Simple dynamic breadcrumb

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This may be overkill for a simple breadcrumb, but it’s worth a shot. I remember having this issue a long time ago when I first started, but I never really solved it. That is, until I just decided to write this up now. 🙂

I have documented as best I can inline, at the bottom are 3 possible use cases. Enjoy! (feel free to ask any questions you may have)

<?php

// This function will take $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] and build a breadcrumb based on the user's current path
function breadcrumbs($separator=" &raquo; ", $home="Home") {
    // This gets the REQUEST_URI (/path/to/file.php), splits the string (using "https://stackoverflow.com/") into an array, and then filters out any empty values
    $path = array_filter(explode("https://stackoverflow.com/", parse_url($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'], PHP_URL_PATH)));

    // This will build our "base URL" ... Also accounts for HTTPS :)
    $base = ($_SERVER['HTTPS'] ? 'https' : 'http') . '://' . $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] . "https://stackoverflow.com/";

    // Initialize a temporary array with our breadcrumbs. (starting with our home page, which I'm assuming will be the base URL)
    $breadcrumbs = Array("<a href=\"$base\">$home</a>");

    // Find out the index for the last value in our path array
    $last = end(array_keys($path));

    // Build the rest of the breadcrumbs
    foreach ($path AS $x => $crumb) {
        // Our "title" is the text that will be displayed (strip out .php and turn '_' into a space)
        $title = ucwords(str_replace(Array('.php', '_'), Array('', ' '), $crumb));

        // If we are not on the last index, then display an <a> tag
        if ($x != $last)
            $breadcrumbs[] = "<a href=\"$base$crumb\">$title</a>";
        // Otherwise, just display the title (minus)
        else
            $breadcrumbs[] = $title;
    }

    // Build our temporary array (pieces of bread) into one big string :)
    return implode($separator, $breadcrumbs);
}

?>

<p><?= breadcrumbs() ?></p>
<p><?= breadcrumbs(' > ') ?></p>
<p><?= breadcrumbs(' ^^ ', 'Index') ?></p>

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