$_POST

(PHP 4 >= 4.1.0, PHP 5, PHP 7)

HTTP POST variables

An associative array of variables passed to the current script via the HTTP POST method when using application/x-www-form-urlencoded or multipart/form-data as the HTTP Content-Type in the request.

$HTTP_POST_VARS contains the same initial information, but is not a superglobal. (Note that $HTTP_POST_VARS and $_POST are different variables and that PHP handles them as such)

Changelog:

4.1.0

Introduced $_POST that deprecated $HTTP_POST_VARS.

Notes:

This is a 'superglobal', or automatic global, variable. This simply means that it is available in all scopes throughout a script. There is no need to do global $variable; to access it within functions or methods.

Examples:

$_POST example

<?php
echo 'Hello ' . htmlspecialchars($_POST["name"]) . '!';
?>

Assuming the user POSTed name=Hannes

The above example will output something similar to:

Hello Hannes!