Re: differences in between these env. variables

On Thu, Jan 12, 2012 at 12:26 AM, Haluk Karamete <halukkaramete@gmail.com> wrote: > I've grouped these env variables, each group returns the same values > is there a difference? which ones do you use? which ones should I not > use for the purposes listed below > You can find the answers here: http://nl3.php.net/manual/en/reserved.variables.server.php I'll try to answer them in short > group1 > SCRIPT_FILENAME vs PATH_TRANSLATED > where both return D:\Hosting\5291100\html\directory\file.php > purpose: get the full file path to the php script > SCRIPT_FILENAME can be a relative path, PATH_TRANSLATED is the full path. This is only true if run from CLI. On my Ubuntu box I don't even have PATH_TRANSLATED, so SCRIPT_FILENAME is recommended. > > group2 > REMOTE_ADDR vs REMOTE_HOST > where both return same IP > purpose: get the visitor's ip REMOTE_HOST is not necessary always IP, if PHP succeeds to do a reverse lookup (ie. get name for this ip), than REMOTE_HOST contains a name instead of ip. You need to set a config option for this, though. Recommended: REMOTE_ADDR, it matches what you need, doesn't need config, and REMOTE_HOST doesn't even work for all hosts. > > group3 > REQUEST_URI vs SCRIPT_NAME vs URL vs ORIG_PATH_INFO vs PHP_SELF > which all return  /directory/file.php > purpose: get the virtual url to the php script I'll extend your example. We now have a RewriteRule in apache like this: RewriteRule ^files/?$ /directory/file.php [L,QSA] Which will rewrite /files/... --> /directory/file.php REQUEST_URI now contains how it was called by the browser, '/files/something.php' SCRIPT_NAME returns path to script (/directory/file.php), set by the SAPI (apache, ..). PHP_SELF returns also the path to script (/directory/file.php), but set by PHP self. I don't have any ORIG_PATH_INFO on my Ubuntu box, so be careful about this one. Recommended: Depends on which you need. I prefer PHP_SELF over SCRIPT_NAME, but that's more personal choice. Matijn