The way to process raw POST data in PHP is to use $rawData = file_get_contents('php://input'), which is suitable for receiving JSON, XML, or other custom format data. 1. php://input is a read-only stream that is only valid in POST requests; 2. Common problems include server configuration or middleware reading input streams, which makes it impossible to obtain data; 3. Application scenarios include receiving front-end fetch requests, third-party service callbacks, and building RESTful APIs; 4. The difference from $_POST is that $_POST automatically parses standard form data, while the original data is suitable for non-standard formats and allows manual parsing; 5. It is recommended to use $_POST for ordinary HTML forms, and it is recommended to use original data to separate projects from front-end or external system docking.

Processing raw POST data in PHP is often used to receive data in non-standard form formats, such as JSON, XML, or other custom formats. Unlike $_POST , which automatically parses data, the original POST data needs to be manually retrieved and processed.

Methods to get raw POST data

PHP provides a convenient input stream to read raw POST data:

 $rawData = file_get_contents('php://input');

This is the most commonly used method and is suitable for most scenarios. It should be noted that php://input is a read-only stream, and data can only be read when the request method is POST, and an empty string will be returned in the GET request.

FAQ:

• file_get_contents('php://input') is used but the data cannot be read: it may be that the server configuration or middleware (such as some frameworks) has read the input stream once.
• Some server environments (such as using certain FastCGI configurations) may limit the use of this stream.

Application scenarios of raw POST data

Raw POST data is often used in the following situations:

• Receives JSON data sent by the front-end via fetch or XMLHttpRequest .
• Process data transmitted from third-party service callbacks (such as payment gateways, webhooks, etc.).
• Build API interfaces, especially RESTful type service endpoints.

For example, the front-end sends the following request:

 fetch('/api/endpoint', {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
    body: JSON.stringify({ name: 'John', age: 30 })
});

The backend can read and parse it in the following way:

 $data = json_decode(file_get_contents('php://input'), true);

In this way $data['name'] can get 'John' .

Difference and choice between $_POST

$_POST is a standard form data automatically parsed by PHP and is only applicable to application/x-www-form-urlencoded and multipart/form-data formats. The original POST data has no format restrictions and is suitable for more flexible scenarios.

When to use $_POST ?

• The traditional way of form submission.
• The data structure is simple and does not require nested or complex types.

When to use raw data?

• Transfer using JSON, XML and other formats.
• Third-party interface calls, the data format is fixed but not necessarily a standard form.
• Want to have complete control over the data parsing process.

If it is just a normal HTML form submission, it is more convenient to use $_POST ; if it is a front-end separation project or docking with external systems, it is recommended to use the original data method.

Basically that's it. By mastering the use of php://input , and then choosing whether to parse it into JSON or other formats according to actual needs, you can deal with most of the processing scenarios of raw POST data.

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