PHP Notes – File Handling.

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File Handling
File handling is an important part of any web application. You often need to open and process a
file for different tasks. PHP has several functions for creating, reading, uploading, and editing
files.
readfile() Function
The readfile() function reads a file and writes it to the output buffer.
Assume we have a text file called "webdictionary.txt", stored on the server, that looks like this:
AJAX = Asynchronous JavaScript and XML
CSS = Cascading Style Sheets
HTML = Hyper Text Markup Language
PHP = PHP Hypertext Preprocessor
SQL = Structured Query Language
SVG = Scalable Vector Graphics
XML = EXtensible Markup Language
The PHP code to read the file and write it to the output buffer is as follows (the readfile()
function returns the number of bytes read on success):
Example
<?php
echo readfile("webdictionary.txt");
?>
The readfile() function is useful if all you want to do is open up a file and read its contents.
File Open/Read/Close
Open File - fopen()
This function gives you more options than the readfile() function.
We will use the text file, "webdictionary.txt", which contains the following text.
AJAX = Asynchronous JavaScript and XML
CSS = Cascading Style Sheets
HTML = Hyper Text Markup Language
PHP = PHP Hypertext Preprocessor
SQL = Structured Query Language
SVG = Scalable Vector Graphics
XML = EXtensible Markup Language
The first parameter of fopen() contains the name of the file to be opened and the second
parameter specifies in which mode the file should be opened. The following example also
generates a message if the fopen() function is unable to open the specified file:
Example
<?php
$myfile = fopen("webdictionary.txt", "r") or die("Unable to open file!");
echo fread($myfile,filesize("webdictionary.txt"));
fclose($myfile);
?>
Tip: The fread() and the fclose() functions will be explained below.
The file may be opened in one of the following modes:
Modes Description
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r Open a file for read only. File pointer starts at the beginning of the file
Open a file for write only. Erases the contents of the file or creates a new file if it
w
doesn't exist. File pointer starts at the beginning of the file
Open a file for write only. The existing data in file is preserved. File pointer starts at
a
the end of the file. Creates a new file if the file doesn't exist
x Creates a new file for write only. Returns FALSE and an error if file already exists
r+ Open a file for read/write. File pointer starts at the beginning of the file
Open a file for read/write. Erases the contents of the file or creates a new file if it
w+
doesn't exist. File pointer starts at the beginning of the file
Open a file for read/write. The existing data in file is preserved. File pointer starts at
a+
the end of the file. Creates a new file if the file doesn't exist
x+ Creates a new file for read/write. Returns FALSE and an error if file already exists
Read File - fread()
The fread() function reads from an open
The first parameter of fread() contains the name of the file to read from and the second parameter
specifies the maximum number of bytes to read.
The following PHP code reads the "webdictionary.txt" file to the end:
fread($myfile,filesize("webdictionary.txt"));
Close File - fclose()
The fclose() function is used to close an open file.
It's a good programming practice to close all files after you have finished with them. You don't
want an open file running around on your server taking up resources.
The fclose() requires the name of the file (or a variable that holds the filename) we want to close:
<?php
$myfile = fopen("webdictionary.txt", "r");
// some code to be executed....
fclose($myfile);
?>
Read Single Line - fgets()
The fgets() function is used to read a single line from a file.
The example below outputs the first line of the "webdictionary.txt" file:
Example
<?php
$myfile = fopen("webdictionary.txt", "r") or die("Unable to open file!");
echo fgets($myfile);
fclose($myfile);
?>
Note: After a call to the fgets() function, the file pointer has moved to the next line.
Check End-Of-File - feof()
The feof() function checks if the "end-of-file" (EOF) has been reached.
The feof() function is useful for looping through data of unknown length.
The example below reads the "webdictionary.txt" file line by line, until end-of-file is reached:
Example
<?php
$myfile = fopen("webdictionary.txt", "r") or die("Unable to open file!");
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// Output one line until end-of-file

while(!feof($myfile))
{
echo fgets($myfile) . "<br>";
}
fclose($myfile);
?>
Read Single Character - fgetc()
The fgetc() function is used to read a single character from a file.
The example below reads the "webdictionary.txt" file character by character, until end-of-file is
reached:
Example
<?php
$myfile = fopen("webdictionary.txt", "r") or die("Unable to open file!");
// Output one character until end-of-file
while(!feof($myfile)) {
echo fgetc($myfile);
}
fclose($myfile);
?>
Note: After a call to the fgetc() function, the file pointer moves to the next character.
File Create/Write
Create File - fopen()
The fopen() function is also used to create a file. Maybe a little confusing, but in PHP, a file is
created using the same function used to open files.
If you use fopen() on a file that does not exist, it will create it, given that the file is opened for
writing (w) or appending (a).
The example below creates a new file called "testfile.txt". The file will be created in the same
directory where the PHP code resides:
Example
$myfile = fopen("testfile.txt", "w")
File Permissions
If you are having errors when trying to get this code to run, check that you have granted your
PHP file access to write information to the hard drive.
Write to File - fwrite()
The fwrite() function is used to write to a file.
The first parameter of fwrite() contains the name of the file to write to and the second parameter
is the string to be written.
The example below writes a couple of names into a new file called "newfile.txt":
Example
<?php
$myfile = fopen("newfile.txt", "w") or die("Unable to open file!");
$txt = "Pradeep P. K.\n";
fwrite($myfile, $txt);
$txt = "Manoj P. S.\n";
fwrite($myfile, $txt);
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fclose($myfile);
?>
Notice that we wrote to the file "newfile.txt" twice. Each time we wrote to the file we sent the
string $txt that first contained "Pradeep P. K." and second contained "Manoj P. S.". After we
finished writing, we closed the file using the fclose() function.
If we open the "newfile.txt" file it would look like this:
Pradeep P. K.

Manoj P. S.

Overwriting

Now that "newfile.txt" contains some data we can show what happens when we open an existing
file for writing. All the existing data will be ERASED and we start with an empty file.
In the example below we open our existing file "newfile.txt", and write some new data into it:
Example
<?php
$myfile = fopen("newfile.txt", "w") or die("Unable to open file!");
$txt = "Old is Gold\n";
fwrite($myfile, $txt);
$txt = "Gold is precious\n";
fwrite($myfile, $txt);
fclose($myfile);
?>
If we now open the "newfile.txt" file, both John and Jane have vanished, and only the data we
just wrote is present:
Old is Gold
Gold is precious
File Upload
With PHP, it is easy to upload files to the server.
Configure The "php.ini" File
First, ensure that PHP is configured to allow file uploads.
In your "php.ini" file, search for the file_uploads directive, and set it to On:
file_uploads = On
Create The HTML Form
Next, create an HTML form that allow users to choose the image file they want to upload:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>

<form action="upload.php" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">

Select image to upload:
<input type="file" name="fileToUpload" id="fileToUpload">
<input type="submit" value="Upload Image" name="submit">
</form>
</body>
</html>
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Some rules to follow for the HTML form above:

 Make sure that the form uses method="post"
 The form also needs the following attribute: enctype="multipart/form-data". It specifies
which content-type to use when submitting the form
Without the requirements above, the file upload will not work.
Other things to notice:
 The type="file" attribute of the <input> tag shows the input field as a file-select control,
with a "Browse" button next to the input control
The form above sends data to a file called "upload.php", which we will create next.
Create The Upload File PHP Script
The "upload.php" file contains the code for uploading a file:
<?php
$target_dir = "uploads/";
$target_file = $target_dir . basename($_FILES["fileToUpload"]["name"]);
$uploadOk = 1;
$imageFileType = pathinfo($target_file,PATHINFO_EXTENSION);
// Check if image file is a actual image or fake image
if(isset($_POST["submit"])) {
$check = getimagesize($_FILES["fileToUpload"]["tmp_name"]);
if($check !== false) {
echo "File is an image - " . $check["mime"] . ".";
$uploadOk = 1;
} else {
echo "File is not an image.";
$uploadOk = 0;
}
}
?>
PHP script explained:
 $target_dir = "uploads/" - specifies the directory where the file is going to be placed
 $target_file specifies the path of the file to be uploaded
 $uploadOk=1 is not used yet (will be used later)
 $imageFileType holds the file extension of the file
 Next, check if the image file is an actual image or a fake image
Note: You will need to create a new directory called "uploads" in the directory where
"upload.php" file resides. The uploaded files will be saved there.
Check if File Already Exists
Now we can add some restrictions.
First, we will check if the file already exists in the "uploads" folder. If it does, an error message
is displayed, and $uploadOk is set to 0:
// Check if file already exists
if (file_exists($target_file)) {
echo "Sorry, file already exists.";
$uploadOk = 0;
}
Limit File Size
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The file input field in our HTML form above is named "fileToUpload".
Now, we want to check the size of the file. If the file is larger than 500KB, an error message is
displayed, and $uploadOk is set to 0:
// Check file size
if ($_FILES["fileToUpload"]["size"] > 500000) {
echo "Sorry, your file is too large.";
$uploadOk = 0;
}
Limit File Type
The code below only allows users to upload JPG, JPEG, PNG, and GIF files. All other file types
gives an error message before setting $uploadOk to 0:
// Allow certain file formats
if($imageFileType != "jpg" && $imageFileType != "png" && $imageFileType != "jpeg"
&& $imageFileType != "gif" ) {
echo "Sorry, only JPG, JPEG, PNG & GIF files are allowed.";
$uploadOk = 0;
}
Complete Upload File PHP Script
The complete "upload.php" file now looks like this:
<?php
$target_dir = "uploads/";
$target_file = $target_dir . basename($_FILES["fileToUpload"]["name"]);
$uploadOk = 1;
$imageFileType = pathinfo($target_file,PATHINFO_EXTENSION);
// Check if image file is a actual image or fake image
if(isset($_POST["submit"])) {
$check = getimagesize($_FILES["fileToUpload"]["tmp_name"]);
if($check !== false) {
echo "File is an image - " . $check["mime"] . ".";
$uploadOk = 1;
} else {
echo "File is not an image.";
$uploadOk = 0;
}
}
// Check if file already exists
if (file_exists($target_file)) {
echo "Sorry, file already exists.";
$uploadOk = 0;
}
// Check file size
if ($_FILES["fileToUpload"]["size"] > 500000) {
echo "Sorry, your file is too large.";
$uploadOk = 0;
}
// Allow certain file formats
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if($imageFileType != "jpg" && $imageFileType != "png" && $imageFileType != "jpeg"

&& $imageFileType != "gif" ) {
echo "Sorry, only JPG, JPEG, PNG & GIF files are allowed.";
$uploadOk = 0;
}
// Check if $uploadOk is set to 0 by an error
if ($uploadOk == 0) {
echo "Sorry, your file was not uploaded.";
// if everything is ok, try to upload file
} else {
if (move_uploaded_file($_FILES["fileToUpload"]["tmp_name"], $target_file)) {
echo "The file ". basename( $_FILES["fileToUpload"]["name"]). " has been uploaded.";
} else {
echo "Sorry, there was an error uploading your file.";
}
}
?>