Home » PHP And JavaScript Exchange Variables

In this tutorial, we will learn how to pass variables from and to PHP and JavaScript. using 6 methods. 2 for passing JavaScript to PHP and 4 methods for passing PHP to JavaScript.

First: How To Pass JavaScript Variables To PHP?

Method 1: Pass the JavaScript variable by Echoing the Script Tag In the PHP File.

In Another JavaScript File:

<script>
	var javascript_variable = "success";
</script>

In PHP File:

<?php
	$javascript_to_php_variable = echo "<script>document.writeln(javascript_variable);</script>" ;
	echo $javascript_to_php_variable;
?>

Method 2: Passing JavaScript variables Using Cookies.

I will use the js-cookie library.
You can see this library documentation on the js-cookie library GitHub: at this link: https://github.com/js-cookie/js-cookie

First, you need to import the CDN link before your JavaScript code., and I want to mention that this library is not a jQuery plugin but it is recommended to put it after the jQuery script tag and before your custom code script tag.

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/js-cookie/3.0.1/js.cookie.min.js"></script>

In Another JavaScript File: (I will use jQuery)

<script>
    	$(document).ready(function() {
		Cookies.set('cookie_name', 'cookie_value', { expires: 365 });
		Cookies.get('cookie_name'); // => 'value'
		Cookies.remove('cookie_name');
	});
</script>

of course, you would not remove the cookie but I wrote all cookie manipulation statements using the js-cookie library. for your reference.

In PHP File:

<?php
	$javascript_to_php_variable = $_COOKIE[$cookie_name];
	echo javascript_to_php_variable;
?>

Second: How To Pass PHP Variables To JavaScript?

Method 1: Pass a set of PHP variables using PHP json_encode() function.

In PHP File:

<?php
	$php_array = array("key1" => "value1", "key2" => "value2");
	<script>
    		var javascript_object_from_php = <?php echo json_encode($php_array ) ?>;
	</script>
?>

In Another JavaScript File: (I will use jQuery), I will set the content of the body to this string:

<script>
	$(document).ready(function(){
		$("body").text("key1 value:" + javascript_object_from_php['key1'] + ", key2 value: " + javascript_object_from_php['key2']);
	});
</script>

Method 2: Pass PHP variable using data attribute.

In PHP File:

<div class="php-variable-container d-none" data-php_variable="<?php echo $php_variable; ?>"></div>

You can add to the div tag the display property and set it to none in the CSS of the class to hide the div tag, I used the bootstrap class d-none. because I use bootstrap in all of my projects.

In Another JavaScript File: (I will use jQuery)

<script>
    $(document).ready(function() {
            var php_variable_container = $('.php-variable-container');
            var php_variable_passed_to_js= php_variable_container.data('php_variable');
    });
</script>

Method 3: Pass PHP variable Using Cookies.

In PHP File:

<?php
	$cookie_name = "John Doe";
	$_COOKIE[$cookie_name];
?>

Import The JS-Cookie Library:

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/js-cookie/3.0.1/js.cookie.min.js"></script>

In Another JavaScript File: (I will use jQuery), of course, you would not set the cookie before you take its value using the get function of the JS-Cookie library, but I wrote all cookie manipulation statements using this Library. for your reference.

<script>
    	$(document).ready(function() {
		Cookies.set('cookie_name', 'cookie_value', { expires: 365 });
		Cookies.get('cookie_name'); // => 'value'
		Cookies.remove('cookie_name');
	});
</script>

Method 4: Passing HTML Form values on a JSON Using (JSON.stringify() And serializeArray()) jQuery Functions

In PHP File:

<form onsubmit='return onSubmit(this)'>
  	<input name='user' placeholder='user'><br>
  	<input name='password' type='password' placeholder='password'><br>
  	<button type='submit'>Try</button>
</form>

In Another JavaScript File: (I will use jQuery)

You can read the output of serializing array function, using nested jQuery (each) loop function.

<script>
	$(document).ready(function() {
		function onSubmit( form ){
  			var data = JSON.stringify($(form).serializeArray());
  			console.log( data );//[{"name":"user","value":"emad"},{"name":"password","value":"123456"}]
			$(data).each(function (index, value) {
  				$.each(value, function (variable_name, variable_value) {
    					console.log(variable_name + " : " + variable_value);
  				});
			}); 
  			return false; //don't submit
		}
	});
</script>

That’s it, we learned all the major methods of exchanging variables between the back-end language PHP and the front-end language JavaScript.

Feel Free to bookmark my website to keep it as a reference for your work in the future.