in php5, how to stop GET from (wrongly) converting into numeric?

Question

in relation to php int64 limits, if the uri has a int64 argument, how do you prevent GET from wrongly converting it into numeric and simply keeping it as a string?

http://some.com?id=1707541557936130

then

echo $_GET['id'] => 1.7075415579361E+15

how to prevent this and have $_GET['id'] be the string 1707541557936130?

the way $_GET works now is unusable. need to parse $_SERVER["QUERY_STRING"] myself. but then never know when php will grab a variable and incorrectly convert again.

NOTE: afaik this will be a problem on 32bit, not 64bit php installs.

@Aurelio De Rosa - are you running 32 or 64bit? only problem on 32bit — cc young, Jan 03 '12 at 03:20
Unable to recreate without purposefully triggering (like +0). what is the os, php version, php.ini? something has to be triggering this. Is there a sanitation function happening before you call $_GET? I'm on 32 bit windows (a really slow pc) with no problem using php 5.3.8. It's a string like it should be. — craniumonempty, Jan 04 '12 at 03:50

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 03 '12 at 02:54

4

Everyrthing coming out of _GET/_POST/_COOKIE is a string. That data wouldn't be converted to a number unless you did something that forced it to be interpreted as one.

echo $_GET['id']; // echoes your big number
echo $_GET['id'] + 0; // forces an int conversion

answered Jan 03 '12 at 02:54

Marc B

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my php page has `echo $_GET['id']` and it writes `1.7075415579361E+15` - there was nothing to force the coercion – cc young Jan 03 '12 at 03:18
is your php running 32 or 64bit? this is _only_ a problem on 32bit – cc young Jan 03 '12 at 03:19

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited Jan 03 '12 at 03:00

0

This should get the job done.

echo (string) $_GET['id'];

edited Jan 03 '12 at 03:00

Joseph Silber

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answered Jan 03 '12 at 02:55

Stefan

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This would get rid of any trailing zeroes, if there was a decimal point in the string... – Joseph Silber Jan 03 '12 at 02:58
results in `1.7075415579361E+15` - the problem is using 64bit int in 32bit php. – cc young Jan 03 '12 at 03:25

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 03 '12 at 07:39

0

bite the bullet and install 64bit - it's what's on your server anyway

answered Jan 03 '12 at 07:39

cc young

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score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 03 '12 at 13:53

0

If the current solutions are not working you can append a string character to the integer such as

http://some.com?id=i1707541557936130

Additionally, if it is an issue of how the float is displayed you can use number_format().

$id = (string) number_format($_GET['id']);
echo $id;

answered Jan 03 '12 at 13:53

Steve Buzonas

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yes, thought about prepending the ID with an alpha, just as you suggested. but soon as you use it, eg, `$id = substr($id,1)`, you never know when php is going to stab you in the back and force a coercion on you. the `number_format()` does not fly since the precision has already been lost – cc young Jan 04 '12 at 15:34
What are you doing with the number? Can you split it from the string into an upper and lower half before you manipulate it? – Steve Buzonas Jan 04 '12 at 21:30

in php5, how to stop GET from (wrongly) converting into numeric?

4 Answers4