See https://www.php.net/manual/en/reserved.variables.get.php... half way down, `The GET variables are passed through urldecode().` – user3783243 Aug 25 '22 at 13:15
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    Also `echo $_GET...` is open to XSS injections. – user3783243 Aug 25 '22 at 13:16
  • I would just note to the SO devs, if "This question already has answers..." then they should appear when suggesting that the question I was writing might have answers. Those presented at that time were absolutely obscure. :P Otherwise, yinz rock. – Nathan Aug 25 '22 at 21:51
  • @Nathan if you want some attention for that observation you should consider starting a post on Meta Stackoverflow about it :-) – ADyson Aug 26 '22 at 04:35

1 Answers1

2

  1. Yes, + is one way to represent a space character in a URL. PHP automatically URL-decodes the value when it creates the $_GET data and converts it to a space, as it assumes that's what the value is supposed to represent in the raw URL.

  2. No, it's too late by then.

  3. Yes, you should URL-encode the value before including it in the URL, so that the + is not treated as a special character. If PHP is generating the URL, you'd use the urlencode() function. Most other programming languages have equivalent built-in functions.

ADyson
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  • In javascript, this is done like so : `encodeURI('something else@example.com')`, which gives : `'something%20else@example.com'` – Lk77 Aug 25 '22 at 13:16