Parsing URL for certain strings

[imperialized]

Hey guys!! So basically what I am doing here is pulling the directory out of a url.

URL ex: http://www.xxx.com/THIS_IS_WHAT_I_WANT/

$actual_link = "http://$_SERVER[HTTP_HOST]$_SERVER[REQUEST_URI]";
$arr = explode("/", $actual_link, 5);

$page = $arr['3'];
if($page <> ""){
    $curPage = $page;
}else{
    //Home Page
    $curPage = "home";
 } 

The code works as is. Being that I prefer to code the proper way and learn new things; is this the best way?
 

[Barand]

Have you looked at

http://php.net/manual/en/function.parse-url.php

[requinix]

Current URL? Is this always running for a file that's in a subdirectory and not like /file.php?

dirname($_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"])