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Dionysus

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PHP and PayPal's returned $_POST variables - how to match variables to strings?

I am testing a system and I am at the point where I've made the (test) purchase and PayPal has sent me back to my return page with a long string of variables in the following format :

cmd=_notify-validate&payment_date=18%3A20%3A11+Mar+21%2C+2006+PST&txn_type=web_accept&last_name=Buyer&residence_country=CA&item_name=Merchant&payment_gross=&mc_currency=CAD&business=sales%40merchant.com&payment_type=instant&verify_sign=An5ns1Kso7MWUdW4ErQKJJJ4qi4-AhFhwMdtcrBWQYPu7jYen.7IBSuN&payer_status=unverified&test_ipn=1&tax=0.00&payer_email=test%40customer.com&txn_id=7WT019456541558329&quantity=1&receiver_email=someone%40merchant.com&first_name=Dion&payer_id=F34564RFQ5WQ&receiver_id=R4T13RSEJ5NA&item_number=1&payment_status=Completed&payment_fee=&mc_fee=1.79&shipping=0.00&mc_gross=42.75&custom=&charset=windows-1252&notify_version=2.1

Now I've taken this and assigned it to a variable:

$req = 'cmd=_notify-validate';

foreach ($_POST as $key => $value) {
$value = urlencode(stripslashes($value));
$req .= "&$key=$value";


So far so good... now I tried to split the string so I could get 2 key/value pairs isolated. I want the payer_email and the payment_status separated from the rest, so I started with the following:

$postarray = explode("&", $req);


Now the problem is, how do I split it again and do a test for $postarray['payment_status']?

I can try and isolate the pairs using $postarray[14] but I'd like to specify by name in case the order of variables changes at some point in the future...

Can anyone help?

Thanks,
Dion

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Dionysus

ASKER

Woops..I got it backwards... but my end question is the same.

I received a POST from PayPal, and using that code, created that long string.  Now I need to know how to break it down further as I said previously.

Thanks!
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JakobA

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Thanks man.. the only thing is that you had missed a closing bracket.. but apart from that.. you did exactly what I wanted.

Take care!
-Dion