As we all know that JavaScript is usually what involves in detecting different browsers and their varying capabilities. PHP has the very function that parses the HTTP request headers sent by client web browsers so as to determine the identify of the requesting browser as well as its capabilities.
To get client browser information and detect browsers in PHP:
$browser = get_browser(); // $browser is an array containing all information about the requesting browser
if ($browser->frames) {
// print out a frame-based layout
} elseif ($browser->tables) {
// print out a table-based layout
} else {
// print out a boring layout
}
Yep, get_browser() is just the function we need. Also, there’s a lot more fields than those just shown here, the table below refers them all.
|
Property |
Description |
|---|---|
|
platform |
Operating system the browser is running on (e.g., Windows, Macintosh, Unix, Win32, Linux, MacPPC) |
|
version |
Full browser version (e.g., 5.0, 3.5, 6.0b2) |
|
majorver |
Major browser version (e.g., 5, 3, 6) |
|
minorver |
Minor browser version (e.g., 0, 5, 02) |
|
frames |
1 if the browser supports frames |
|
tables |
1 if the browser supports tables |
|
cookies |
1 if the browser supports cookies |
|
backgroundsounds |
1 if the browser supports background sounds with <embed> or <bgsound> |
|
vbscript |
1 if the browser supports VBScript |
|
javascript |
1 if the browser supports JavaScript |
|
javaapplets |
1 if the browser can run Java applets |
|
activexcontrols |
1 if the browser can run ActiveX controls |
You should also read:
- Apache, PHP: Get Client Browser HTTP Request Headers Information
- PHP cURL: Fetching URL and Sending Request with Cookies
- Check for file size with JavaScript before uploading
- CSS: How to write CSS rules to detect or target Chrome, Safari or Opera browsers only?
- HTML Definition: What is HTML Defined – What does HTML stand for?


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