<?php $url1 = '//google.com'; $url2 = 'http://google.com'; $url3 = 'https://google.com'; $url4 = 'google.com'; $email = 'some@email.com'; echo "Value: {$url1} Result:"; var_dump( parse_url( $url1 ) ); echo "Value: {$url2} Result:"; var_dump( parse_url( $url2 ) ); echo "Value: {$url3} Result:"; var_dump( parse_url( $url3 ) ); echo "Value: {$url4} Result:"; var_dump( parse_url( $url4 ) ); echo "Value: {$email} Result:"; var_dump( parse_url( $email ) );