title: Difference between JRequest::getVar($var) and $var in Joomla/PHP?
body: <p>Let me start by saying I know nothing about Joomla or PHP so i might be comparing apples to oranges here but....</p>
  
  <p>I keep seeing <code>JRequest::getVar($var)</code> and <code>$var</code> in some code i've been looking at.  Can someone explain what the difference between these two is?</p>
  
  <p>According to Joomlas' documentation <code>getVar</code> , "Fetches and returns a given variable."  If that is the case why would the following code return different results?</p>
  
  <pre><code>echo JRequest::getVar($amount);
  
  echo $amount;
  </code></pre>