PHP File Open And Read

PHP File Open & Read – Handling Files Like a Pro 📂

PHP makes it easy to open, read, and manipulate files. Whether you’re logging user activity, reading configurations, or just snooping into text files (ethically, of course! 😉), PHP has got you covered.

🔹 Opening a File in PHP

The fopen() function is used to open a file. It requires two parameters:

  • Filename: The name of the file to open.
  • Mode: Specifies whether to read, write, or append to the file.

Common file modes:

  • r – Read only (file must exist).
  • w – Write only (erases content if file exists or creates a new file).
  • a – Append (writes to the end of the file, creates a new file if it doesn’t exist).
<?php
$handle = fopen("example.txt", "r"); // Opens example.txt in read mode
if ($handle) {
    echo "File opened successfully!";
    fclose($handle); // Always close the file after use
} else {
    echo "Error opening the file!";
}
?>

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🔹 Reading a File in PHP

Once a file is open, you can read its contents using fread(), fgets(), or file_get_contents().

📝 Example 1: Reading an Entire File

The fread() function reads a specified number of bytes from a file.

<?php
$filename = "example.txt";
$handle = fopen($filename, "r"); // Open the file for reading
$contents = fread($handle, filesize($filename)); // Read the file
fclose($handle); // Close the file
echo nl2br($contents); // Display the content
?>

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📝 Example 2: Reading a File Line by Line

The fgets() function reads a file line by line, perfect for large files.

<?php
$filename = "example.txt";
$handle = fopen($filename, "r");

while (!feof($handle)) { // Loop until end of file
    echo fgets($handle) . "<br>";
}

fclose($handle); // Close the file
?>

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📝 Example 3: Reading a File at Once

The file_get_contents() function reads an entire file into a string, no need to open or close it!

<?php
$contents = file_get_contents("example.txt"); // Read entire file
echo nl2br($contents); // Display the content
?>

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🎯 Key Takeaways

  • fopen() is used to open a file with different modes (read, write, append).
  • fread() reads a specific number of bytes.
  • fgets() reads a file line by line.
  • file_get_contents() is the easiest way to read an entire file.
  • Always close files with fclose() to free up resources.

📝 Practice Time!

Try creating a text file and read its contents using different methods. What happens if the file doesn’t exist? 🤔 Test and explore!