string with dollar symbol in url parameters in php

stranger_6_7 · 09-03-2008, 02:18 PM

Hi,

I am writing a script in php where the following url when opened in a browser returns an xml.

http://localhost/search?searchid=GR$GrIF0BYUcRqSIWXRiPA&c=10&_sid_=23-_IK8gOFlgun2WqLysOvC

when I try to open the url using any functions fopen or curl in php,
the xml is not returned. The problem I found out was the searchid string in the above url i.e searchid=GR$GrIF0BYUcRqSIWXRiPA.
It has a "$" character in the string .So php is interpreting the "$" sign as new variable rather than a string and returning improper results.

How can I solve this problem?

Please help asap.

Thanks for the help in advance.

Regards,
Stranger.

BrianK · 09-03-2008, 02:45 PM

Not sure how you're getting the string, but:

$foo = "some$string";

is not the same as

$foo = 'some$string';

as can be seen by:

PHP Code:



$foo = "some$string";
echo "$foo\n";
$foo = 'some$string';
echo "$foo\n";

which outputs:

Code:

some
some$string

Otherwise, if you're forming the string inside php, you can escape the $, which will also work.

stranger_6_7 · 09-03-2008, 02:56 PM

Thanks for the fast reply..

Actually This is what I am doing.

function Results($SessionId,$SearchId)
{
global $flightData;
echo "<BR>";
$flighturl = "http://www.k.com/s/basic/flight?searchid=$SearchId&c=10&apimode=1&_sid_=$SessionId";
echo $flighturl;
echo "<BR>";
echo "<a href=$flighturl>Click on the URL to see Flight results</a>";
MagicParser_parse($flighturl,"flightHandler","xml|SEARCHRESULT/");

}

The $SessionId and $SearchId will have values that are randomly generated by the API; For Ex:

Session Id is 14-fqRZ8_QO4ScJF$RuXvdR
Search Id is eu$iI8$XOKQiTi8_p1DT_Q

both of them may randomly have $ string randomly appearing every time I call the API.

So I am unable to send the exact sessionid value as

stranger_6_7 · 09-03-2008, 03:07 PM

Thanks for the fast reply..

Actually This is what I am doing.

function Results($SessionId,$SearchId)
{
global $flightData;
echo "<BR>";
$flighturl = "http://www.k.com/s/basic/flight?searchid=$SearchId&c=10&apimode=1&_sid_=$SessionId";
echo $flighturl;
echo "<BR>";
echo "<a href=$flighturl>Click on the URL to see Flight results</a>";
MagicParser_parse($flighturl,"flightHandler","xml|SEARCHRESULT/");

}

The $SessionId and $SearchId will have values that are randomly generated by the API; For Ex:

Session Id is 14-fqRZ8_QO4ScJF$RuXvdR
Search Id is eu$iI8$XOKQiTi8_p1DT_Q

both of them may randomly have $ string randomly appearing every time I call the API.

So I am unable to send the exact sessionid value as generated by the API

BrianK · 09-03-2008, 03:19 PM

hmm... having a hard time replicating.

PHP Code:



function printer($t1,$t2) {
  $thing = "http://foo.com/$t1/$t2/";
  echo "$thing\n";
}

$s1 = 'some$string';
$s2 = 'other$thing';

printer($s1,$s2);

outputs:

Code:

http://foo.com/some$string/other$thing/

works in both a browser and with the CLI.

Maybe the '$' is not the problem? If you echo out the parms you're passing to that func, do they appear to be missing everything after the '$'?

Maybe php is trying to return an xml file but is not explicitly setting an xml header?

PHP Code:



header("Content-Type: text/xml");

stranger_6_7 · 09-03-2008, 03:36 PM

I did the following;

$SearchId = eu$iI8$XOKQiTi8_p1DT_Q; // this string is generated at runtime from an xml

I am retrieving that xml value and storing in $SearchId variable.

when I am changing this to
$ksid = '$SearchId';

echo $ksid:

output : '$SearchId';

$url = http://foo.com/searchId=$ksid //i.e http://foo.com/searchId='$SearchId' --- error

when I am changing this to
$ksid = "'".$SearchId ."'";
echo $ksid;

output : 'eu$iI8$XOKQiTi8_p1DT_Q';

$url = http://foo.com/searchId=$ksid // http://foo.com/searchId='eu$iI8$XOKQiTi8_p1DT_Q' --- error

I need this :

$url = http://foo.com/searchId=$ksid //http://foo.com/searchId=eu$iI8$XOKQiTi8_p1DT_Q

Thanks for the help..

Awaiting your reply

Best Regards

BrianK · 09-03-2008, 03:58 PM

PHP Code:



$SearchId = 'eu$iI8$XOKQiTi8_p1DT_Q';
$ksid = $SearchId;
echo $ksid;
echo "\n";
$url = "http://foo.com/searchId=$ksid";
echo $url;
echo "\n";

outputs:

Code:

eu$iI8$XOKQiTi8_p1DT_Q
http://foo.com/searchId=eu$iI8$XOKQiTi8_p1DT_Q

stranger_6_7 · 09-03-2008, 04:21 PM

Thank you so much. I got it.

I am facing one more strange problem.Can you please help me in this.

How can I write an xml from an url to a file using php.

When I open the url it is showing the xml data perfectly.

But when I use curl or fopen to grab the xml data... It is not grabbing that xml.

How can i do this.

Thanks for the help

stranger_6_7 · 09-03-2008, 04:23 PM

The url doesnt have a XML file.. It is a API that returns an XML on opening the url in browser
and I have to grab that xml data to display them in html.

Thank you

BrianK · 09-03-2008, 04:42 PM

How are you displaying the xml? a simple echo? Are you sending xml headers? For instance, if I leave out the "header(...)" line, the following will not return proper xml data, even though if you view the source of the resulting page, it's perfect xml.

PHP Code:



<?php
header("Content-Type: text/xml");
$f = file_get_contents("./sheldon-bk.xml");
echo $f;
?>

to reiterate... without the "header()" line, the above does not return proper a proper xml document even though the text it does return is proper xml. With the "header()" line, it works perfectly.

edit:
hmm... re-read your question. I don't think I answered it.
Sorry, I don't have a good answer, but I'll leave this here for the record.