Simple PHP: getting variable from a form input

I can’t really use PHP and from what I’ve seen in tutorials this should work, but it doesn’t:

<html>
  <head></head>
  <body>
    <form>
      <input type='text' name="name" value='myName'>
    </form>
    <p>
      <?php
        $name = $_POST['name'];
        echo $name
      ?>
    </p>
  </body>
</html>

JavaScript
​x
 
<html>  <head></head>  <body>    <form>      <input type='text' name="name" value='myName'>    </form>    <p>      <?php        $name = $_POST['name'];        echo $name      ?>    </p>  </body></html>​

Is there a reason I can’t get the value of name? Sorry for asking such a simple question…

here is the fiddle http://jsfiddle.net/DCmu5/1/, so, please try what you said and send it to me only when it works before answering

Answer

PHP is a server-side language, so you’ll need to submit the form in order to access its variables.

Since you didn’t specify a method, GET is assumed, so you’ll need the $_GET super-global:

echo $_GET['name'];

JavaScript
 
echo $_GET['name'];​

It’s probably better though, to use $_POST (since it’ll avoid the values being passed in the URL directly. As such, you can add method attribute to your <form> element as follows:

<form method="post">
    <input type='text' name="name" value="myName" />
    <input type="submit" name="go" value="Submit" />
</form>

JavaScript
 
<form method="post">    <input type='text' name="name" value="myName" />    <input type="submit" name="go" value="Submit" /></form>​

Notice I also added a submit button for good measure, but this isn’t required. Simply hitting return inside the textbox would submit the form.

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Answer