Question

I’m trying to figure out a way to have custom input variables for a $_POST search form.

so let’s say the user inputs

“user:” – into the search field, it will search for a user.
“battle:” – it searches for a battle
“sample:” it searches for a sample. Etc.

How do I go about using the $_POST method? I was thinking about

$user_search_check = (!empty($_POST['searchbox'])){
     if (beginning of line first five letters are 'user:'){
       $user_search = "true";
       }
}

then to use it I would say

if ($user_search == "true"){
 // RUN SELECT SCRIPT FOR MYSQL
}

But i’m not sure on how to get the first five letter. Or should I just take off everything BUT the first five letters and check if it says user?

As always, any help much appreciated and thanks in advance 🙂

Answer 1

$firstFive = substr($_POST['searchbox'],0,5);