getting variables from STRING url in php

Question

If I have a url that looks like this, what\'s the best way to read the value

http://www.domain.com/compute?value=2838

I tried parse_u

Answer 1

$uri = parse_url($uri);
parse_str($uri['query'], $params = array());

Be careful if you use parse_str() without a second parameter. This may overwrite variables in your script!