Parse raw HTTP request data (get PUT/PATCH data)

parse_raw_http_request.php

<?php

/**
 * Parse raw HTTP request data
 *
 * Pass in $a_data as an array. This is done by reference to avoid copying
 * the data around too much.
 *
 * Any files found in the request will be added by their field name to the
 * $data['files'] array.
 *
 * @ref: http://www.chlab.ch/blog/archives/webdevelopment/manually-parse-raw-http-data-php
 *
 * @param   array  Empty array to fill with data
 * @return  array  Associative array of request data
 */
function parse_raw_http_request(array &$a_data)
{
  // read incoming data
  $input = file_get_contents('php://input');

  // grab multipart boundary from content type header
  preg_match('/boundary=(.*)$/', $_SERVER['CONTENT_TYPE'], $matches);

  // content type is probably regular form-encoded
  if (!count($matches))
  {
    // we expect regular puts to containt a query string containing data
    parse_str(urldecode($input), $a_data);
    return $a_data;
  }

  $boundary = $matches[1];

  // split content by boundary and get rid of last -- element
  $a_blocks = preg_split("/-+$boundary/", $input);
  array_pop($a_blocks);

  // loop data blocks
  foreach ($a_blocks as $id => $block)
  {
    if (empty($block))
      continue;

    // you'll have to var_dump $block to understand this and maybe replace \n or \r with a visibile char

    // parse uploaded files
    if (strpos($block, 'application/octet-stream') !== FALSE)
    {
      // match "name", then everything after "stream" (optional) except for prepending newlines
      preg_match("/name=\"([^\"]*)\".*stream[\n|\r]+([^\n\r].*)?$/s", $block, $matches);
      $a_data['files'][$matches[1]] = $matches[2];
    }
    // parse all other fields
    else
    {
      // match "name" and optional value in between newline sequences
      preg_match('/name=\"([^\"]*)\"[\n|\r]+([^\n\r].*)?\r$/s', $block, $matches);
      $a_data[$matches[1]] = $matches[2];
    }
  }
}