url routing with PHP and .htaccess

Question

I want to use the MVC pattern to divide my logic, from the presentation and the data.

Well, i've been searching for i while. But the truth is that i don't even know what to search.

I'm trying to setup a MVC Framework in php. I'm following a tutorial on youtube, and i'm stuck at the routing point.

I've read a LOT of guides, and every single one teaches things in different ways, creating only more confusion.

The point is this:

i have a .htaccess file that contains some directives (but the problem is that i don't know what all those directives means. I've never understood the htaccess logic)

Options -MultiViews
RewriteEngine On

#I think this sets the base url of the site?
RewriteBase /~caiuscitiriga/mvc/public

#What does this mean??
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f

#AND THIS?!
RewriteRule ^(.+)$ index.php?url=$1 [QSA,L]

And then i have these php scripts:

Index.php

<?php

require_once '../app/init.php';

$app = new App();

init.php

<?php

require_once 'core/App.php';
require_once 'core/Controller.php';

App.php

Don't ask me why i used filter_var and rtrim. Because is exactly what i want to figure out. As i said before, this code isn't mine. I'm sure that the trick it's exactly in .htacess and App.php but i don't understand the logic

class App{


    protected $controller = 'home';
    protected $method = 'index';
    protected $params = [];


    public function __construct()
    {
        print_r($this->parseUrl());
    }

    public function parseUrl()
    {
        if(isset($_GET['url']))
        {
            return $url = explode('/', filter_var(rtrim($_GET['url'], '/'), FILTER_SANITIZE_URL));
        }
    }
}

Controller.php

<?php

class Controller{

}

home.php

<?php

class Home extends Controller{

    public function index()
    {
        echo 'home/index';
    }
}

If i pass this url: localhost/~caiuscitiriga/mvc/public/home/index/maxine
I GET THIS: Array ( [0] => home [1] => index [2] => maxine )

WHY?!!? I mean, it's correct. But why??

why do i get that array in that specific way? What does the htacess to the url? And after that, what does exactly php before returning the url? — Caius
– Caius, Commented Jan 24, 2016 at 20:36
Citation: "I've never understood the htaccess logic"... Then I suggest you start reading the documentation instead of "LOTS of guides". — arkascha
– arkascha, Commented Jan 24, 2016 at 20:38

Progrock · Accepted Answer · 2016-01-24 23:00:19Z

20

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^(.+)$ index.php?url=$1 [QSA,L]

I read the above as, if the request is not a directory, and not a file, then take the path and pass it to index.php internally with the url attribute as the path.

So now

//example.com/big/bad/mamma

maps to

 //example.com/index.php?url=big/bad/mamma

You could call the script as above if you want.

Then your parse url is taking the value of url ('big/bad/mamma'), removing a trailing slash if there is one. And then splitting the string wherever it encounters a forward slash. So you end up with three parts. Which is what you have in your array.

From the manual:

The FILTER_SANITIZE_URL filter will remove all characters except letters, digits and $-_.+!*'(),{}|\^~[]`<>#%";/?:@&=.

But break it down if you want to understand the pieces:

$url = $_GET['url'];
var_dump($url);
$url = rtrim($url, '/');
var_dump($url);
$url = filter_var($url, FILTER_SANITIZE_URL);
var_dump($url);
$url = explode('/', $url);
var_dump($url);

edited Jan 24, 2016 at 23:00

answered Jan 24, 2016 at 20:55

Progrock

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2 Comments

Caius Over a year ago

Hi! Thanks! That's exactly the answer i was looking for! Now i have a little curious question. Is filter_var really necessary? I've tried to pass urls with and without trailing slashes with the $url = filter_var(...) line commented and things were still working well...

Caius Over a year ago

i would like to upvote your answer but i have only 3 points D:

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