
> **Outdated:** This snippet hardcodes `http://` and does not account for HTTPS. In modern PHP, check `$_SERVER['HTTPS']` or use a framework's request abstraction to get the full URL reliably.

![](http://ephp.info/files/current-url-of-page-300x188.png)

This simple snippet of code will help you get the full URL of the currently viewed page.

function getUrl(){
$domain = $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'];
$url = "http://" . $domain . $\_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'];
return $url;
}


Get the Current URL of Page with PHP


> **Outdated:** While TinyURL’s API may still work, URL shortening services have evolved significantly. Consider using the APIs from [Bitly](https://dev.bitly.com/) or [Short.io](https://short.io/) for more reliable, feature-rich alternatives.

The URL shortening service TinyURL.com provides an API for programmatically processing URL shortening requests through your own script.

It’s actually pretty easy.

function short($url) {
    return file_get_contents("http://tinyurl.com/api-create.php?url=".$url);
}

Alternatively, you can use [cURL to download remote URLs contents](http://ephp.info/php-curl-download-url "Download Remote File Using CURL and PHP") if your server doesn’t support file_get_contents.


How to Dynamically Shorten URLs with TinyURL?


> **Outdated:** The YouTube image URL pattern shown here still works, but the official [YouTube Data API v3](https://developers.google.com/youtube/v3) provides a more reliable and feature-rich way to retrieve video thumbnails in multiple resolutions.

![](http://ephp.info/files/youtube-thumbnail-grabber.jpg)

Getting the thumbnail of a Youtube video through it’s ID is not that hard. You just have to transform the URL a little bit to get a high quality JPG file, used as a main thumbnail through Youtube.com.  
All Youtube videos have their own unique ID which is 11 charcaters long. A typical Youtube video URL will look like this:

`http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=**i3_dOWYHS7I**`

The part in bold is the part you are interested in. You can get it by using a simple [explode()](http://php.net/explode) function.

After you get the ID you just need to point an image to the following URL structure:

`http://i2.ytimg.com/vi/**i3_dOWYHS7I**/0.jpg`

Where the part in bold should be replaced with the specific video ID.

Using the above video as example will return this image:  
![](http://i2.ytimg.com/vi/i3_dOWYHS7I/0.jpg)

If you want to save it to your server and not hotlink the Youtube servers you can use something like [cURL](http://ephp.info/php-curl-download-url "Download Remote File Using CURL and PHP") or file_get_contents.


How to Grab Youtube Video Thumbnail?


![](http://ephp.info/files/assign-multiple-variables-500x209.png)

This is a simple tip but most experienced PHP programmers don’t know that it even exists.  
If you want to have a bunch of variables contain the same value, your common sense will tell you to do this:

$var1 = "text";
$var2 = "text";
$var3 = "text";

What if I told you there was an easier way? In fact, a way which works in most programming languages. There it is:

$var1 = $var2 = $var3 = "text";

Now you know how to save some time.


Get the Current URL of Page with PHP

How to Dynamically Shorten URLs with TinyURL?

How to Grab Youtube Video Thumbnail?

How to Assign the Same Value to Multiple Variables?