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mikeman

<?php 
// for example: thispage.php?word=abracadabra 

if ( $val = $_GET['word'] ) 
echo "the word is: $val"; 

else
echo "";

?>

That is the php im using to display certain text on a page, but my issue is, i want to display certain text if the variable ="something specific"

example.. .com/thispage.php?word=hello so, if word = hello then echo "this text" if it does not =hello, then dont do nothin...

i dont want someone to be able and type anything after the = sign and have something display, only of what it i that = is what i specify.. heh :) i think i think that makes sense

any help preeease?

Senff

Something like this?

<?php 

$val = $_GET['word'];

if ($val == 'Hello') { 
	 echo "this text"; 
	 // other code for people who know the secret word is "Hello"
	 }
else {
	 // do nothing
	 }

?>

noahgelman

You could even cut out the middle man and not use the $val if it's not needed. Also, since you don't want to do anything if it doesn't equal hello, you won't need the 'else' statement either.

<?php 

if ($_GET['word'] == 'Hello') { 
    echo "this text"; 
    // other code for people who know the secret word is "Hello"
}
?>

31M1K97

but I would put a htmlspecialchars() around the $_GET for security reasons

mikes02

You could also do:


<?php
echo isset($_GET['word']) && $_GET['word'] == 'Hello' ? 'Enter Text You want to Echo' : '' ;
?>

by using isset you are ensuring that the $_GET['word'] actually exists and is not null:

noahgelman

@mikes02

Shouldn't it rather be:

<?php
    isset($_GET['word']) && $_GET['word'] == 'Hello' ? echo 'Enter Text You want to Echo'; ?>
?>

That way it only performs the echo if it exists. If it doesn't exist, there's no need to echo anything and doesn't slow the page.

mikes02

It works the same way in mine, even with the echo in front, it is saying to only echo "Enter Text You want to Echo" if $_GET['word'] isset and it equals Hello, else don't echo anything. It's the PHP Ternary Operator.

mikeman

i <3 you all.. <br />
31M1k97, thanks for the tip, but i am pretty much php-tarded what do you mean "around" i feel like id spend hours just trying to figure out what you said to do for the security reason.

Senff, noahgelman, mikes02 thank you muches. i havnt tried either yet but non the less thank you very much

noahgelman

@mikeman

He means like this that when you want to use $_GET['word'] you should use it like this htmlspecialchars($_GET['word'])

This prevents the user from manually typing in code in the url which could break your code and/or be a security risk (although I don't know all that much about php security best practices)

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Forums

if "certain" variable exist... do this.?