URI Template

The League\Uri\UriTemplate class enables expanding a URI object based on a URI template and its submitted parameters following RFC 6570 URI Template.

Template Expansion

RFC Expansion

The UriTemplate::expand public method expands a URI template to generate a valid URI conforming to RFC3986.

<?php

use League\Uri\UriTemplate;

$template = 'https://example.com/hotels/{hotel}/bookings/{booking}';
$params = ['booking' => '42', 'hotel' => 'Rest & Relax'];

$uriTemplate = new UriTemplate($template);
$uri = $uriTemplate->expand($params);              // instance of League\Uri\Uri
$rfc3986Uri = $uriTemplate->expandToUri($params);  // instance of Uri\Rfc3986\Uri
$whatWgUrl = $uriTemplate->expandToUrl($params);   // instance of Uri\Whatwg\Url
$psr7Uri = $uriTemplate->expandToPsr7Uri($params); // instance of Psr7 UriInterface

echo $uri; //display https://example.com/hotels/Rest%20%26%20Relax/bookings/42"

expandToUri(), expandToUrl() and expandToPsr7Uri() are available since version 7.6.0

Since version 7.6 the expand() method takes a second optional parameter which serves as a base URI. The generated URI is resolved against the Base URI.

<?php

use League\Uri\UriTemplate;

$template = '/hotels/{hotel}/bookings/{booking}';
$params = ['booking' => '42', 'hotel' => 'Rest & Relax'];

$uriTemplate = new UriTemplate($template);
$uri = $uriTemplate->expand($params, 'https://example.com');             // instance of League\Uri\Uri
$rfc3986Uri = $uriTemplate->expandToUri($params, 'https://example.com'); // instance of Uri\Rfc3986\Uri
$whatWgUrl = $uriTemplate->expandToUrl($params, 'https://example.com');  // instance of Uri\Whatwg\Url
$whatWgUrl = $uriTemplate->expandToPsr7Uri($params, 'https://example.com');  // instance of League\Uri\Http

echo $uri; //display https://example.com/hotels/Rest%20%26%20Relax/bookings/42"

Strict Expansion

By default, if variables are missing or are not provided an empty string is used as replacement string as per the RFC. If you want to force correct expansion you can use the expandOrFail method. It behaves exactly like the expand method but will additionnally throw an exception if there are missing required variables.

$template = 'https://api.twitter.com/{version}/search/{term}/{?q*,limit}';

$params = [
    'term' => ['john', 'doe'],
    'q' => ['a', 'b'],
    'limit' => '10',
];

$uriTemplate = new UriTemplate($template);
echo $uriTemplate->expand($params), PHP_EOL;
// display https://api.twitter.com//search/john,doe/?q=a&q=b&limit=10 with missing version

echo $uriTemplate->expandOrFail($params);
// will throw a TemplateCanNotBeExpanded exception with the following message
// Missing variables `version`

expandToUriOrFail() and expandToUrlOrFail() are available since version 7.6.0

Template Variables

For maximum interoperability you should make sure your variables are strings or stringable objects otherwise the value will be cast to string following PHP rules except for boolean values true and false which will be converted to 1 and 0 respectively.

Default Variables

The constructor takes an optional set of default variables that can be applied by default when expanding the URI template.

$template = 'https://api.twitter.com/{version}/search/{term:1}/{term}/{?q*,limit}';

$params = [
    'term' => 'john',
    'q' => ['a', 'b'],
    'limit' => '10',
];

$uriTemplate = new UriTemplate($template, ['version' => 1.1]);
echo $uriTemplate->expand($params);
//displays https://api.twitter.com/1.1/search/j/john/?q=a&q=b&limit=10

Runtime Variables

The default variables are overwritten by those supplied to the expand method.

$template = 'https://api.twitter.com/{version}/search/{term:1}/{term}/{?q*,limit}';

$params = [
    'term' => 'john',
    'q' => ['a', 'b'],
    'limit' => '10',
    'version' => '2.0'
];

$uriTemplate = new UriTemplate($template, ['version' => '1.1']);
echo $uriTemplate->expand($params), PHP_EOL;
//displays https://api.twitter.com/2.0/search/j/john/?q=a&q=b&limit=10

The expandToUri(), expandToUrl() and expandToPsr7Uri() methods will act exactly like the expand() method but will instead return a Uri\Rfc3986\Uri, a Uri\Whatwg\Url or a Psr7\Http\Message\UriInterface object respectively.

a WHATWG URL must always be absolute if the URI template is not you MUST provide a base URL to expandToUrl() otherwise an Uri\WhatWg\InvalidUrlException exception will be thrown.

$template = '/{version}/search/{term:1}/{term}/{?q*,limit}';
//the template represents a non-absolute URL

$params = [
    'term' => 'john',
    'q' => ['a', 'b'],
    'limit' => '10',
    'version' => '2.0'
];

$uriTemplate = new UriTemplate($template, ['version' => '1.1']);

echo $uriTemplate->expandToUrl($params, 'https://api.twitter.com')->toAsciiString(); //works
echo $uriTemplate->expandToUrl($params); //will throw

You may return a different Psr7\Http\Message\UriInterface object if you provide to the expandToPsr7Uri your own Psr\Http\Message\UriFactoryInterface class as the third optional argument.

use League\Uri\UriTemplate;
use Laminas\Diactoros\UriFactory;

$template = '/{version}/search/{term:1}/{term}/{?q*,limit}';
//the template represents a non-absolute URL

$params = [
    'term' => 'john',
    'q' => ['a', 'b'],
    'limit' => '10',
    'version' => '2.0'
];

$uriTemplate = new UriTemplate($template, ['version' => '1.1']);
$uri = $uriTemplate->expandToPsr7Uri($params, 'https://api.twitter.com', new UriFactory());
$uri::class; // returns 'Laminas\Diactoros\Uri'

By default, if no factory is provided, the returned PSR-7 UriInterface object is a League\Uri\Http instance.

Updating Variables

At any given time you may update your default variables but since the UriTemplate is an immutable object instead of modifying the current instance, a new instance with the modified default variables will be returned.

$template = 'https://api.twitter.com/{version}/search/{term:1}/{term}/{?q*,limit}';

$params = [
    'term' => 'john',
    'q' => ['a', 'b'],
    'limit' => '10',
    'version' => '2.0'
];

$uriTemplate = new UriTemplate($template, ['version' => '1.0', 'foo' => 'bar']);
$uriTemplate->getDefaultVariables(); //returns new VariableBag(['version' => '1.0'])
$newUriTemplate = $uriTemplate->withDefaultVariables(['version' => '1.1']);
$newUriTemplate->getDefaultVariables(); //returns  new VariableBag(['version' => '1.1'])

Following RFC6570 requirements means not support for nested array like the one used with http_build_query

$template = 'https://example.com/hotels/{hotel}/book{?query*}';
$params = [
    'hotel' => 'Rest & Relax',
    'query' => [
        'period' => [
            'start' => '2020-01-12',
            'end' => '2020-01-15',
        ],
    ],
];

$uriTemplate = new UriTemplate($template);
$uriTemplate->expand($params);
// will throw a League\Uri\UriTemplate\TemplateCanNotBeExpanded when trying to expand the `period` value.

Limitations

Prefix Modifier

While the RFC does not forbid this, the UriTemplate class will throw an exception if an attempt is made to use the prefix modifier with a list of value. Other implementations will silently ignore the modifier but this package will trigger the exception to alert the user that something might be wrong and that the generated URI might not be the one expected.

$template = 'https://api.twitter.com/{version}/search/{term:1}/{term}/{?q*,limit}';

$params = [
    'term' => ['john', 'doe'],
    'q' => ['a', 'b'],
    'limit' => '10',
    'version' => '2.0'
];

$uriTemplate = new UriTemplate($template);
echo $uriTemplate->expand($params), PHP_EOL;
// throw a League\Uri\UriTemplate\TemplateCanNotBeExpanded because the term variable is a list and not a string.

Braces Usage

The following implementation disallows the use of braces { or } outside of being URI template expression delimiters. If not used as the boundary of an expression an exception will be triggered.

$template = 'https://example.com/hotels/{/book{?query*}';
$uriTemplate = new UriTemplate($template);
// will throw a League\Uri\Exceptions\SyntaxError on instantiation

If your template do require them you should URL encode them.

$template = 'https://example.com/hotels/%7B/{hotel}';
$params = ['booking' => 42, 'hotel' => 'Rest & Relax'];

$uriTemplate = new UriTemplate($template);
echo $uriTemplate->expand($params), PHP_EOL;
// https://example.com/hotels/%7B/Rest%20%26%20Relax

Interoperability

Available since version 7.6

To allow easier integration with other PHP packages and especially PSR-13 the UriTemplate class implements the Stringable interface.

use League\Uri\UriTemplate;
use Symfony\Component\WebLink\Link;

$uriTemplate = new UriTemplate('https://google.com/search{?q*}');

$link = (new Link())
    ->withHref($uriTemplate)
    ->withRel('next')
    ->withAttribute('me', 'you');

// Once serialized will return
// '<https://google.com/search{?q*}>; rel="next"; me="you"'

The Symfony\Component\WebLink\Link package implements PSR-13 interfaces.