PHP $_SERVER

PHP $_SERVER

When you need details about the web server, such as headers, paths or where a script is located, look in the $_SERVER superglobal.

Like the other superglobals, it is built in and can be used from any scope.

Note: The web server is what fills in these entries, so one server or environment may provide an entry that another doesn't.

Here are a few of them in use:

Use $_SERVER Elements

Print several $_SERVER values, one after another:

Prompt
Write a PHP script that echoes the values of several $_SERVER elements: PHP_SELF, SERVER_NAME, HTTP_HOST, HTTP_REFERER, HTTP_USER_AGENT, and SCRIPT_NAME.
Output: PHP script

The $_SERVER Elements

These are the entries of $_SERVER you are most likely to need:

  • $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'] - The filename of the script that is running right now
  • $_SERVER['GATEWAY_INTERFACE'] - The CGI (Common Gateway Interface) version in use on the server
  • $_SERVER['SERVER_ADDR'] - The host server's IP address
  • $_SERVER['SERVER_NAME'] - The host server's name (such as www.PromptCookbook.com)
  • $_SERVER['SERVER_SOFTWARE'] - The string that identifies the server software (such as Apache/2.2.24)
  • $_SERVER['SERVER_PROTOCOL'] - The information protocol's name and revision (for example HTTP/1.1)
  • $_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] - The method used to request the page (for example POST)
  • $_SERVER['REQUEST_TIME'] - A timestamp of the moment the request started (for example 1377687496)
  • $_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'] - The query string, when the page was requested with one
  • $_SERVER['HTTP_ACCEPT'] - The Accept header sent with this request
  • $_SERVER['HTTP_ACCEPT_CHARSET'] - This request's Accept_Charset header (for example utf-8,ISO-8859-1)
  • $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] - The Host header sent with this request
  • $_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'] - The complete URL of the page that sent the user here; you cannot rely on it, since not every user agent provides it
  • $_SERVER['HTTPS'] - Tells you whether the script was requested over secure HTTP
  • $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] - The IP address the visitor is viewing the page from
  • $_SERVER['REMOTE_HOST'] - The host name the visitor is viewing the page from
  • $_SERVER['REMOTE_PORT'] - The port the visitor's machine uses to talk to the web server
  • $_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME'] - The full, absolute path of the running script
  • $_SERVER['SERVER_ADMIN'] - The value of the SERVER_ADMIN directive from the web server's configuration file or, for a script on a virtual host, the value set for that virtual host (such as someone@PromptCookbook.com)
  • $_SERVER['SERVER_PORT'] - The port on the server machine that the web server communicates through (for example 80)
  • $_SERVER['SERVER_SIGNATURE'] - The virtual host name and server version that get added to pages the server generates
  • $_SERVER['PATH_TRANSLATED'] - The path to the current script as the file system sees it
  • $_SERVER['SCRIPT_NAME'] - The current script's path
  • $_SERVER['SCRIPT_URI'] - The current page's URI