How to Get the Full URL in PHP

If you are working with PHP, you may need to get the full URL of the current page. This can be useful for various reasons, such as redirecting users to the current page or displaying the URL in a link or form. In this tutorial, you will learn how to get the full URL in PHP.

Step 1: Understanding the Problem

Before you start coding, it is important to understand what you are trying to achieve. In this case, you want to get the full URL of the current page. The full URL includes the protocol (http or https), the domain name, the path, and any query parameters.

Step 2: Using $_SERVER[‘REQUEST_URI’]

One way to get the full URL is to use the $_SERVER[‘REQUEST_URI’] variable. This variable contains the path and query parameters of the current page. To get the full URL, you can concatenate the protocol, domain name, and $_SERVER[‘REQUEST_URI’].

$url = "http://$_SERVER[HTTP_HOST]$_SERVER[REQUEST_URI]";
 echo $url;

This code will output the full URL of the current page, including the protocol, domain name, path, and query parameters.

Step 3: Handling HTTPS

If your website uses HTTPS, you need to handle it differently. In this case, you can check the $_SERVER[‘HTTPS’] variable to see if it is set to ‘on’. If it is, you can use ‘https’ as the protocol instead of ‘http’.

if(isset($_SERVER['HTTPS']) && $_SERVER['HTTPS'] === 'on') {
     $url = "https://$_SERVER[HTTP_HOST]$_SERVER[REQUEST_URI]";
 } else {
     $url = "http://$_SERVER[HTTP_HOST]$_SERVER[REQUEST_URI]";
 }
 echo $url;

This code will output the full URL of the current page, including the correct protocol (http or https), domain name, path, and query parameters.

Step 4: Using parse_url()

Another way to get the full URL is to use the parse_url() function. This function parses a URL into its components, such as the protocol, domain name, path, and query parameters. You can then concatenate these components to create the full URL.

$url_components = parse_url($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']);
 $url = $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] . $url_components['path'];
 if(isset($url_components['query'])) {
     $url .= '?' . $url_components['query'];
 }
 if(isset($_SERVER['HTTPS']) && $_SERVER['HTTPS'] === 'on') {
     $url = 'https://' . $url;
 } else {
     $url = 'http://' . $url;
 }
 echo $url;