How Can I Prevent PHP from Replacing Dots with Underscores in GET, POST, and COOKIE Variable Names?

PHP: Prevent Character Replacement in GET, POST, and COOKIE Names

PHP automatically replaces dots in incoming variable names with underscores. This behavior can be undesirable in some cases. How can we disable it?

Why PHP Replaces Dots

According to PHP.net, dots are not valid characters in variable names. The parser would interpret "varname.ext" as a variable named "varname" followed by the concatenation operator and the string "ext", which is not the intended result.

Alternatives

Despite attempts to prevent this behavior, PHP's parsing mechanism makes it necessary. However, there are ways to work around it:

• POST Variables: Use str_replace to replace underscores with dots before accessing POST variables:

$_POST['x.y'] = str_replace('_', '.', $_POST['x_y']);

• GET and COOKIE Variables: Use a global variable substitution pattern in your .htaccess file to replace underscores with dots before PHP parses the request:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule .* - [E=DOT:_]

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