Explain parse_url() in php.

 Q. Explain parse_url() in php.
Answer:
The parse_url() function in PHP is used to parse a URL and return its components as an associative array. This function is particularly useful when you need to extract specific parts of a URL, such as the scheme, host, path, query string, and fragment.
Here's the basic syntax of the parse_url() function:
array parse_url ( string $url [, int $component = -1 ] )

$url: The URL to parse.
$component: An optional parameter specifying which parts of the URL to retrieve. It can take one of the following predefined constants:
PHP_URL_SCHEME: Returns the scheme (e.g., "http").
PHP_URL_HOST: Returns the host name.
PHP_URL_PORT: Returns the port number.
PHP_URL_USER: Returns the user name.
PHP_URL_PASS: Returns the password.
PHP_URL_PATH: Returns the path.
PHP_URL_QUERY: Returns the query string.
PHP_URL_FRAGMENT: Returns the fragment (anchor).
Here's an example of using parse_url():

<?php
$url = "https://www.example.com/path/page?name=John&age=30#section";

// Parse the URL
$parsed_url = parse_url($url);
// Display the parsed components
echo "Scheme: " . $parsed_url['scheme'] . "<br>";
echo "Host: " . $parsed_url['host'] . "<br>";
echo "Path: " . $parsed_url['path'] . "<br>";
echo "Query: " . $parsed_url['query'] . "<br>";
echo "Fragment: " . $parsed_url['fragment'] . "<br>";
?>

// Output:

// Scheme: https

// Host: www.example.com

// Path: /path/page

// Query: name=John&age=30

// Fragment: section

 

In this example, the URL is parsed using parse_url(), and then specific components like scheme, host, path, query, and fragment are accessed using the associative array returned by the function.

Keep in mind that if a component is not present in the URL, the corresponding array key in the result will not exist. Therefore, it's a good practice to check if the key exists before trying to access it.