(PHP 5 >= 5.2.0, PHP 7)
filter_input_array — Gets external variables and optionally filters them
This function is useful for retrieving many values without repetitively calling filter_input().
type
       One of INPUT_GET, INPUT_POST,
       INPUT_COOKIE, INPUT_SERVER, or
       INPUT_ENV.
      
definitionAn array defining the arguments. A valid key is a string containing a variable name and a valid value is either a filter type, or an array optionally specifying the filter, flags and options. If the value is an array, valid keys are filter which specifies the filter type, flags which specifies any flags that apply to the filter, and options which specifies any options that apply to the filter. See the example below for a better understanding.
This parameter can be also an integer holding a filter constant. Then all values in the input array are filtered by this filter.
add_empty
       Add missing keys as NULL to the return value.
      
   An array containing the values of the requested variables on success, or FALSE 
   on failure. An array value will be FALSE if the filter fails, or NULL if 
   the variable is not set. Or if the flag FILTER_NULL_ON_FAILURE
   is used, it returns FALSE if the variable is not set and NULL if the filter 
   fails.
  
Example #1 A filter_input_array() example
<?php
error_reporting(E_ALL | E_STRICT);
/* data actually came from POST
$_POST = array(
    'product_id'    => 'libgd<script>',
    'component'     => '10',
    'versions'      => '2.0.33',
    'testscalar'    => array('2', '23', '10', '12'),
    'testarray'     => '2',
);
*/
$args = array(
    'product_id'   => FILTER_SANITIZE_ENCODED,
    'component'    => array('filter'    => FILTER_VALIDATE_INT,
                            'flags'     => FILTER_REQUIRE_ARRAY, 
                            'options'   => array('min_range' => 1, 'max_range' => 10)
                           ),
    'versions'     => FILTER_SANITIZE_ENCODED,
    'doesnotexist' => FILTER_VALIDATE_INT,
    'testscalar'   => array(
                            'filter' => FILTER_VALIDATE_INT,
                            'flags'  => FILTER_REQUIRE_SCALAR,
                           ),
    'testarray'    => array(
                            'filter' => FILTER_VALIDATE_INT,
                            'flags'  => FILTER_REQUIRE_ARRAY,
                           )
);
$myinputs = filter_input_array(INPUT_POST, $args);
var_dump($myinputs);
echo "\n";
?>
The above example will output:
array(6) {
  ["product_id"]=>
  array(1) {
    [0]=>
    string(17) "libgd%3Cscript%3E"
  }
  ["component"]=>
  array(1) {
    [0]=>
    int(10)
  }
  ["versions"]=>
  array(1) {
    [0]=>
    string(6) "2.0.33"
  }
  ["doesnotexist"]=>
  NULL
  ["testscalar"]=>
  bool(false)
  ["testarray"]=>
  array(1) {
    [0]=>
    int(2)
  }
}
| Version | Description | 
|---|---|
| 5.4.0 | Added add_emptyparameter. | 
Note:
There is no REQUEST_TIME key in
INPUT_SERVERarray because it is inserted into the $_SERVER later.