How can i replace a string in php url

Question

i made a search box which use $_GET method. I search for category and size.

When the category search submitted my url becomes:

index.php?category=1

through:

<li class=""><a href="index.php?category=<?php echo $category['id']; ?>"><?php echo $category['name']; ?></a></li>

When size submitted my url is:

index.php?category=1&size=1

through:

<li id="">
<a href="<?php echo $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'].'&size='; ?><?php echo $size['id']; ?>"><?php echo $size['name']; ?></a>
</li>

When i search for another size i have:

index.php?category=1&size=1&size=2

How can i just replace the size instead of adding it again in my url?

Answer 1

Use

<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'];?>

Instead of

<?php echo $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'];?>

REQUEST_URI is adding query strings to your request.

Where as PHP_SELF gives plain file name eg index.php .

Answer 2

You have to use http_build_query function to build your URL from the associative array of parameters. And try to avoid doing it directly in a template. Move this code at least to the controller level.

// Somewhere at the controller
$category = ...;
$size = ...;
$searchParams = array();
if (!empty($category)) {
    $name = $category['name'];
    $searchParams['category'] = $category['id'];
}
if (!empty($size)) {
    $name = $size['name'];
    $searchParams['size'] = $size['id'];
}
$searchQuery = http_build_query($searchParams);

// Somehow pass it to the template
$this->addViewVar('searchUrl', $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] . $searchQuery); 
$this->addViewVar('searchName', $name);

And in the template just use searchUrl variable:

<li class=""><a href="<?php echo $searchUrl; ?>"></a><?php echo $searchName; ?></li>

Another way to accomplish this task, if you don't have a separate controllers level, it's to create special functions build_search_url() and search_name() :

function build_search_url($path, $category = null, $size = null) {
    $searchParams = array();
    if (!empty($category)) {
        $searchParams['category'] = $category['id'];
    }
    if (!empty($size)) {        
        $searchParams['size'] = $size['id'];     
    }        
    $searchQuery = http_build_query($searchParams);
    return $path . $searchQuery;
}

And then use it like this:

<li class="">
    <a href="<?php echo build_search_url($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'], $category, $size); ?>">
        <?php echo search_name($category, $size); ?>
    </a>
</li>

Answer 3

Easiest way IMHO:

Set the new value for the index in $_GET (or a copy, if you don't want to manipulate the original array) – and then use http_build_query to create a new query string from that.

Answer 4

You should call a function in you "href" tag. Inside, use http_build_query($array) to reconstruct the array.

$data = array('category' => $_GET['category']);
$data['size'] = $_GET['size'] ? $_GET['size'] : NEW_SIZE;

function getQuery($data) {
     return http_build_query($data);
}

You can also use $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'], but I'm not sure that this function will replace your item value instead of adding it to the end of the query.