[php] How can I tell which button was clicked in a PHP form submit?

With an HTML form like:

<input type="submit" name="btnSubmit" value="Save Changes" />
<input type="submit" name="btnDelete" value="Delete" />

The PHP code to use would look like:

if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] === 'POST') {
    // Something posted

    if (isset($_POST['btnDelete'])) {
        // btnDelete
    } else {
        // Assume btnSubmit
    }
}

You should always assume or default to the first submit button to appear in the form HTML source code. In practice, the various browsers reliably send the name/value of a submit button with the post data when:

1. The user literally clicks the submit button with the mouse or pointing device
2. Or there is focus on the submit button (they tabbed to it), and then the Enter key is pressed.

Other ways to submit a form exist, and some browsers/versions decide not to send the name/value of any submit buttons in some of these situations. For example, many users submit forms by pressing the Enter key when the cursor/focus is on a text field. Forms can also be submitted via JavaScript, as well as some more obscure methods.

It's important to pay attention to this detail, otherwise you can really frustrate your users when they submit a form, yet "nothing happens" and their data is lost, because your code failed to detect a form submission, because you did not anticipate the fact that the name/value of a submit button may not be sent with the post data.

Also, the above advice should be used for forms with a single submit button too because you should always assume a default submit button.

I'm aware that the Internet is filled with tons of form-handler tutorials, and almost of all them do nothing more than check for the name and value of a submit button. But, they're just plain wrong!