title: Get PHP to stop replacing '.' characters in $_GET or $_POST arrays?
body: <p>If I pass PHP variables with <code>.</code> in their names via $_GET PHP auto-replaces them with <code>_</code> characters. For example:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;?php
  echo "url is ".$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']."&lt;p&gt;";
  echo "x.y is ".$_GET['x.y'].".&lt;p&gt;";
  echo "x_y is ".$_GET['x_y'].".&lt;p&gt;";
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>... outputs the following:</p>
  
  <pre><code>url is /SpShipTool/php/testGetUrl.php?x.y=a.b
  x.y is .
  x_y is a.b.
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>... my question is this: is there <strong>any</strong> way I can get this to stop? Cannot for the life of me figure out what I've done to deserve this</p>
  
  <p>PHP version I'm running with is 5.2.4-2ubuntu5.3.</p>