[chiPHPug-discuss] PHP form name transliteration question

[Sarah G. <sa...@fa...>]

Hello,

Does anyone know why it is that a form element named using dots is 
transliterated to a form element named using underscores when it is 
posted using PHP [4.4.4 and 4.3.2, at least]? It's as if php runs a 
pre-filter preg_replace on the names of input fields before outputting 
them to the $_POST array. 
Is this for a security reason? Are these illegal naming conventions for 
form names in general? Here's my example:

I'd never encountered this before, but a simple test shows that

<form action="#" method="post">
<input type="hidden" name="name.with.dots">
<input type="submit">
</form>

turns into the below (when displayed using print_r) in the $_POST array:

Array
(
    [name_with_dots] => 
)


Any info appreciated.

Thanks,
Sarah