file_get_contents
(PHP 4 >= 4.3.0, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)
file_get_contents — Reads entire file into a string
Description
string
$filename,bool
$use_include_path = false,?resource
$context = null,int
$offset = 0,?int
$length = null): string|false
This function is similar to file(), except that
file_get_contents() returns the file in a
string, starting at the specified offset
up to length bytes. On failure,
file_get_contents() will return 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_PATHconstant can be used to trigger include path search. This is not possible if strict typing is enabled, sinceFILE_USE_INCLUDE_PATHis an int. Usetrueinstead. -
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.
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
| Version | Description |
|---|---|
| 8.0.0 |
length is nullable now.
|
| 7.1.0 |
Support for negative offsets has been added.
|
Examples
Example #1 Get and output the source of the homepage of a website
<?php
$homepage = file_get_contents('http://www.example.com/');
echo $homepage;
?>
Example #2 Searching within the include_path
<?php
// If strict types are enabled i.e. declare(strict_types=1);
$file = file_get_contents('./people.txt', true);
// Otherwise
$file = file_get_contents('./people.txt', FILE_USE_INCLUDE_PATH);
?>
Example #3 Reading a section of a file
<?php
// Read 14 characters starting from the 21st character
$section = file_get_contents('./people.txt', FALSE, NULL, 20, 14);
var_dump($section);
?>
The above example will output something similar to:
string(14) "lle Bjori Ro"
Example #4 Using stream contexts
<?php
// Create a stream
$opts = array(
'http'=>array(
'method'=>"GET",
'header'=>"Accept-language: en\r\n" .
"Cookie: foo=bar\r\n"
)
);
$context = stream_context_create($opts);
// Open the file using the HTTP headers set above
$file = file_get_contents('http://www.example.com/', false, $context);
?>
Notes
Note: This function is binary-safe.
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.
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 https:// 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
