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5.5 PHP Form Complete

This chapter shows how to keep the values in the input fields when the user hits the submit button.

PHP - Keep The Values in The Form

To show the values in the input fields after the user hits the submit button, we add a little PHP script inside the value attribute of the following input fields: name, email, and website. In the comment textarea field, we put the script between the <textarea> and </textarea> tags. The little script outputs the value of the $name, $email, $website, and $comment variables.

Then, we also need to show which radio button that was checked. For this, we must manipulate the checked attribute (not the value attribute for radio buttons):

Name: <input type="text" name="name" value="<?php echo $name;?>">

E-mail: <input type="text" name="email" value="<?php echo $email;?>">

Website: <input type="text" name="website" value="<?php echo $website;?>">

Comment: <textarea name="comment" rows="5" cols="40"><?php echo $comment;?></textarea>

Gender:
<input type="radio" name="gender"
<?php if (isset($gender) && $gender=="female") echo "checked";?>
value="female">Female
<input type="radio" name="gender"
<?php if (isset($gender) && $gender=="male") echo "checked";?>
value="male">Male
<input type="radio" name="gender"
<?php if (isset($gender) && $gender=="other") echo "checked";?>
value="other">Other

PHP - Complete Form Example

Here is the complete code for the PHP Form Validation Example:

Example: Test Form - PHP Form Validation Example Complete

<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<html>
<head>
<style>
.error {color: #FF0000;}
</style>
</head>
<body>

<?php
// define variables and set to empty values
$nameErr = $emailErr = $genderErr = $websiteErr = "";
$name = $email = $gender = $comment = $website = "";

if ($_SERVER["REQUEST_METHOD"] == "POST") {
  if (empty($_POST["name"])) {
    $nameErr = "Name is required";
  } else {
    $name = test_input($_POST["name"]);
    // check if name only contains letters and whitespace
    if (!preg_match("/^[a-zA-Z-' ]*$/",$name)) {
      $nameErr = "Only letters and white space allowed";
    }
  }
  
  if (empty($_POST["email"])) {
    $emailErr = "Email is required";
  } else {
    $email = test_input($_POST["email"]);
    // check if e-mail address is well-formed
    if (!filter_var($email, FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL)) {
      $emailErr = "Invalid email format";
    }
  }
    
  if (empty($_POST["website"])) {
    $website = "";
  } else {
    $website = test_input($_POST["website"]);
    // check if URL address syntax is valid (this regular expression also allows dashes in the URL)
    if (!preg_match("/\b(?:(?:https?|ftp):\/\/|www\.)[-a-z0-9+&@#\/%?=~_|!:,.;]*[-a-z0-9+&@#\/%=~_|]/i",$website)) {
      $websiteErr = "Invalid URL";
    }
  }

  if (empty($_POST["comment"])) {
    $comment = "";
  } else {
    $comment = test_input($_POST["comment"]);
  }

  if (empty($_POST["gender"])) {
    $genderErr = "Gender is required";
  } else {
    $gender = test_input($_POST["gender"]);
  }
}

function test_input($data) {
  $data = trim($data);
  $data = stripslashes($data);
  $data = htmlspecialchars($data);
  return $data;
}
?>

<h2>PHP Form Validation Example</h2>
<p><span class="error">* required field</span></p>
<form method="post" action="<?php echo htmlspecialchars($_SERVER["PHP_SELF"]);?>">
  Name: <input type="text" name="name" value="<?php echo $name;?>">
  <span class="error">* <?php echo $nameErr;?></span>
  <br><br>
  E-mail: <input type="text" name="email" value="<?php echo $email;?>">
  <span class="error">* <?php echo $emailErr;?></span>
  <br><br>
  Website: <input type="text" name="website" value="<?php echo $website;?>">
  <span class="error"><?php echo $websiteErr;?></span>
  <br><br>
  Comment: <textarea name="comment" rows="5" cols="40"><?php echo $comment;?></textarea>
  <br><br>
  Gender:
  <input type="radio" name="gender" <?php if (isset($gender) && $gender=="female") echo "checked";?> value="female">Female
  <input type="radio" name="gender" <?php if (isset($gender) && $gender=="male") echo "checked";?> value="male">Male
  <input type="radio" name="gender" <?php if (isset($gender) && $gender=="other") echo "checked";?> value="other">Other  
  <span class="error">* <?php echo $genderErr;?></span>
  <br><br>
  <input type="submit" name="submit" value="Submit">
</form>

<?php
echo "<h2>Your Input:</h2>";
echo $name;
echo "<br>";
echo $email;
echo "<br>";
echo $website;
echo "<br>";
echo $comment;
echo "<br>";
echo $gender;
?>

</body>
</html>

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Example files created in this module:
PHP Form Handling - A Simple HTML Form Using $_POST PHP Form Handling - A Simple HTML Form Using $_GET Test Form Test Form - PHP Form Validation Example With err Messages part 1 Test Form - PHP Form Validation Example With err Messages part 2 Test Form - PHP Form Validation Example Complete