Bug #14952: $_GET and $HTTP_GET_VARS are separate arrays

From: ramses0@yahoo.com Operating system: Linux PHP version: 4.1.1 PHP Bug Type: Feature/Change Request Bug description: $_GET and $HTTP_GET_VARS are separate arrays blah.php <?php print_r( $HTTP_GET_VARS ); print_r( $_GET ); echo "<hr>"; $_GET['test'] = 1; echo "<hr>"; print_r( $HTTP_GET_VARS ); print_r( $_GET ); ?> Results from blah.php --------------------- Array ( ) Array ( ) Array ( ) Array ( [test] => 1 ) Results from blah.php?test=test --------------------- Array ( [test] => test ) Array ( [test] => test ) Array ( [test] => test ) Array ( [test] => 1 ) Aside from the performance/memory implications of having two separate arrays (ie: http://blah.com/blah.php?text=[shakespeare]&spell_check=1), it's really annoying when trying to propagate information to a moduralized script which normally takes data off the get-string. Here is my patch: $_GET =& $HTTP_GET_VARS; It halves the memory requirements of PHP's default arrays, and behaves much closer to what an end-user would expect. I am willing to bet that NOBODY wants $_GET['blah'] = 'test'; echo $HTTP_GET_VARS['blah']; to fail in mysterious ways. Why is this not done in the first place? I have checked on the mailing lists and in the bug archives, but couldn't find any previous discussion. Send me an email at ramses0@yahoo.com if there is a good reason for this, or if I am missing something important. -- Edit bug report at: http://bugs.php.net/?id=14952&edit=1