The preferred method of accessing these values is via the autoglobal arrays mentioned above.
External variables are no longer registered in the global scope by default. In other words, as of PHP 4.2.0 the PHP directive register_globals is off by default in php.ini. The preferred method of accessing these values is via the autoglobal arrays mentioned above. Older scripts, books, and tutorials may rely on this directive being on. If on, for example, one could use $id from the URL http://www.example.com/foo.php?id=42. Whether on or off, $_GET['id'] is available.