PHP url decode does not work

Question

I have issue in decoding a url received from an iOS app; the url is of th kind:

percorsoWithOption.php?partenza=Via%20Gaspare%20Balbi%202–8&arrivo=Via%20Conca%20d'Oro&language=it_IT&latitude=41.717835&longitude=12.311369&endLatitude=41.679623&endLongitude=12.484474&json=1

and when I try to decode it at the following: Online decoder it is decoded just fine. Yet when I apply:

if (isset($_GET['arrivo'])) $arrivo=$_GET['arrivo'];
if (isset($_GET['partenza'])) $partenza=$_GET['partenza'];
error_log("*inizio**departure=$partenza, arrival=$arrivo,   latitude=$latitude, longitude=$longitude");
if (isset($partenza)) $partenza=urldecode($partenza);
if (isset($arrivo)) $arrivo=urldecode($arrivo);
error_log("***departure=$partenza, arrival=$arrivo, latitude=$latitude, longitude=$longitude");

the logs report the values nearly unchanged:

[Tue Dec 01 12:25:22.566615 2015] [:error] [pid 20812] [client 82.61.145.186:37526] *inizio**departure=Via Gaspare Balbi 2\xe2\x80\x938, arrival=Via Conca d'Oro, latitude=41.717835, longitude=12.311369 [Tue Dec 01 12:25:22.569876 2015] [:error] [pid 20812] [client 82.61.145.186:37526] ***departure=Via Gaspare Balbi 2\xe2\x80\x938, arrival=Via Conca d'Oro, latitude=41.717835, longitude=12.311369 basically the 2\xe2\x80\x938 is left untouched.

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 01 '15 at 12:01

0

It's not "nearly unchanged", it's URL-decoding just fine. The only issue is that the en dash is showing up as "\xe2\x80\x93" in your log.

It's unclear whether this is an issue of how values are logged or viewed, or whether the value is actually "\xe2\x80\x93". To test this, use bin2hex() on your string and see whether it shows up as e28093 (just the – character) or 5c78... (literally "\x...").
That en dash should be sent URL-encoded as %E2%80%93 in the URL, not as the raw character. Fix this on the client.

answered Dec 01 '15 at 12:01

deceze

510,633
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743
889

I encode the string in objective c with simple: [start stringByAddingPercentEscapesUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding] I also tried a string extension on the web with the same result. – Fabrizio Bartolomucci Dec 01 '15 at 12:06
Can't tell you how to do it correctly in ObjC, that'd need to be a separate question. – deceze Dec 01 '15 at 12:07
I wrote it, it is quite standard. – Fabrizio Bartolomucci Dec 01 '15 at 12:08
What I can advise you is to check whether it's merely a problem of your logging, or whether your value is *actually* strangely decoded to `\x..`. – deceze Dec 01 '15 at 12:19
I even tried: [start stringByAddingPercentEncodingWithAllowedCharacters:[NSCharacterSet URLHostAllowedCharacterSet]]; with the same produced url. The strange issue is that : https://www.tools4noobs.com/online_php_functions/urldecode/ decodes all of them, as you may try yourself. This hinting to a problem with the php support. – Fabrizio Bartolomucci Dec 01 '15 at 12:21
Have. You. Tried. `bin2hex`?! – deceze Dec 01 '15 at 12:22
Where? In objective c or php?! A a matter of fact I am thinking of stripping all characters different from spaces and hyphens. – Fabrizio Bartolomucci Dec 01 '15 at 12:24
In PHP, for debugging the issue. – deceze Dec 01 '15 at 13:07

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 01 '15 at 12:34

I ended up using:

-(NSString*)stripNonStandardAndEncode:(NSString*)origin{
     NSMutableCharacterSet *charactersToKeep = [NSMutableCharacterSet alphanumericCharacterSet];
    [charactersToKeep addCharactersInString:@" ,.'"];

    NSCharacterSet *charactersToRemove = [charactersToKeep invertedSet];

    NSString *trimmedReplacement = [[ origin componentsSeparatedByCharactersInSet:charactersToRemove] componentsJoinedByString:@""];
    return [trimmedReplacement stringByAddingPercentEscapesUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
}

And now php handles it seamlessly: url decode may have some issue with character '-'

score -1 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 01 '15 at 11:54

-1

You can use rawurldecode function.

answered Dec 01 '15 at 11:54

Suman Biswas

853
10
19

Unfortunately the 2\xe2\x80\x938 remains unchanged even with rawurldecode – Fabrizio Bartolomucci Dec 01 '15 at 12:00

PHP url decode does not work

3 Answers3