PHP Array in email

Question

Im trying to write a contact form and so far everything works only theres a multiple checkbox in the form and im unsure how to call all data and so my email returns 'array' for the variable 'service'

My code is...

<?php
$name = $_POST['name'];
$email = $_POST['email'];
$number = $_POST['number'];
$service = $_POST['service'];
$description = $_POST['description'];
$location = $_POST['location'];
$to = "[email protected]";

//begin of HTML message
$message = "
From : $name,
Email: $email,
Number: $number,
Service: $service,
Description: $description  
Location: $location
";
//end of message

$headers = "MIME-Version: 1.0rn";
$headers .= "Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1rn";
$headers  .= "From: $email\r\n";

mail($to, $subject, $message, $headers);
?>

My form for the service input is...

 <dt><input type="checkbox" value="Static guarding" name="service[]" class="cbox">Static guarding</dt>
    <dt><input type="checkbox" value="Mobile Patrols" name="service[]"class="cbox">Mobile Patrols</dt>
    <dt><input type="checkbox" value="Alarm response escorting" name="service[]"class="cbox">Alarm response escorting</dt>
    <dt><input type="checkbox" value="Alarm response/ Keyholding" name="service[]"class="cbox">Alarm response/ Keyholding</dt>
    <dt><input type="checkbox" value="Other" name="service[]"class="cbox">Other</dt>
    <dt><input type="hidden" value="Other" name="service[]"class="cbox"></dt>

Do var_dump($_POST['service']); to view the structure of the array within the $_POST array. You have a multi-dimensional array here. — esqew
– esqew, Commented Oct 19, 2011 at 20:26
that returns... array(3) { [0]=> string(15) "Static guarding" [1]=> string(24) "Alarm response escorting" [2]=> string(5) "Other" } Im unsure how to just call the values though — Liam
– Liam, Commented Oct 19, 2011 at 20:29
Yeah I need to list them all, Ill google multi dimensional arrays thanks — Liam
– Liam, Commented Oct 19, 2011 at 20:31
Your code is vulnerable to e-mail header injection, since you don't sanitize $email. I'd suggest using FILTER_SANITIZE_EMAIL with filter_input() or filter_var() from the Filter extension. — Ilmari Karonen
– Ilmari Karonen, Commented Oct 19, 2011 at 20:41

Marc B · Accepted Answer · 2011-10-19 20:31:07Z

4

You can process the checkbox values into a string with implode():

$checkboxes = implode(',', $_POST['service']);

$message = <<<EOL
...
Service: $checkboxes

EOL;

Note the use of a heredoc - it's a MUCH nicer way of defining a multi-line string than using a regular quoted string.

answered Oct 19, 2011 at 20:31

Marc B

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1 Comment

esqew Over a year ago

Nice answer, just gonna point out you're missing a bracket in the first line and also an argument for implode().

webbiedave · Accepted Answer · 2011-10-19 20:32:02Z

1

Because you appended your form input names with brackets, PHP will form an indexed array out of them.

$sCount = count($service);
for ($s=0; $s<$sCount; $s++) {
    echo $service[$s];
}

You might be better off creating an associative array:

<dt><input type="checkbox" value="Mobile Patrols" name="service[mobile]"class="cbox">Mobile Patrols</dt>
<dt><input type="checkbox" value="Alarm response escorting" name="service[escorting]"class="cbox">Alarm response escorting</dt>

That way, in your script, you could access them as:

echo $service['mobile'];
echo $service['escorting'];

Note that empty checkboxes aren't submitted so you'll want to first check if the array element is set.

answered Oct 19, 2011 at 20:32

webbiedave

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