php URL decode get '+' from URL

Question

So I am trying to encode/decode a url that when decoded will return the encoded + symbols from teh url. For example, I encodewebsite.com/index.php?eq=1+12 which when encoded turns the + into %2B, as it should. When I retrieve the value from $_REQUEST['eq'] and use urldecode() it echo's as "1 12". I cannot seem to get the decode to bring back the + so to speak. Am I doing something wrong here, or is there a more efficient/better way to go about doing this? Here is the exact encode/decode lines I use.

Submit Page

<?php
$eq = "1+12";
$send = '<a href="website.com/index.php?eq='.urlencode($eq).'</a>';
echo $send;

Retrieval page

<?php
$eq = urldecode($_REQUEST['eq']);
echo $eq;
?>

Answer 1

Try using the function rawurldecode() instead of urldecode()