What is the difference between using urlencode() and rawurldecode() in a curl query in PHP?

When sending data in a curl query in PHP, it is important to properly encode the data to ensure special characters are handled correctly. urlencode() is used to encode data before sending it in a URL, while rawurldecode() is used to decode data that has been encoded with urlencode(). When constructing a curl query, make sure to encode any data that needs to be included in the URL using urlencode() and decode it using rawurldecode() when receiving and processing the response. 

// Encode data before sending in a curl query
$data = array(
    'name' => urlencode('John Doe'),
    'email' => urlencode('john.doe@example.com')
);

// Construct the query string
$queryString = http_build_query($data);

// Initialize curl
$ch = curl_init();

// Set the URL with the encoded query string
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, 'http://example.com/api?' . $queryString);

// Execute the curl query
$response = curl_exec($ch);

// Decode the response if needed
$responseDecoded = rawurldecode($response);

// Close curl
curl_close($ch);

// Process the response
// ...

Keywords

urlencode rawurldecode curl query PHP difference

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