How to find and edit a line in a text file

[tigerarch]

I need to be able to open a text file, find a specific line and edit or delete that line. Here is an example of the txt file:

Middleton|A. Blake|bmiddleton|Team Member|01
Kass|Laura S.|lkass|Team Member|02
and so on

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[suntra]

Use the file() function to open the file. It opens the file and put each line in an array...

Example :

$fichier = file("./datas.txt");

first line = $fichier[0]
second line = $fichier[1]
line x = $fichier[x - 1]

Then, use array_search() :
Description
mixed array_search ( mixed needle, array haystack, boolean strict)
(see php.net)

That function will return the line if needle is found in the array haystack, or false if it doesn't find it.

Example :

$line = array_search("lina", $fichier, FALSE);

Now, you (may) have the line number. So you can edit it...

if($line) {
     $fichier[$line] = "lina doesn't exist anymore... now it's Rachelle !";
}

To delete a line, use array_splice() :
array array_splice ( array input, int offset [, int length [, array replacement]])
(again, see PHP.net)

array_splice($fichier, $line, 1);

Now, to write the file back...

$contenu = implode("\n", $fichier);
$fp = fopen("./datas.txt", "w+");
fputs($fp, $contenu);
fclose($fp);

I didn't test the code, so if there are bugs, tell me !

[tigerarch]

If I'm reading that right, I have to know the line number of the entry I want to edit, correct? If the file looked like this:

Middleton|A. Blake|bmiddleton|Team Member|78
Kass|Laura S.|lkass|Team Member|65
and so on

How would I find a specific line?

[tigerarch]

You were right with the array_search() command. That would work, but my isp's PHP version is 4.0.4 and array_search didn't come until 4.0.5. Is there any other way to search for a specific line? Thanks.