INCLUDE QUESTION

[JSHINER]

Hello,

I'm new to these forums, and pretty new to PHP, but I have a basic understanding.

My question:

I currently have the include:

@ include("ma/$zip/1.php");

The $zip is from a form field at the beginning. So when you put in your zip, it pulls up the appropriate zip page. If a zip code page DOES NO EXIST, I want a message to come up. I currently have the @ there so nothing comes up, but it does not look right. I want a page to come up that says it does not exist. Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

James

[wildteen88]

Prehaps check that the file exists first, by using file_exists before including it like this:
[code=php:0]if(file_exists("ma/$zip/1.php"))
{
    include("ma/$zip/1.php");
}
else
{
    echo "Sorry that Zip Code does not exist. Please try again";
}[/code]

[JSHINER]

Thank you! Worked perfect.

[Daniel0]

If the variable $zip comes from user input, make sure you secure it so people don't do malicious things.

[JSHINER]

How can I secure it?

[JSHINER]

Could someone please point me in the right direction towards securing this ?

[wildteen88]

What I think Dan means is to valid the zipcode the user provides. For example checking that the zipocode is in the correct format and is valid. You can do this using regular expressions and using a function called preg_match.

[JSHINER]

Oh... OK. Yes I actually did that already, and infact I found the code on this site. It only accepts valid zip codes. If they're not valid it kicks back an error and asks for a valid one.