php filter API on 2-dimensional array

Question

I have 2-dimensional GET parameters like request?a[b]=2

I would like to use the php input filter API (http://www.php.net/filter) but cannot find a reasonable way to work on the input a[b].

filter_has_var(INPUT_GET, 'a'); // true

but

filter_has_var(INPUT_GET, 'a[b]'); // false

is there a way to instruct this API to work with 2-dim input parameters ?

Thank you for your help

Jerome

Answer 1

a[b] is not a variable name. You can only use filter_has_var with a correct variable name. The variable name for your parameter is a regardless if it is an array or a string.

So you must first check if the get input contains the a parameter and then check it's contents.

$hasVar   = filter_has_var(INPUT_GET, 'a');
$hasArray = $hasVar && is_array($_GET['a']);

Hope this helps.