- PHP Basics
- Learn PHP
- PHP Comments
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- PHP Variables
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- PHP echo
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- PHP echo vs. print
- PHP if else
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- PHP for Loop
- PHP while Loop
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- PHP break and continue
- PHP Arrays
- PHP print_r()
- PHP unset()
- PHP Strings
- PHP Functions
- PHP File Handling
- PHP File Handling
- PHP Open File
- PHP Create a File
- PHP Write to File
- PHP Read File
- PHP feof()
- PHP fgetc()
- PHP fgets()
- PHP Close File
- PHP Delete File
- PHP Append to File
- PHP Copy File
- PHP file_get_contents()
- PHP file_put_contents()
- PHP file_exists()
- PHP filesize()
- PHP Rename File
- PHP fseek()
- PHP ftell()
- PHP rewind()
- PHP disk_free_space()
- PHP disk_total_space()
- PHP Create Directory
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- PHP Get Files/Directories
- PHP Get filename
- PHP Get Path
- PHP filemtime()
- PHP file()
- PHP include()
- PHP require()
- PHP include() vs. require()
- PHP and MySQLi
- PHP and MySQLi
- PHP MySQLi Setup
- PHP MySQLi Create DB
- PHP MySQLi Create Table
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- PHP MySQLi Fetch Record
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- PHP MySQLi SignUp Page
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- PHP Misc Topics
- PHP Object Oriented
- PHP new Keyword
- PHP Cookies
- PHP Sessions
- PHP Date and Time
- PHP GET vs. POST
- PHP File Upload
- PHP Image Processing
PHP fread() | Read a File
The PHP fread() is used when we need to read the content of an opened file, using its pointer. For example:
<?php $fp = fopen("fresherearth.txt", "r"); $content = fread($fp, 4); echo $content; fclose($fp); ?>
The output produced by above PHP example on fread() function is:
Since, I've specified 4 as length, to read only first 4 characters of the file. Therefore the output produced by above example is Hey,. That is the first four character of the file fresherearth.txt. Here is the snapshot of the file, fresherearth.txt:
PHP fread() Syntax
The syntax of fread() function in PHP, is:
fread(filePointer, length)
Both parameters are required. The filePointer refers to the file pointer, whereas the length parameter is used to specify the length of characters to read from the file.
If you want to read the complete content of a file, then you can use filesize() function to calculate the size of an unknown file, and apply it as the length parameter. For example:
<?php $file = "fresherearth.txt"; $fp = fopen($file, "r"); $content = fread($fp, filesize($file)); echo $content; fclose($fp); ?>
Now the output of above PHP example should be:
Here is the modified version of above example:
<?php $file = "fresherearth.txt"; $fp = fopen($file, "r"); if($fp) { $content = fread($fp, filesize($file)); echo $content; fclose($fp); } else echo "<p>Unable to open the file</p>"; ?>
PHP Read a File Line by Line
To read a file, line by line, use feof() followed by fgets(), in this way:
<?php $file = "fresherearth.txt"; $fp = fopen($file, "r"); if($fp) { while(!feof($fp)) { $line = fgets($fp); echo $line; echo "<br>"; } } else echo "<p>Unable to open the file</p>"; ?>
The output of above PHP example should be:
PHP Read a File Character by Character
To read a file, character by character, use feof() followed by fgetc(), in this way:
<?php $file = "fresherearth.txt"; $fp = fopen($file, "r"); if($fp) { while(!feof($fp)) { $character = fgetc($fp); if($character == "\n") echo "<br>"; else echo $character; } } else echo "<p>Unable to open the file</p>"; ?>
You will get the exact output as of previous example.
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