PHP $_POST

The $_POST variable is used to collect values from a form with method="post".
The $_POST Variable

The $_POST variable is an array of variable names and values sent by the HTTP POST method.

The $_POST variable is used to collect values from a form with method="post". Information sent from a form with the POST method is invisible to others and has no limits on the amount of information to send.
Example

Enter your name:
Enter your age:

When the user clicks the "Submit" button, the URL will not contain any form data, and will look something like this:

http://www.w3schools.com/welcome.php

The "welcome.php" file can now use the $_POST variable to catch the form data (notice that the names of the form fields will automatically be the ID keys in the $_POST array):

Welcome .

You are years old!


Why use $_POST?

* Variables sent with HTTP POST are not shown in the URL
* Variables have no length limit

However, because the variables are not displayed in the URL, it is not possible to bookmark the page.
The $_REQUEST Variable

The PHP $_REQUEST variable contains the contents of both $_GET, $_POST, and $_COOKIE.

The PHP $_REQUEST variable can be used to get the result from form data sent with both the GET and POST methods.
Example

Welcome .

You are years old!