https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=[ID] https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=[ID]&type=2&theater $url = 'https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=[ID]&type=2&theater'; parse_str( parse_url( $url, PHP_URL_QUERY ), $params ); // $params['v'] will hold the [ID] you need.