How do I create arrays in a HTML <form>?
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10.8 PHP and HTML
10 FAQ : Foire Aux Questions
 Manuel PHP
.  What encoding/decoding do I need when I pass a value through a form/URL?
.  I'm trying to use an <input type="image"> tag, but the
. How do I create arrays in a HTML <form>?
-> How do I get all the results from a select multiple HTML tag?
.  How can I pass a variable from Javascript to PHP?

10.8.4 How do I get all the results from a select multiple HTML tag?

The select multiple tag in an HTML construct allows users to select multiple items from a list. These items are then passed to the action handler for the form. The problem is that they are all passed with the same widget name. ie. 


<select name="var" multiple="yes">
Each selected option will arrive at the action handler as: 

var=option1
var=option2
var=option3
Each option will overwrite the contents of the previous $var variable. The solution is to use PHP's "array from form element" feature. The following should be used: 

<select name="var[]" multiple="yes">
This tells PHP to treat $var as an array and each assignment of a value to var[] adds an item to the array. The first item becomes $var[0] , the next $var[1] , etc. The count function can be used to determine how many options were selected, and the sort function can be used to sort the option array if necessary.

Note that if you are using JavaScript the [] on the element name might cause you problems when you try to refer to the element by name. Use it's numerical form element ID instead, or enclose the variable name in single quotes and use that as the index to the elements array, for example: 


variable = documents.forms[0].elements['var[]'];

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