How do I make a PHP form that submits to self

Question

How do I make a self-posting/self-submitting form, i.e. a form that submits the results to itself, instead of submitting to another form?

Answer 1

Hello @kartik,

The proper way would be to use $_SERVER["PHP_SELF"] (in conjunction with htmlspecialchars to avoid possible exploits). You can also just skip the action= part empty, which is not W3C valid, but currently works in most (all?) browsers - the default is to submit to self if it's empty.

Here is an example form that takes a name and email, and then displays the values you have entered upon submit:

<?php if (!empty($_POST)): ?>
    Welcome, <?php echo htmlspecialchars($_POST["name"]); ?>!<br>
    Your email is <?php echo htmlspecialchars($_POST["email"]); ?>.<br>
<?php else: ?>
    <form action="<?php echo htmlspecialchars($_SERVER["PHP_SELF"]); ?>" method="post">
        Name: <input type="text" name="name"><br>
        Email: <input type="text" name="email"><br>
        <input type="submit">
    </form>
<?php endif; ?>