What is the use of the $_REQUEST variable in PHP ?

Last Updated : 23 Jul, 2025

Uses of PHP $_REQUEST:

The PHP $_REQUEST is a PHP superglobal variable that is used to collect the data after submitting the HTML forms as the $_REQUEST variable is useful to read the data from the submitted HTML open forms.
$_REQUEST is an associative array that by default contains contents of an $_GET, $_POST, and $_COOKIE.
The variables in a $_REQUEST super variable are obtained to the HTML scripts through GET, POST, and COOKIE inputs, so it could be changed by the remotely associated user and can't be trusted again.
The presence $_REQUEST variable and the suited orders of $_REQUEST are variables listed in the array is declared similar to the PHP request_order, and variables_order configuration directives are it.
PHP $_REQUEST is the featuring PHP superglobal variable which is used to collect data after submitting the HTML forms in the browser
PHP's $_REQUEST is widely used to collect information that is after submitting from HTML browsed forms.
The $_REQUEST function is used to get the form information sent with its POST method and the other GET method.

Approach: The example demonstrates an HTML form with the input field and within having to submit button. When a user submits the information by clicking on the button "Submit", the filled data is sent to the file i.e. examined with actions attributes of the <form> tag within it

We aim the file itself for preprocessing form data as we use another PHP file to preprocess a form data, replacing that with occurring filename of our choice. We use the PHP $_REQUEST super global variable to collect the value of the input field from it.

Example:

HTML

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  
<body>
   <!--Defining Form-->
   <h1 style="color:green">GeeksforGeeks</h1>
   <form method="post" action="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'];?>">
      Name: <input type="text" name="pname">
      <input type="submit">
   </form>    
    
    <?php

        // Getting $REQUEST METHOD
        if ($_SERVER["REQUEST_METHOD"]=="POST") {
            $name = htmlspecialchars($_REQUEST['pname']); 

            // Collecting the value of input field from it
            if (empty($name)) {
                echo "Name is empty";
            } 
            else {
               // Printing the entered data
                echo $name;    
           }
        }
    ?>
</body>
</html>