PHP Registration Form

PHP Registration Form is the most popular part of web applications. It is commonly used to create a new account on the website with a unique email address or username. Even It stores users’ registration data in the database so that they would be able to login to the website. It is also known as a signup form.

In this tutorial, You will learn to create a simple registration form with complete validation. This form will help the user to quickly signup on to the website and store user data like Name, email, & password in the database using PHP and MYSQL. So, you can integrate it with a login system on your website.

PHP registration Form

Table of Contents

Create a Registration Form Using PHP, MySQL

Before starting coding, you should know the following basic points. These points will give you the best concept to create a registration form using PHP.

Using PHP, It can take user data and send it through the POST method.
Using MySQL, It can store the user data into the table of the database.
It does not allow invalid data and protects from hacking.
It creates a new account only with a unique email address.

You should also learn the following examples –

PHP Form Validation

PHP Login Form

1. Create a Registration Form Directory

First of all, Create the following folder structure –

registration-form/
    |__database.php
    |__script.php
    |__form.php
    |

2. Create MySQL Database & Table

First of all, Create a MySQL database. You can also create it directly in PHPMyAdmin.

Now, Create a Table in the MySQL database using the following query.

Table Name – users

CREATE TABLE `users` (
  `id` int(10) UNSIGNED PRIMARY KEY NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `first_name` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
  `last_name` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
  `email` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
  `password` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
  `created_at` timestamp(6) DEFAULT NULL,
)

3. Connect MySQL Database

Now, you have to connect the MYSQL database using the following script.

File Name – database.php

<?php

$hostname     = "localhost"; // enter your hostname
$username     = "root";  // enter your table username
$password     = "";   // enter your password
$databasename = "codingstatus";  // enter your database
// Create connection 
$conn = new mysqli($hostname, $username, $password,$databasename);
 // Check connection 
if ($conn->connect_error) { 
die("Unable to Connect database: " . $conn->connect_error);
 }
?>

4. Create a Registration Form

This HTML document includes a Bootstrap-styled registration form that captures user data. PHP variables display success messages or validation errors, and the form preserves input values for corrections. The form is processed using a separate registration script (script.php).

File Name – form.php

 <?php

require('script.php');
?>

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <title>PHP Registration Form</title>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">

  <!--bootstrap4 library linked-->
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.4.1/css/bootstrap.min.css">
  <script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.4.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
  <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/popper.js/1.16.0/umd/popper.min.js"></script>
  <script src="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.4.1/js/bootstrap.min.js"></script>
</head>
<body>

<div class="container-fluid">
 <div class="row">
   <div class="col-sm-4">
   </div>
   <div class="col-sm-4">
    
    <!--====registration form====-->
    <div class="registration-form">
      <h4 class="text-center">Create a New Account</h4>
      
<p class="text-success text-center"><?php echo $register; ?></p> <form action="<?php echo htmlspecialchars($_SERVER["PHP_SELF"]);?<" method="post">


        <!--//first name//-->
        <div class="form-group">
           <label for="email">First Name</label>
               
<input type="text" class="form-control" placeholder="Enter First Name" name="first_name" value="<?php echo $set_firstName;?>">

           <p class="err-msg">
            
<?php if($fnameErr!=1){ echo $fnameErr; }?>

           </p>
        </div>

        <!--//Last name//-->
        <div class="form-group">
            <label for="email">Last Name</label>
                
<input type="text" class="form-control" placeholder="Enter Last Name" name="last_name" value="<?php echo $set_lastName;?>">

            <p class="err-msg"> 
    
<?php if($lnameErr!=1){ echo $lnameErr; } ?>

            </p>
        </div>
        
        <!--// Email//-->
        <div class="form-group">
            <label for="email">Email:</label>
                
<input type="text" class="form-control" id="email" placeholder="Enter email" name="email" value="<?php echo $set_email;?>">

            <p class="err-msg">
    
<?php if($emailErr!=1){ echo $emailErr; } ?>

            </p>
        </div>
        
        <!--//Password//-->
        <div class="form-group">
            <label for="pwd">Password:</label>
               
            <input type="password" class="form-control"  placeholder="Enter password" name="password"
            <p class="err-msg">
                
<?php if($passErr!=1){ echo $passErr; } ?>

            </p>
        </div>

        <!--//Confirm Password//-->
        <div class="form-group">
            <label for="pwd">Confirm Password:</label>
            <input type="password" class="form-control" placeholder="Enter Confirm password" name="cpassword">
            <p class="err-msg">
                
<?php if($cpassErr!=1){ echo $cpassErr; } ?>

            </p>
        </div>
    
        <button type="submit" class="btn btn-danger" name="submit">Register Now</button>
      </form>
    </div>
   </div>
   <div class="col-sm-4">
   </div>
 </div>
  
</div>

</body>
</html>

Explanation –

The PHP script includes a registration script (script.php) for form processing.
The HTML document includes Bootstrap libraries for styling and responsiveness.
The registration form captures user data such as first name, last name, email, password, and confirm password.
PHP variables are echoed to display success messages or validation errors above the respective form fields.
The form action is set to the current PHP script (htmlspecialchars($_SERVER["PHP_SELF"])) for processing.
Bootstrap styling is applied to create a visually appealing and responsive registration form.
Input values are preserved after submission to facilitate corrections in case of validation errors.
The form includes a “Register Now” button with the name attribute set to “submit” for form processing

You can use the following CSS to design the registration form

<style type="text/css">
  .registration-form{
     background: #f7f7f7;
     padding: 20px;
     border: 1px solid orange;
     margin: 50px 0px;
   }
   .err-msg{
     color:red;
   }
   .registration-form form{
     border: 1px solid #e8e8e8;
     padding: 10px;
     background: #f3f3f3;
   }
 </style>

4. PHP Script to Register user

This PHP script validates and processes a user registration form, ensuring input data integrity, checking for unique email addresses, and inserting validated user data into a database. Success or error messages are displayed accordingly.

File Name – script.php

<?php

require_once('database.php'); 
$db= $conn; // update with your database connection
// by default, error messages are empty
$register=$valid=$fnameErr=$lnameErr=$emailErr=$passErr=$cpassErr='';
 // by default,set input values are empty
 $set_firstName=$set_lastName=$set_email='';

extract($_POST);
if(isset($_POST['submit']))
{
  

   //input fields are Validated with regular expression
   $validName="/^[a-zA-Z ]*$/";
   $validEmail="/^\w+([\.-]?\w+)*@\w+([\.-]?\w+)*(\.\w{2,3})+$/";
   $uppercasePassword = "/(?=.*?[A-Z])/";
   $lowercasePassword = "/(?=.*?[a-z])/";
   $digitPassword = "/(?=.*?[0-9])/";
   $spacesPassword = "/^$|\s+/";
   $symbolPassword = "/(?=.*?[#?!@$%^&*-])/";
   $minEightPassword = "/.{8,}/";

 //  First Name Validation
if(empty($first_name)){
   $fnameErr="First Name is Required"; 
}
else if (!preg_match($validName,$first_name)) {
   $fnameErr="Digits are not allowed";
}else{
   $fnameErr=true;
}

//  Last Name Validation
if(empty($last_name)){
   $lnameErr="Last Name is required"; 
}
else if (!preg_match($validName,$last_name)) {
   $lnameErr="Digit are not allowed";
}
else{
   $lnameErr=true;
}

//Email Address Validation
if(empty($email)){
  $emailErr="Email is Required"; 
}
else if (!preg_match($validEmail,$email)) {
  $emailErr="Invalid Email Address";
}
else{
  $emailErr=true;
}
    
// password validation 
if(empty($password)){
  $passErr="Password is Required"; 
} 
elseif (!preg_match($uppercasePassword,$password) || !preg_match($lowercasePassword,$password) || !preg_match($digitPassword,$password) || !preg_match($symbolPassword,$password) || !preg_match($minEightPassword,$password) || preg_match($spacesPassword,$password)) {
  $passErr="Password must be at least one uppercase letter, lowercase letter, digit, a special character with no spaces and minimum 8 length";
}
else{
   $passErr=true;
}

// form validation for confirm password
if($cpassword!=$password){
   $cpassErr="Confirm Password doest Matched";
}
else{
   $cpassErr=true;
}

// check all fields are valid or not
if($fnameErr==1 && $lnameErr==1 && $emailErr==1 && $passErr==1 && $cpassErr==1)
{

   
    $firstName =legal_input($first_name);
    $lastName  =legal_input($last_name);
    $email     =legal_input($email);
    $password  =legal_input(md5($password));
   
    // check unique email
    $checkEmail=unique_email($email);
    if($checkEmail)
    {
      $register=$email." is already exist";
    }else{

       // Insert data
      $register=register($firstName,$lastName,$email,$password);

    }




}else{

     // set input values is empty until input field is invalid
    $set_firstName=$first_name;
    $set_lastName= $last_name;
    $set_email=    $email;
}
// check all fields are vakid or not
}


// convert illegal input value to ligal value formate
function legal_input($value) {
  $value = trim($value);
  $value = stripslashes($value);
  $value = htmlspecialchars($value);
  return $value;
}

function unique_email($email){
  
  global $db;
  $sql = "SELECT email FROM users WHERE email='".$email."'";
  $check = $db->query($sql);

 if ($check->num_rows > 0) {
   return true;
 }else{
   return false;
 }
}

// function to insert user data into database table
function register($firstName,$lastName,$email,$password){

   global $db;
   $sql="INSERT INTO users(first_name,last_name,email,password) VALUES(?,?,?,?)";
   $query=$db->prepare($sql);
   $query->bind_param('ssss',$firstName,$lastName,$email,$password);
   $exec= $query->execute();
    if($exec==true)
    {
     return "You are registered successfully";
    }
    else
    {
      return "Error: " . $sql . "<br>" .$db->error;
    }
}
?>

Explanation –

The PHP script includes a database connection and validation functions for a user registration form.
The script validates input fields (first name, last name, email, password) using regular expressions.
Unique email validation checks if the provided email already exists in the database.
If all validations pass, user input values are sanitized, and a registration function inserts the user data into the database.
Success or error messages are displayed based on the registration result.
The legal_input function trims, strips slashes, and converts special characters to HTML entities for input sanitization.
The unique_email function checks if the email is unique in the database.
The register function inserts user data into the “users” table and returns success or error messages

3 thoughts on “PHP Registration Form”

john
June 15, 2020 at 12:29 pm
What does this statement mean “extract($_POST);”?
- Noor Khan
  June 15, 2020 at 1:11 pm
  Hi john, Thanks for asking your doubt. You have asked a good question.. Read the following point. it will help you to understand..
  Its has the simple mean, if you declare extract($_POST) then you can get value of input field with its name. you will not need to get value of input field using $_POST['input_field_name'].
  suppose that you have an input file with name mobile_number like <input type="text" name="mobile_number">
  access its value as $moble_number.
  Example –
  1. With extract($_POST)
  Field Name – first_name – $first_name
  Field Name – last_name – $last_name
  Field Name – email – $email
  Field Name – password – $password
  1. Without extract($_POST)
  Field Name – first_name – $_POST['first_name']
  Field Name – last_name – $_POST['last_name']
  Field Name – email – $_POST['email']
  Field Name – password – $_POST['$password']
  I hope.. Now, Your doubt is clear with the above explanation
  - john
    June 18, 2020 at 9:33 am
    Thanks a lot.

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