Problem with $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']

Ruvvan · Mar 2, 2009

I've been trying to piece together a site for my dad with what little PHP I remember. I'm trying to implement a form that checks itself for errors and null input entries. However, for some reason, the $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'] variable doesn't seem to like me very much, as I continue getting an error when I set the form's action to it.

I get this error:
Parse error: parse error, expecting `T_STRING' or `T_VARIABLE' or `T_NUM_STRING' in C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Apache2.2\htdocs\houses.php on line 14

When trying to use this code:

Code:

<html><head><title>Yea</title></head>
<body>
<?php   $fname = $_POST['fname'];
	$lname = $_POST['lname'];
	$padd = $_POST['padd'];
	$city = $_POST['city'];
	$state = $_POST['state'];
	$zip = $_POST['zip'];
	$email = $_POST['email'];
	$phone = $_POST['phone'];
	$phone2 = $_POST['phone2'];
	$phone3 = $_POST['phone3'];

$form ="<form action=\"$_SERVER['PHP_SELF']\" method=\"post\">";
$form.="<font size=\"-1\" color=\"gray\"><font color=\"red\">*</font> denotes a required field.</font>
	<table border=\"0\"><tr><td colspan=\"1\">First Name<font color=\"Red\" size=\"-1\">*</font></td>
	<td colspan=\"1\"><input type=\"text\" name=\"fname\" size=\"30\" value=\"$fname\"></td></tr>";
$form.="<tr><td colspan=\"1\">Last Name<font color=\"Red\" size=\"-1\">*</font></td>
	<td colspan=\"1\"><input type=\"text\" name=\"lname\" size=\"30\" value=\"$lname\"></td></tr>";
$form.="<tr><td colspan=\"1\">Property Address<font color=\"Red\" size=\"-1\">*</font></td>
	<td colspan=\"1\"><input type=\"text\" name=\"padd\" size=\"30\" value=\"$padd\"></td></tr>";
$form.="<tr><td colspan=\"1\">City<font color=\"Red\" size=\"-1\">*</font></td>
	<td colspan=\"1\"><input type=\"text\" name=\"city\" size=\"30\" value=\"$city\"></td></tr>";
$form.="<tr><td colspan=\"1\">State<font color=\"Red\" size=\"-1\">*</font></td>
	<td colspan=\"1\"><input type=\"text\" name=\"state\" size=\"30\" value=\"$state\"></td></tr>";
$form.="<tr><td colspan=\"1\">Zip Code<font color=\"Red\" size=\"-1\">*</font></td>
	<td colspan=\"1\"><input type=\"text\" name=\"zip\" size=\"30\" value=\"$zip\"></td></tr>";
$form.="<tr><td colspan=\"1\">E-mail Address<font color=\"Red\" size=\"-1\">*</font></td>
	<td colspan=\"1\"><input type=\"text\" name=\"email\" size=\"30\" value=\"$email\"></td></tr>";
$form.="<tr><td colspan=\"1\">Phone Number<font color=\"Red\" size=\"-1\">*</font></td>
	<td colspan=\"1\"><input type=\"text\" name=\"phone\" size=\"5\" value=\"$phone\">-
	<input type=\"text\" name=\"phone2\" size=\"5\" value=\"$phone2\">-
	<input type=\"text\" name=\"phone3\" size=\"5\" value=\"$phone3\">
	</td></tr>";
$form.="<tr><td><div align=\"center\"><input type=\"submit\" name=\"sent\" value=\"Get your free cash offer\"></div></td></tr></table></form>";

if($sent)
{ $valid=true;

	if( !$fname )
	{
		$errmsg .= "<tr><td colspan=\"1\"><font color=\"red\">Please enter your first name.</font></td></tr>";
		$valid = false;
	}	

########################################################################

	if( !$lname )
	{
		$errmsg .= "<tr><td colspan=\"1\"><font color=\"red\">Please enter your last name.</font></td></tr>";
		$valid = false;
	}

########################################################################

	if( !$padd )
	{
		$errmsg .= "<tr><td colspan=\"1\"><font color=\"red\">Please enter the property address.</font></td></tr>";
		$valid = false;
	}

########################################################################

	if( !$city )
	{
		$errmsg .= "<tr><td colspan=\"1\"><font color=\"red\">Please enter a city name.</font></td></tr>";
		$valid = false;
	}

########################################################################

	if( !$state )
	{
		$errmsg .= "<tr><td colspan=\"1\"><font color=\"red\">Please enter a state.</font></td></tr>";
		$valid = false;
	}

########################################################################

	if( !$zip )
	{
		$errmsg .= "<tr><td colspan=\"1\"><font color=\"red\">Please enter a zip code.</font></td></tr>";
		$valid = false;
	}
	else
	{if( strlen( $zip ) != 5 )
	{
		$errmsg .= "<tr><td colspan=\"1\"><font color=\"red\">Please enter a valid zip code.</font></td></tr>";
		$valid = false;
	}}

########################################################################

	if( !$email )
	{
		$errmsg .= "<tr><td colspan=\"1\"><font color=\"red\">Please enter your e-mail address.</font></td></tr>";
		$valid = false;
	}
	else
	{
		$useraddr = trim( $useraddr );
		$_name = "/^[-!#$%&\'*+\\./\0-9=?A-Z^_`{|}~]+";
		$_host = "([-0-9A-Z]+\.)+";
		$tlds = "([0-9A-Z]){2,4}$/i";
	if( !pregmatch($_name."@".$_host.$_tlds,$useraddr) )
	{	$errmsg .= "<tr><td colspan=\"1\"><font color=\"red\">Please enter a valid e-mail address.</font></td></tr>";
	}}


########################################################################

	if( !$phone or !$phone2 or !$phone3 )
	{
		$errmsg .= "<tr><td colspan=\"1\"><font color=\"red\">Please enter your phone number.</font></td></tr>";
		$valid = false;
	}
	else
	{if( strlen( $phone ) != 3 or strlen( $phone2 ) != 3 or strlen( $phone3 ) != 4 )
	{
		$errmsg .= "<tr><td colspan=\"1\"><font color=\"red\">Please enter a valid phone number.</font></td></tr>";
		$valid = false;
	}}

########################################################################

}

if( $valid != true )
	{
	echo( "<table border=\"0\">$errmsg</table><br><br>" );
	echo( $form );
	}
else
{	$to = "ruvvan@gmail.com";
	$re = "Property information from $fname $lname";
	$msg = $fname;
	$headers = "MIME-Version: 1.0\r\n";
	$headers.= "Content-type: text/html;";
	$headers.= " charset=iso-8859-1\r\n";
	$headers.= "From: $useraddr \r\n";
	if( mail( $to, $re, $msg, $headers ) )
	{echo( "Thanks for your submission." ); }
}
?>
</body>
</html>

Line 14, the line it has a problem with, is
$form ="<form action=\"$_SERVER['PHP_SELF']\" method=\"post\">";

I set up Apache and PHP by myself; I'm not sure if this could be stemming from some error I made in installation.

If someone could shed some light on this, it would be greatly appreciated.

morfien · Mar 4, 2009

when i use the $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'] i tend to try use the echo command in there as well.

the reason being is that the $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'] variable actually displays that page that you are on.

i would try something like this

$form ="<form action=\"". echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'] ."\" method=\"post\">";

you could also try

$form = ?> <form action=" <?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'] ?> " method="post"> <?php

Ruvvan · Mar 4, 2009

Ok. I don't have time to try it out now, but I'll give it a go later. Thanks.

PC-XT · Mar 4, 2009

I usually use curly brackets when identifying arrays inline in strings, especially when the subscript of the array is a string:

PHP:

$form ="<form action=\"{$_SERVER['PHP_SELF']}\" method=\"post\">";

morfien · Mar 4, 2009

PC-XT said: ↑

I usually use curly brackets when identifying arrays inline in strings, especially when the subscript of the array is a string:

PHP:

$form ="<form action=\"{$_SERVER['PHP_SELF']}\" method=\"post\">";

Click to expand...

indeed you can do that but i find that dreamweaver doesnt change the colour of the string inside the bracers. thus making it a bit harder to debug.

but you are perfectly right you could do that.

PC-XT · Mar 5, 2009

Yeah, that is a problem. I also use

PHP:

$form ="<form action=\"".$_SERVER['PHP_SELF']."\" method=\"post\">";

or actually, I would prefer to use

PHP:

$form ='<form action="'.$_SERVER['PHP_SELF'].'" method="post">';

in this case to avoid the escapes.

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Problem with $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']

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Problem with $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']

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