PHP parse_str function

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parse_str

(PHP 3, PHP 4, PHP 5)

Parses str as if it were the query string
passed via a URL and sets variables in the current scope. If
the second parameter arr is present,
variables are stored in this variable as array elements instead.

Note:
Support for the optional second parameter was added in PHP 4.0.3.

Note:
To get the current QUERY_STRING, you may use the variable
$_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'].
Also, you may want to read the section on
variables from outside of PHP.

Note:
The magic_quotes_gpc setting
affects the output of this function, as parse_str() uses
the same mechanism that PHP uses to populate the $_GET,
$_POST, etc. variables.

Example 1. Using parse_str()

$str = "first=value&arr[]=foo+bar&arr[]=baz";
parse_str($str);
echo $first;  // value
echo $arr[0]; // foo bar
echo $arr[1]; // baz
 
parse_str($str, $output);
echo $output['first'];  // value
echo $output['arr'][0]; // foo bar
echo $output['arr'][1]; // baz

See also parse_url(), pathinfo(),
http_build_query(),
get_magic_quotes_gpc(), and urldecode().