Test if string is URL encoded in PHP
php, testing, url-encoding
Solution
You'll never know for sure if a string is URL-encoded or if it was supposed to have the sequence `%2B` in it. Instead, it probably depends on where the string came from, i.e. if it was hand-crafted or from some application.
Is it better to search the string for characters which would be encoded, which aren't, and if any exist then its not encoded.
I think this is a better approach, since it would take care of things that have been done programmatically (assuming the application would not have left a non-encoded character behind).
One thing that will be confusing here... Technically, the `%` "should be" encoded if it will be present in the final value, since it is a special character. You might have to combine your approaches to look for should-be-encoded characters as well as validating that the string decodes successfully if none are found.
Problem
How can I test if a string is URL encoded? Which of the following approaches is better? - Search the string for characters which would be encoded, which aren't, and if any exist then its not encoded, or - Use something like this which I've made: ``` function is_urlEncoded($string){ $test_string = $string; while(urldecode($test_string) != $test_string){ $test_string = urldecode($test_string); } return (urlencode($test_string) == $string)?True:False; } $t = "Hello World > how are you?"; if(is_urlEncoded($sreq)){ print "Was Encoded.\n"; }else{ print "Not Encoded.\n"; print "Should be ".urlencode($sreq)."\n"; } ``` The above code works, but not in instances where the string has been doubly encoded, as in these examples: - `$t = "Hello%2BWorld%2B%253E%2Bhow%2Bare%2Byou%253F";` - `$t = "Hello+World%2B%253E%2Bhow%2Bare%2Byou%253F";`