iTP Secure WebServer System Administrator's Guide (iTPWebSvr 6.0+)

Using Common Gateway Interface (CGI) Programs
iTP Secure WebServer System Administrator’s Guide—523346-002
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Extra Path Information
query_string to the QUERY_STRING environment variable, which then is passed
to the CGI program designated in the URL.
For example:
http://www.datamart.com/search.cgi?Albert+Einstein&Marie_Curie
In this example, the value Albert+Einstein&Marie_Curie is assigned to the
QUERY_STRING variable, which then is passed to the CGI program search.cgi.
Extra Path Information
Input data can be passed to CGI programs by appending extra path information to
URLs, as follows:
URL/cgi_script/extra_path_info
where:
extra_path_info
is information to be passed to the designated CGI program (cgi_script). The
most common use of extra path information is to specify the relative pathname of a
data file.
The iTP Secure WebServer stores the contents of extra_path_info in the
PATH_INFO variable. Using the mapping information specified in the Filemap directive,
the iTP Secure WebServer also translates the PATH_INFO pathname and assigns the
translated pathname to the variable PATH_TRANSLATED. The PATH_INFO and
PATH_TRANSLATED environment variables are both available to the CGI program
(cgi_script).
For example, if the request URL is
http://www.company.com/search.cgi/misc/images
and the server Filemap directive is
Filemap / /usr/tandem/webserver/root
the pathname /misc/images is assigned to the PATH_INFO variable. Using the
mapping in the Filemap directive, the server expands the contents of PATH_INFO to
/usr/tandem/webserver/root/misc/images
and assigns this expanded pathname to the variable PATH_TRANSLATED.