How to read the query string in PHP and HTML?

Question

a URL ending with something like portal.php?key2=hello how can I get the value of "key2"?

Answer 1

var_dump( $_GET['key2'] );

Answer 2

$_GET['key2']

will get you the value from a query string.

$_POST['key2']

will get you the value from a form posted.

$_REQUEST['key2']

will get you either of the above if it exists.

Answer 3

GET data is decoded into the $_GET super-global array. See http://php.net/manual/en/language.variables.external.php