which is the better way to get the ip

Question

What is the better way of getting the IP address in PHP:

getenv('REMOTE_ADDR'); 

or,

$_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];

please tell me the difference, if any, between the two.

Answer 1

$_SERVER is a built in PHP variable, while getenv() ask the environment (probably Apache/IIS) for values.

The best way to get the IP is;

$ip = (!empty($_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'])) ? $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] : getenv('REMOTE_ADDR');

But I doubt there's any difference between these two variables... Hm.