writing to a text file

robk

This is very rudimentary stuff, I know, but I just can't seem to make it work for me (still pretty new to php..)

I have a text file in my dir root that I need to update weekly. Is there a simple solution for using a backend form to view, edit and then save the changes to the txt file from my browser?

Thanks in advance,

robk

netizen

You need to make sure the text file is writeable, as well as permissions for it given to whatever group is assigned from webapplications (ie. nobody, apache)

crickettdt

If you create an html form, and use action="<? PHP_SELF; ?>"

you can use the script below to save the content of your input to a text, or other file:

if ($input != "")
{
$filename = "./dir/filename.txt";

$fp = fopen($filename, "w") or die("Couldn't open $filename");

fwrite ($fp, $input );
fclose ($fp);

}

Obviously the $input being:

$input = $HTTP_GET_VARS["input"];

collecting the info from your html form.

Hope that helps.

Also, you may need to check your server, and ensure you have permisions set to allow you to create a new file, overwrite etc.

robk

Thanks for the fast response!! Mucho appreciated...

Will that piece of code overwrite anything currently existing in the text file?

The idea is that it's an entertainment guide covering local events and venues so I'd need to view the contents and edit them WYSIWYG style or at least be able to simple overwrite the contents with the new information.

crickettdt

That snippet of code will open the file, and overwrite all the contents of the file.

If you want to append to this file (add to it), simply substitute the "w" for a "a". Blindingly obvious what "w" and "a" stand for!

The only problem with this simple code, is when appending to a file is, you only add to what the file already contains.

If you need to be a bit more ingenious there are various functions within PHP that allow you to read files, and move arround the contents etc.

If you are familiar with arrays, there is quite a lot you can achieve using file functions and arrays etc with PHP.

rIkLuNd

I'm also new to php, but I think I prefer MySQL before text-files, but this is what I would do if I were to use text-files to store information:

<?php

$filename = "demo.txt"; // Name of the text-file
$open = fopen("$filename",'w');
if(!$open)
die("Couldn't open file $filename");

$add_info = fwrite("$open","The Info To Be Added");

$close = fclose($open);
?>

I'm not sure that this code is error-free since I'm still a newbie and haven't tested it...