Detecting request type in PHP (GET, POST, PUT or DELETE)

REST in PHP can be done pretty simple. Create http://example.com/test.php (outlined below). Use this for REST calls, e.g. http://example.com/test.php/testing/123/hello. This works with Apache and Lighttpd out of the box, and no rewrite rules are needed.

<?php $method = $_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD']; $request = explode("/", substr(@$_SERVER['PATH_INFO'], 1)); switch ($method) { case 'PUT': do_something_with_put($request); break; case 'POST': do_something_with_post($request); break; case 'GET': do_something_with_get($request); break; default: handle_error($request); break; } 

Detecting the HTTP method or so called REQUEST METHOD can be done using the following code snippet.

$method = $_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD']; if ($method == 'POST'){ // Method is POST } elseif ($method == 'GET'){ // Method is GET } elseif ($method == 'PUT'){ // Method is PUT } elseif ($method == 'DELETE'){ // Method is DELETE } else { // Method unknown } 

You could also do it using a switch if you prefer this over the if-else statement.

If a method other than GET or POST is required in an HTML form, this is often solved using a hidden field in the form.

<!-- DELETE method --> <form action='' method='POST'> <input type="hidden" name'_METHOD' value="DELETE"> </form> <!-- PUT method --> <form action='' method='POST'> <input type="hidden" name'_METHOD' value="PUT"> </form> 

For more information regarding HTTP methods I would like to refer to the following StackOverflow question:

HTTP protocol's PUT and DELETE and their usage in PHP

We can also use the input_filter to detect the request method while also providing security through input sanitation.

$request = filter_input(INPUT_SERVER, 'REQUEST_METHOD', FILTER_SANITIZE_ENCODED); 

You can use getenv function and don't have to work with a $_SERVER variable:

getenv('REQUEST_METHOD'); 

More info:

http://php.net/manual/en/function.getenv.php

Since this is about REST, just getting the request method from the server is not enough. You also need to receive RESTful route parameters. The reason for separating RESTful parameters and GET/POST/PUT parameters is that a resource needs to have its own unique URL for identification.

Here's one way of implementing RESTful routes in PHP using Slim:

https://github.com/codeguy/Slim

$app = new \Slim\Slim(); $app->get('/hello/:name', function ($name) { echo "Hello, $name"; }); $app->run(); 

And configure the server accordingly.

Here's another example using AltoRouter:

https://github.com/dannyvankooten/AltoRouter

$router = new AltoRouter(); $router->setBasePath('/AltoRouter'); // (optional) the subdir AltoRouter lives in // mapping routes $router->map('GET|POST','/', 'home#index', 'home'); $router->map('GET','/users', array('c' => 'UserController', 'a' => 'ListAction')); $router->map('GET','/users/[i:id]', 'users#show', 'users_show'); $router->map('POST','/users/[i:id]/[delete|update:action]', 'usersController#doAction', 'users_do'); 

In core php you can do like this :

<?php $method = $_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD']; switch ($method) { case 'GET': //Here Handle GET Request echo 'You are using '.$method.' Method'; break; case 'POST': //Here Handle POST Request echo 'You are using '.$method.' Method'; break; case 'PUT': //Here Handle PUT Request echo 'You are using '.$method.' Method'; break; case 'PATCH': //Here Handle PATCH Request echo 'You are using '.$method.' Method'; break; case 'DELETE': //Here Handle DELETE Request echo 'You are using '.$method.' Method'; break; case 'COPY': //Here Handle COPY Request echo 'You are using '.$method.' Method'; break; case 'OPTIONS': //Here Handle OPTIONS Request echo 'You are using '.$method.' Method'; break; case 'LINK': //Here Handle LINK Request echo 'You are using '.$method.' Method'; break; case 'UNLINK': //Here Handle UNLINK Request echo 'You are using '.$method.' Method'; break; case 'PURGE': //Here Handle PURGE Request echo 'You are using '.$method.' Method'; break; case 'LOCK': //Here Handle LOCK Request echo 'You are using '.$method.' Method'; break; case 'UNLOCK': //Here Handle UNLOCK Request echo 'You are using '.$method.' Method'; break; case 'PROPFIND': //Here Handle PROPFIND Request echo 'You are using '.$method.' Method'; break; case 'VIEW': //Here Handle VIEW Request echo 'You are using '.$method.' Method'; break; Default: echo 'You are using '.$method.' Method'; break; } ?> 

It is very simple. Just use $_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'];.

Example:

<?php $method = $_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD']; switch ($method) { case 'GET': //Here Handle GET Request break; case 'POST': //Here Handle POST Request break; case 'DELETE': //Here Handle DELETE Request break; case 'PUT': //Here Handle PUT Request break; } ?> 

TL;DR

The "native source of true" is the $_SERVER global variable. The request Method is saved under the key "REQUEST_METHOD".

Check the $_SERVER array

$_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD']

PHP Methods

But you can use a lot of workarounds to get the Method. Like filter_input: filter_input(INPUT_SERVER, 'REQUEST_METHOD', FILTER_SANITIZE_ENCODED);

Libs Or you use external libs like:

• Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Request
• \Zend\Http\PhpEnvironment\Request

Conclusion

But the easiest way would be to use: $_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'].

$request = new \Zend\Http\PhpEnvironment\Request(); $httpMethod = $request->getMethod(); 

In this way you can also achieve in zend framework 2 also.

It is valuable to additionally note, that PHP will populate all the $_GET parameters even when you send a proper request of other type.

Methods in above replies are completely correct, however if you want to additionaly check for GET parameters while handling POST, DELETE, PUT, etc. request, you need to check the size of $_GET array.

When a method was requested, it will have an array. So simply check with count().

$m=['GET'=>$_GET,'POST'=>$_POST]; foreach($m as$k=>$v){ echo count($v)? $k.' was requested.':null; } 

3v4l.org/U51TE

I used this code. It should work.

function get_request_method() { $request_method = strtolower($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD']); if($request_method != 'get' && $request_method != 'post') { return $request_method; } if($request_method == 'post' && isset($_POST['_method'])) { return strtolower($_POST['_method']); } return $request_method; } 

This above code will work with REST calls and will also work with html form

<form method="post"> <input name="_method" type="hidden" value="delete" /> <input type="submit" value="Submit"> </form> 

Here's another suggestion. Maybe helpful if you are looking in a specific POST value such as 'foo'. Above, HelpNeeder introduced the filter_input() function, great for filtering user input.

//php 8.1 // example.com?foo=bar $query = 'bar'; if (filter_has_var(INPUT_SERVER, 'REQUEST_METHOD')) { $test = filter_input(INPUT_POST, 'foo', FILTER_SANITIZE_SPECIAL_CHARS); if (null != $test && $query === $test) { //... } } 

https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.filter-input.php

https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.filter-has-var.php