Checkbox HTML array is empty PHP

Question

EDIT: I never got this working, it appears that "boxes" was not an array on the PHP side, instead was a String that said "Array." I switched to an AJAX solution and no longer need this answer. It will now be closed

So, this seems like a very simple question, but I have checkboxes generated from php in a form, then re-submitted to a php script for processing. Unfortunately, the array of checkboxes is EMPTY.

Here is my generated form code. (NOTE: the action is empty because its the same php file):

<form method="POST">
<input type="hidden" name="multi" value="1"> <-- Ignore this -->
<input type="hidden" name="test" value="1">  <-- Ignore this -->
<input type="hidden" name="EMAIL" value="[email protected]">
<input type="hidden" name="FNAME" value="John">

<input type="checkbox" name="boxes[]" value="Jennifer and Friends"> Jennifer and Friends<br>
<input type="checkbox" name="boxes[]" value="Worship with Rachel"> Worship with Rachel<br>
<input type="checkbox" name="boxes[]" value="Jim Gerhold: Relationship"> Jim Gerhold: Relationship<br>
<input type="checkbox" name="boxes[]" value="Maximize Others Leadership Resources" checked=""> Maximize Others Leadership Resources<br>
<input type="submit" value="Save">
</form>

Now when I print_r the $_POST array I get the following input:

Array
(
    [multi] => 1
    [test] => 1
    [EMAIL] => <REMOVED>
    [FNAME] => <REMOVED>
    [boxes] => Array
)

And... in the chrome developer tool, I see the form data correctly:

Chrome Form Data

And finally, a var_dump of $_POST['boxes'] returns

string(5) “Array”

Does anyone know how to retrieve the array, or why it is not appearing as a normal php array?

How do you know its empty? Try var_dump instead of print_r — marekful
– marekful, Commented Jul 21, 2014 at 15:22
by the looks of it, it's not empty, it has an array type inside it [boxes] => Array — Andrei Cristian Prodan
– Andrei Cristian Prodan, Commented Jul 21, 2014 at 15:24
try this var_dump($_POST['boxes']); to see if the array is empty — Khalid
– Khalid, Commented Jul 21, 2014 at 15:24
@Nicolas My question is why cant I transverse the array. My php right now is just the print_r. var_dump returns string(5) “Array”. It seems like the contents is "Array". If I echo $_POST['boxes'][0] it returns 'A', then 'r'... and eventually prints Array — Jonathan Schober Jr.
– Jonathan Schober Jr., Commented Jul 21, 2014 at 16:02

esqew · Accepted Answer · 2014-07-21 15:23:39Z

2

It's not empty, and I quote directly from your print_r($_POST) output:

[boxes] => Array

You can loop through the contents with:

foreach($_POST["boxes"]) { ... }

or print the contents using:

print_r($_POST["boxes"]);

While it is outside the scope of your question, I would recommend using var_dump() next time. var_dump traverses sub-arrays and formats nicely in <pre></pre> tags.

answered Jul 21, 2014 at 15:23

esqew

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1 Comment

Jonathan Schober Jr. Over a year ago

Running a var_dump returns string(5) “Array”.

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