url address techniques

[davidjmorin]

what is it called when creating a link like this
mysite.com/index.php?=mystuff

what is that technique called?

[djr33]

Within PHP, the most common use of that technique, it's called a GET variable. It's available in the $_GET[] array, under $_GET['namehere'], where ?namehere=value.

This "get" method is an alternative for forms (method="get") rather than the usual "post" method. It can be generated manually, or through a form. POST, on the other hand, is usually only done with a form (other ways exist, but they are difficult to achieve).

(Note: "GET" is usually capitalized, for some strange reason.)

These values would also be available with another server side language (CGI, ASP, etc), or javascript, but PHP has this setup as a default, so it's easy.

[jscheuer1]

It's a query string.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Query_string