Chapter 3. HTML Forms and PHP

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Perhaps the most common use of variables is in conjunction with HTML forms. Web sites utilize forms to register and login users, to receive feedback, for online shopping, and for many other purposes. Even the most basic site will find logical reasons to incorporate them.

Frequently, programmers create CGI scripts in Perl to handle the data created by these forms, but the same results can be achieved more easily using PHP. Unlike CGI scripts, where you have to write a segment of code that will extract the information sent by the form, PHP has a nice method of built-in support for receiving data from an HTML form without the need of any parsing.

This chapter will cover the basics of creating HTML forms and how that data is transmitted to your PHP script. Those who are new to the topic of forms may want to refer to an in-depth HTML resource for more detailed coverage of the topic, considering their importance in the field of Web site design.

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