Among $_REQUEST, $_GET and $_POST which one is the fastest?

Question

$_REQUEST, by default, contains the contents of $_GET, $_POST and $_COOKIE.

But it's only a default, which depends on variables_order ; and not sure you want to work with cookies.

If I had to choose, I would probably not use $_REQUEST, and I would choose $_GET or $_POST -- depending on what my application should do (i.e. one or the other, but not both) : generally speaking :

• You should use $_GET when someone is requesting data from your application.
• And you should use $_POST when someone is pushing (inserting or updating ; or deleting) data to your application.

Either way, there will not be much of a difference about performances : the difference will be negligible, compared to what the rest of your script will do.

GET vs. POST

1) Both GET and POST create an array (e.g. array( key => value, key2 => value2, key3 => value3, ...)). This array holds key/value pairs, where keys are the names of the form controls and values are the input data from the user.

2) Both GET and POST are treated as $_GET and $_POST. These are superglobals, which means that they are always accessible, regardless of scope - and you can access them from any function, class or file without having to do anything special.

3) $_GET is an array of variables passed to the current script via the URL parameters.

4) $_POST is an array of variables passed to the current script via the HTTP POST method.

When to use GET?

Information sent from a form with the GET method is visible to everyone (all variable names and values are displayed in the URL). GET also has limits on the amount of information to send. The limitation is about 2000 characters. However, because the variables are displayed in the URL, it is possible to bookmark the page. This can be useful in some cases.

GET may be used for sending non-sensitive data.

Note: GET should NEVER be used for sending passwords or other sensitive information!

When to use POST?

Information sent from a form with the POST method is invisible to others (all names/values are embedded within the body of the HTTP request) and has no limits on the amount of information to send.

Moreover POST supports advanced functionality such as support for multi-part binary input while uploading files to server.

However, because the variables are not displayed in the URL, it is not possible to bookmark the page.

$_GET retrieves variables from the querystring, or your URL.>

$_POST retrieves variables from a POST method, such as (generally) forms.

$_REQUEST is a merging of $_GET and $_POST where $_POST overrides $_GET. Good to use $_REQUEST on self refrential forms for validations.

I'd suggest using $_POST and $_GET explicitly.

Using $_REQUEST should be unnecessary with proper site design anyway, and it comes with some downsides like leaving you open to easier CSRF/XSS attacks and other silliness that comes from storing data in the URL.

The speed difference should be minimal either way.

Use REQUEST. Nobody cares about the speed of such a simple operation, and it's much cleaner code.