PHP - Storing POST data in a variable

Question

I have a quick question about storing data in variable. This is out of curiosity. And also I want a clean code. Hope you may enlighten me about it.

In submitting a form in PHP, what is the difference if I store a POST data in a variable? example:

$username = $_POST['username'];

insert_user($username);

and

insert_user($_POST['username']);

I am currently using the first one, because I think it is much cleaner. But is there a performance impact, say, if I have 10 post data and store them in a variable?

Hope I explained myself clearly. Thank You.

Cheers!

There is absolutely no difference performance or otherwise unless the $_POST['variable'] contains a huge data, like for instance sending a base64 encoded image via form submission — Vinay
– Vinay, Commented Dec 6, 2018 at 2:51
@Viney Thanks. The values are just simple string values. If that is the case I think I'll keep using the first one. I think, it is much cleaner. — Dan Angelo Alcanar
– Dan Angelo Alcanar, Commented Dec 6, 2018 at 6:21

Enrico Dias · Accepted Answer · 2018-12-06 02:23:24Z

2

You are essentially copying the data to another variable. So yes, there is a performance impact but it's negligible. You will also be consuming more memory by copying the values, but that should not be a problem with small post requests.

Many frameworks will parse those values for you and return them in a more friendly way, stripping any XSS. For learning purposes, you could write your own functions like the example bellow:

function post($var) {

    if (empty($_POST[$var])) return '';

    return strip_tags($_POST[$var]);

}

insert_user(post('username'));

answered Dec 6, 2018 at 2:23

Enrico Dias

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