PHP | parse_url() Function

The parse_url() function is an inbuilt function in PHP which is used to return the components of a URL by parsing it. It parses an URL and return an associative array which contains its various components. 

Syntax:

parse_url( $url, $component = -1 )

Parameters: This function accepts two parameters as mentioned above and described below:

• URL: This parameter holds the URL to be parsed. The invalid characters are replaced by _ (underscore).
• component: This parameter specifies any of the component ( PHP_URL_SCHEME, PHP_URL_HOST, PHP_URL_PORT, PHP_URL_USER, PHP_URL_PASS, PHP_URL_PATH, PHP_URL_QUERY or PHP_URL_FRAGMENT ) to retrieve a specific URL in the form of string.

Return Values:

• It return an associative array if the component parameter is omitted.
• It return a string if the component parameter is specified.
• It return false, if the parameter is malformed URL.

Below examples illustrate the use of parse_url() function in PHP: 

Example 1: 

<?php

// Declare a variable and initialize it with URL
$url = 'http://geeksforgeeks.org/php/#basics';

// Use parse_url() function to parse the URL
var_dump(parse_url($url));
var_dump(parse_url($url, PHP_URL_SCHEME));

?>

array(4) {
  ["scheme"]=>
  string(4) "http"
  ["host"]=>
  string(17) "geeksforgeeks.org"
  ["path"]=>
  string(5) "/php/"
  ["fragment"]=>
  string(6) "basics"
}
string(4) "http"

Example 2: 

<?php

// Declare a variable and initialize it with URL
$url = '//www.geeksforgeeks.org/path?php=PHP';

// Use parse_url() function to
// parse the URL
var_dump(parse_url($url));

?>

array(3) {
  ["host"]=>
  string(21) "www.geeksforgeeks.org"
  ["path"]=>
  string(5) "/path"
  ["query"]=>
  string(7) "php=PHP"
}

Reference: http://php.net/manual/en/function.parse-url.php