Question

When I print $GLOBALS using this code:

<?php print_r($GLOBALS); ?>

I get this output:

Array ( [_GET] => Array ( ) [_POST] => Array ( ) [_COOKIE] => Array ( ) [_FILES] => Array ( ) [GLOBALS] => Array *RECURSION* )

What does “*RECURSION*” mean in this case, and why are $_SERVER, $_REQUEST, etc. not printed as well?

Answer 1

See this part of PHP Manual:

Keep in mind that $GLOBALS is, itself, a global variable. So code like this won’t work:

<?php
    print '$GLOBALS = ' . var_export($GLOBALS, true) . "\n";
?>

This results in the error message: “Nesting level too deep – recursive dependency?”

You already have retrieved the whole list – you just cannot display part of it (the one containing a recursion, because you would have timeout rather than anything meaningful).

When it comes to $_REQUEST, it is a derivative from $_GET, $_POST and $_COOKIE, so its content is redundant.

EDIT: There is an old bug / feature, that seems to be populating $GLOBALS with $_SERVER and $_REQUEST when they are accessed. So try to access $_REQUEST and hope it helps. Anyway, it can be found in $GLOBALS after that: ideone.com/CGetH