[PHP 4 >= 4.3.0, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8]
file_get_contents — Reads entire file into a string
Description
file_get_contents[
string $filename
,
bool $use_include_path
=
false
,
?resource $context
= null
,
int $offset
= 0,
?int $length
= null
]:
string|false
file_get_contents[] is the preferred way to read the contents of a file into a string. It will use memory mapping techniques if supported by your OS to enhance performance.
Note:
If you're opening a URI with special characters, such as spaces, you need to encode the URI with urlencode[].
Parameters
filename
Name of the file to read.
use_include_path
Note:
The
FILE_USE_INCLUDE_PATH
constant can be used to trigger include path search. This is not possible if strict typing is enabled, sinceFILE_USE_INCLUDE_PATH
is an int. Usetrue
instead.
context
A valid context resource created with
stream_context_create[]. If you don't need to use a custom context, you can skip this parameter by null
.
offset
The offset where the reading starts on the original stream. Negative offsets count from the end of the stream.
Seeking [offset
] is not supported with remote files. Attempting to seek on non-local files may work with small
offsets, but this is unpredictable because it works on the buffered stream.
length
Maximum length of data read. The default is to read until end of file is reached. Note that this parameter is applied to the stream processed by the filters.
Return Values
The function returns the read data or false
on failure.
Warning
This
function may return Boolean false
, but may also return a non-Boolean value which evaluates to false
. Please read the section on Booleans for more information. Use the === operator for testing the return value of this function.
Errors/Exceptions
An E_WARNING
level error is generated if filename
cannot be found, length
is less than zero, or if seeking to the specified offset
in the stream fails.
When file_get_contents[] is called on a directory, an E_WARNING
level error is generated on Windows, and as of PHP 7.4 on other operating systems as well.
Changelog
8.0.0 | length is nullable now.
|
7.1.0 | Support for negative offset s has been added.
|
Examples
Example #1 Get and output the source of the homepage of a website
Example #2 Searching within the include_path
Example #3 Reading a section of a file
The above example will output something similar to:
string[14] "lle Bjori Ro"
Example #4 Using stream contexts
Notes
Note: This function is binary-safe.
Tip
A URL can be used as a filename with this function if the fopen wrappers have been enabled. See fopen[] for more details on how to specify the filename. See the Supported Protocols and Wrappers for links to information about what abilities the various wrappers have, notes on their usage, and information on any predefined variables they may provide.
Warning
When using SSL, Microsoft IIS will violate the protocol by closing the connection without sending a close_notify
indicator. PHP will report this as "SSL: Fatal Protocol Error" when you reach the end of the data. To work around this, the value of error_reporting should be lowered
to a level that does not include warnings. PHP can detect buggy IIS server software when you open the stream using the //
wrapper and will suppress the warning. When using fsockopen[] to create an ssl://
socket, the developer is responsible for detecting and suppressing this warning.
See Also
- file[] - Reads entire file into an array
- fgets[] - Gets line from file pointer
- fread[] - Binary-safe file read
- readfile[] - Outputs a file
- file_put_contents[] - Write data to a file
- stream_get_contents[] - Reads remainder of a stream into a string
- stream_context_create[] - Creates a stream context
- $http_response_header
Bart Friederichs ¶
10 years ago
file_get_contents can do a POST, create a context for that first:
soger ¶
6 days ago
There's barely a mention on this page but the $http_response_header will be populated with the HTTP headers if your file was a link. For example if you're expecting an image you can do this: