Get Full URL & URL Parts In PHP (Simple Examples)

Welcome to a quick tutorial on how to get the full URL and URL parts in PHP. Need to get the path, base, domain, or query string from the URL? In Javascript, we can pretty much get all this information with just one line of code. But sadly in PHP, things are a little… backward.

That should cover the basics, but if you need more specific “URL parts” – Read on for more examples!

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

 

EXAMPLE CODE DOWNLOAD

Source code on GitHub Gist

Just click on “download zip” or do a git clone. I have released it under the MIT license, so feel free to build on top of it or use it in your own project.

 

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THE VARIOUS URL PARTS

The common parts of a URL are:

• Protocol – HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, WS, WSS, and whatever else.
• Host – Better known as the “website address” to the non-technical folks.
• Port – Usually left out. Commonly understood to be 80 for HTTP, 443 for HTTPS, and 21 for FTP.
• Path – Beginners usually mistake this to be the “folder”, but it’s really not. I.E. The path can be virtual, not an actual physical folder.
• File – Yes, the physical file name.
• Query String – Extra information and parameters.

I know, it’s kind of ironic. The URL is supposed to be “easily understood” by humans, but there are so many parts to it.

 

 

 

1) URL PARTS IN PHP

<?php
// (A) PROTOCOL
echo isset($_SERVER["HTTPS"]) ? "https://" : "http://";

// (B) HOST
echo $_SERVER["HTTP_HOST"];

// (C) PORT
echo $_SERVER["SERVER_PORT"];

// (D) PATH + FILE + QUERY
echo $_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"];

// (E) QUERY
echo $_SERVER["QUERY_STRING"];
print_r($_GET);

All the URL parts can be obtained from the $_SERVER variable in PHP.

Variable	URL Part & Example
$_SERVER["HTTPS"]	This is true if HTTPS is used. https://site.com:443/path/file.php?p=123
$_SERVER["HTTP_HOST"]	Host Name. https://site.com:443/path/file.php?p=123
$_SERVER["SERVER_PORT"]	Port Number. https://site.com:443/path/path/file.php?p=123
$_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"]	Path, file, and query. https://site.com:443/path/file.php?p=123
$_SERVER["QUERY_STRING"]	Query String only. https://site.com:443/path/file.php?p=123

 

 

2) GETTING THE FULL URL

<?php
// (A) GETFULLURL() : GETS THE FULL URL
//  $QUERY - INCLUDE QUERY STRING?
function getFullURL ($query=false) {
  // (A1) THE PROTOCOL
  $url = (isset($_SERVER["HTTPS"]) ? "https://" : "http://");

  // (A2) HOST
  $url .= $_SERVER["HTTP_HOST"];

  // (A3) ADD THE PORT ONLY IF IT IS NOT HTTP/HTTPS
  if ($_SERVER["SERVER_PORT"] != 80 && $_SERVER["SERVER_PORT"] != 443) {
    $url .= ":" . $_SERVER["SERVER_PORT"];
  }

  // (A4) THE PATH, FILE NAME, AND QUERY
  $url .= $_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"];

  // (A5) INCLUDE QUERY STRING?
  if ($query===false) { $url = strtok($url, "?"); }

  // (A6) THE FULL URL
  return $url;
}

// (B) GET CURRENT URL
echo getFullURL(true); // WITH QUERY
echo getFullURL(); // WITHOUT QUERY

This is pretty much the “expanded version” of the introduction snippet, packaged into a function for your convenience.

 

3) COMMON URL PARTS

As for the “rest of the parts” that are not included in $_SERVER, we will need to do some mix-and-match on our own. Here are a few of the common ones.

 

PROTOCOL & HOST

// (A) PROTOCOL + DOMAIN
$host = isset($_SERVER["HTTPS"]) ? "https://" : "http://"
      . $_SERVER["HTTP_HOST"] ;
echo $host;

https://site.com/path/file.php?p=123

 

 

PATH ONLY

// (B) PATH ONLY
$path = parse_url($_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"], PHP_URL_PATH);
echo $path;

https://site.com/path/file.php?p=123

 

FILENAME ONLY

// (C) FILENAME ONLY
// USE BASENAME() TO GET THE FILE + STRIP QUERY STRING
$file = basename($_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"], "?". $_SERVER["QUERY_STRING"]);
echo $file;

https://site.com/path/file.php?p=123

 

PATH WITH FILENAME

// (D) PATH + FILENAME
$filepath = strtok($_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"], "?");
echo $filepath;

https://site.com/path/file.php?p=123

 

EXTRA) PARSE URL

<?php
$url = "http://site.com/path/file.php#section";
$parts = parse_url($url);
print_r($hash);

For you guys who have a URL string from somewhere – You can use the parse_url() function to quickly get all the parts.

 

 

 

HOW ABOUT THE HASH?

Want to get the hash section of the URL? For example, http://site.com/path/file.php#section. Sadly, it is nowhere to be found in $_SERVER. Your best bet is to use Javascript instead.

 

LINKS & REFERENCES

• Get URL Parts With Javascript – Code Boxx
• $_SERVER Superglobal – PHP
• Parse URL – PHP