Get the full URL in PHP

I use this code to get the full URL:

$actual_link = 'http://'.$_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'].$_SERVER['PHP_SELF'];

The problem is that I use some masks in my .htaccess, so what we see in the URL is not always the real path of the file.

What I need is to get the URL, what is written in the URL, nothing more and nothing less—the full URL.

I need to get how it appears in the Navigation Bar in the web browser, and not the real path of the file on the server.

Answer

Have a look at $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'], i.e.

$actual_link = "http://$_SERVER[HTTP_HOST]$_SERVER[REQUEST_URI]";

(Note that the double quoted string syntax is perfectly correct)

If you want to support both HTTP and HTTPS, you can use

$actual_link = (isset($_SERVER['HTTPS']) && $_SERVER['HTTPS'] === 'on' ? "https" : "http") . "://$_SERVER[HTTP_HOST]$_SERVER[REQUEST_URI]";

Editor's note: using this code has security implications. The client can set HTTP_HOST and REQUEST_URI to any arbitrary value it wants.