PHP curl post data not clearing

Question

I've been using PHP and curl to post sensitive data to my backend server. However, after the 2nd or 3rd post request, the post data doesn't seem to be clearing, instead, it appears to concatenate the old post data to the new data being sent.

Here is an example of how I am creating my request:

function Communicate($req, $postdata)
{
    $curl = curl_init();
    curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_URL, sprintf('%s%s', $this->server_uri, $req));
    curl_setopt($curl,CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
    curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_POST, substr_count($postdata, '='));
    curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $postdata);

    $res = curl_exec($curl);
    curl_close($curl);
    unset($postdata);
    $sfr = json_decode($res);
}

As you can see, it is fairly straightforward.

However, I am tracing the post request on my backend server and here is what I get:

1st request

Restful Function: ValidateUserByEmail Params: [email protected]&pass=foo

2nd request

Restful Function: GetRegionByUserId Params: [email protected]&pass=foo

The userid param of the 2nd request is supposed to be just 1. I can see that this is being set correctly before the curl_exec function is executed.

Community · Accepted Answer · 2023-11-17 20:38:18Z

1

Your function seems straightforward, but assuming there is something happening on the receiving end, why not use sleep to delay the connection on each loop to give your receiving point time to catch up?

So for example, this part of your code is:

    $res = curl_exec($curl);
    curl_close($curl);
    unset($postdata);
    $sfr = json_decode($res);
}

But with sleep would be:

    $res = curl_exec($curl);
    curl_close($curl);
    unset($postdata);
    $sfr = json_decode($res);
    sleep(3);
}

The way I have that set now it will sleep for 3 seconds, but I would recommend shortening or even lengthening it to see what is the best balance of speed, performance & accuracy for your setup.

edited Nov 17, 2023 at 20:38

CommunityBot

11 silver badge

answered Dec 30, 2013 at 2:26

Giacomo1968

25.3k11 gold badges78 silver badges106 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Comment

tier1 Over a year ago

I think you might be on to something here. I'm going to do a little bit of testing with this and get back to you.

Jeremy Kendall · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-30 04:25:21Z

1

If it were me, I would very carefully inspect the code that's calling Communicate(). It seems to me that if there's a bug, it's related to the handling of the $postdata argument before that arg is passed to the function. Litter that code with var_dump($postdata) and I'll bet you'll find one of those bugs that's so obvious it's impossible to find.

(The same goes for the code on the server receiving those requests.)

edited Dec 30, 2013 at 4:25

answered Dec 30, 2013 at 4:20

Jeremy Kendall

2,86918 silver badges17 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

PHP curl post data not clearing

2 Answers 2

1 Comment

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

1 Comment

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related