PHP Image Requests

← Back

Implementing gravatars with PHP is quite simple. PHP provides strtolower(), md5(), and urlencode() functions, allowing us to create the gravatar URL with ease. Assume the following data:

$email = "someone@somewhere.com";
$default = "https://www.somewhere.com/homestar.jpg";
$size = 40;

You can construct your gravatar url with the following php code:

$grav_url = "https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/" . md5( strtolower( trim( $email ) ) ) . "?d=" . urlencode( $default ) . "&s=" . $size;

Once the gravatar URL is created, you can output it whenever you please:

<img src="<?php echo $grav_url; ?>" alt="" />

Example Implementation

This function will allow you to quickly and easily insert a Gravatar into a page using PHP:

	/**
	 * Get either a Gravatar URL or complete image tag for a specified email address.
	 *
	 * @param string $email The email address
	 * @param string $s Size in pixels, defaults to 80px [ 1 - 2048 ]
	 * @param string $d Default imageset to use [ 404 | mp | identicon | monsterid | wavatar ]
	 * @param string $r Maximum rating (inclusive) [ g | pg | r | x ]
	 * @param boole $img True to return a complete IMG tag False for just the URL
	 * @param array $atts Optional, additional key/value attributes to include in the IMG tag
	 * @return String containing either just a URL or a complete image tag
	 * @source https://gravatar.com/site/implement/images/php/
	 */
	function get_gravatar( $email, $s = 80, $d = 'mp', $r = 'g', $img = false, $atts = array() ) {
		$url = 'https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/';
		$url .= md5( strtolower( trim( $email ) ) );
		$url .= "?s=$s&d=$d&r=$r";
		if ( $img ) {
			$url = '<img src="' . $url . '"';
			foreach ( $atts as $key => $val )
				$url .= ' ' . $key . '="' . $val . '"';
			$url .= ' />';
		}
		return $url;
	}

Existing Implementations