$_Get can't retrieve + or /

hi,
I don't know how to retrieve special character like +, / etc from the URL using $_Get. I just get empty when retrieving that.
e.g http://www.sit.com/firstpage.php? thread=what I want + what I get

I am getting : http://www.sit.com/firstpage.php?thread=what I want what I get

I appreciate if someone can help.

thax,
wxyz

This should sort you out -

http://uk.php.net/manual/en/function.urlencode.php

-KM-

You have:
http://www.sit.com/firstpage.php?thread=what I want what I get

However the browser typically encodes it as follows:
http://www.sit.com/firstpage.php?thread=what+I+want+what+I+get

PHP would then read the input string and decode the url:
$_GET['thread'] = 'what I want what I get'

If you want the '+' symbols being passed, as kode_monkey stated prior, you should make use of the urlencode function

<a href="page.php?t=<?=urlencode('This+will+have+pluses');?>">click here</a>