php print div,php文件中执行print_r($_POST)时，显示Array()，为什么呢？

function createXML(){

var xml = "";

var options = document.getElementById("petTypes").childNodes;

var option = null;

for(var i = 0;i < options.length;i++){

option = options[i];

if(option.selected){

xml = xml + "" + option.value + "";

}

}

xml = xml + "";

return xml;

}

function sendPetTypes(){

createXMLHttpRequest();

var xml = createXML();

var url = "PostingXMLExample.php?timeStamp=" + new Date().getTime();

xmlHttp.open("POST",url,true);

xmlHttp.onreadystatechange = handleStateChange;

xmlHttp.setRequestHeader("Content-Type","application/x-www-form-urlencoded;");

xmlHttp.send(xml);

}

php文件中执行print_r($_POST)时，显示Array()，当执行echo file_get_contents("php://input")时，显示内容，为什么呢？请大神赐教

function handleStateChange(){

if(xmlHttp.readyState == 4){

if(xmlHttp.status == 200){

parseResults();

}

}

}

function parseResults(){

var responseDiv = document.getElementById("serverResponse");

if(responseDiv.hasChildNodes()){

responseDiv.removeChild(responseDiv.childNodes[0]);

}

var responseText = document.createTextNode(xmlHttp.responseText);

responseDiv.appendChild(responseText);

}