Get size of POST-request in PHP

Question

Is there any way to get size of POST-request body in PHP?

Answer 1

As simple as:

$size = (int) $_SERVER['CONTENT_LENGTH'];

Note that $_SERVER['CONTENT_LENGTH'] is only set when the HTTP request method is POST (not GET). This is the raw value of the Content-Length header, as specified in RFC 7230.

In the case of file uploads, if you want to get the total size of uploaded files, you should iterate over the $_FILE array to sum each $file['size']. The exact total size might not match the raw Content-Length value due to the encoding overhead of the POST data. (Also note you should check for upload errors using the $file['error'] code of each $_FILES element, such as UPLOAD_ERR_PARTIAL for partial uploads or UPLOAD_ERR_NO_FILE for empty uploads. See file upload errors documentation in the PHP manual.)