Stop $_GET being processed after reload

Question

I'm creating a link which appends a $_GET variable to the end of it for use of deleting files / other PHP tasks.

<a href="test.php?delete_file=<?php echo $filename; ?>">Delete file</a>

Part of my PHP code looks for the variable and if it exists, it runs the unset function to remove the file, but when I reload the webpage, it obviously tries to remove the file again. Is there any way to remove the $_GET after it has been run once to stop the processing after a refresh?

<?php
if (isset($_GET['delete_file'])) {
    if (file_exists($full_path.$_GET['delete_file'])) {
        unlink($_GET['delete_file']);
    } else {
        echo "File ".$full_path.$_GET['delete_file']." doesn't exist";
    }
}
?>

<a href="test.php?delete_file=<?php echo $filename; ?>">Delete file</a>

Answer 1

You can use ajax to remove files so it won't refresh.

<a href="javascript:deletefile('<?php echo $filename; ?>')">Delete file</a>
 <script>
        function deletefile(filename){
                var data = {delete_file:filename };
                $.ajax({ 
                        url: 'delete.php',
                        type: 'post',
                        data: data,
                        success: function(response) {
                            // .. do something with response ..
                            // you can use window.location to refresh page   
                           // or if you have js method to refresh page. you can call it here
                        }
                }); 
        }
        </script>

In php file you can retrive with post

<?php
if (isset($_POST['delete_file'])) {
    if (file_exists($full_path.$_POST['delete_file'])) {
        unlink($_POST['delete_file']);
    } else {
        echo "File ".$full_path.$_POST['delete_file']." doesn't exist";
    }
}
?>

But as the commenters say this is open to potential security issues. You need to take care of security if you use this approach in production.