$_GET converts characters!

PHP
1

Hi, I want to create a PHP script to highlight “v” variables in Youtube URLs.

For example, I want to highlight L0otYijxNbc in the following URL:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0otYijxNbc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I have created a simple form where you can enter a Youtube address and the following page spits out the “v” variable contained within the Youtube URL.

FORM:

<form action="http://www.mywebsite.com/checkyoutubeid.php" method="get">
Please enter the URL of the Youtube video: <input type="text" name="youtubeurl" size="43" ><br/>
<input type='submit' name='Submit' value='SEND' />
</form>

RESULTING PAGE:

The Youtube ID of the video is <?php echo $_GET["v"]; ?>

The problem is that all the symbols in the submitted URL get converted. For example, ‘&’ turns to ‘%3F’ and ‘=’ turns to ‘%3D’, meaning the PHP code can’t do its job.

http://www.mywebsite.com/checkyoutubeid.php?youtubeurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DL0otYijxNbc%26feature%3Dyoutube_gdata_player&Submit=SEND

Any help would be most appreciated,

Leao

2

I’m gonna guess you need to take the incoming url and apply function urldecode to it. Look it up in the php manual.

3

Hi Leao,

You could use [fphp]parse_url[/fphp] and [fphp]parse_str[/fphp] to do something like this:


$array = parse_url($_GET['youtubeurl']);
parse_str($array['query'], $output);

echo 'The Youtube ID of the video is: ' . $output['v'];
4

Thanks for your help. I used your code and added a couple of conditions (see below).

$userword = $_GET['youtubeurl'];

$array = parse_url($_GET['youtubeurl']);
parse_str($array['query'], $output);

$vidid = $output['v'];

if (strpos($userword,'user') !== false)
{
    echo "INVALID YOUTUBE ADDRESS
    <br/><br/>
    You  entered the URL of a Youtube channel rather than a specific video.";
}

//The above condition checks if the Youtube URL contains the word 'user'.
//If it does it means that the submitted URL is probably a Youtube channel page rather than a specific video.

elseif (empty($vidid))
  {
  echo "YOU HAVEN'T ENTERED A VALID YOUTUBE ADDRESS";
  }

//This condition checks if the Youtube URL contains the 'v' variable.
//If the submitted URL doesn't contain a 'v' variable it is most probably not a Youtube URL.

else
  {
echo "Your video's ID is: $vidid";
  }

Thanks again for your help,

Leao