Writing to a php file

talkster5

Hi there
What i want to do is use my installation form to write to a php file and also to a MySQL table. The tables i can do and it all works fine but i was wondering if it is actually possible to write to another php file? If so what command should i be using? If you can help it will be great and thanks in avance to anyone

laserlight

Yes, it is possible.
A PHP file is basically a text file that happens to be parsed in a certain way.

On the other hand, why do you want to write to a PHP file?

talkster5

Well i have made an installation form for my application and i need it to write to config.php which is where all of the database connection details are stored. So you fill out the form with the information and it just puts it in the config file.

talkster5

so how would i actually write to it? Like what command would i put in my install process script?

laserlight

It depends on what your configuration page is like.

Have you every worked with [man]fopen/man, [man]fread/man, [man]fwrite/man, [man]fclose/man, [man]file/man and other file handling functions?

talkster5

no i havent but i will take a look

talkster5

ok i was testing out this

<?php
$filename = 'config.php';
$somecontent = '<?php \n //Xtreme CP Database Configuration File \n //These Entries Should Have Been Added Upon Install \n //Do Bot Edit Unless Told To \n $database_hostname = "$database_hostname"; \n $database_name = "$database_name"; \n $database_username = "$database_username"; \n $database_password = "$database_password"; \n //Database Connection String \n $connect = mysql_connect ("$database_hostname", "$database_username", "$database_password") or die ('I cannot connect to the database because: ' . mysql_error()); \n mysql_select_db ("$database_name"); \n ?>';
// Let's make sure the file exists and is writable first.
if (is_writable($filename)) {

   // In our example we're opening $filename in append mode.
   // The file pointer is at the bottom of the file hence
   // that's where $somecontent will go when we fwrite() it.
   if (!$handle = fopen($filename, 'a')) {
         echo "Cannot open file ($filename)";
         exit;
   }

   // Write $somecontent to our opened file.
   if (fwrite($handle, $somecontent) === FALSE) {
       echo "Cannot write to file ($filename)";
       exit;
   }

   echo "Success, wrote ($somecontent) to file ($filename)";

   fclose($handle);

} else {
   echo "The file $filename is not writable";
}
?>

But because the stuff i want to enter is actual php it wont let me do it and just gives me errors. How should i go abouts entering this so it doesnt try to run that?

talkster5

ok i have it working now and writing but the only problem is i need it to write to sepeare lines. I have tried using \n but all it does is write \n in my file its writing to. Is there any way to do this or am i just using it wrong?

talkster5

Dont mean to be inpatient or anything but does anyone know how i could fix this and make it do multiple lines?

laserlight

Oh.

The reason is that unlike say, C++, '\n' is not interpreted as a newline character, but as a string consisting of a '\' followed by an 'n'.

To make PHP parse these escaped characters as such, you have to enclose them in double quotes, just as you would do when you want to parse PHP variables within a string.

So use "\n" instead.

talkster5

ok instead of just using \n i used "\n" but it still just writes "\n" instead of making it a new line.

laserlight

What did you try most recently?

Basically, I cant help if I have no idea what you actually did.

Also, be careful:
echo "Success, wrote ($somecontent) to file ($filename)";

will deceive you into thinking that that $somecontent has no new lines, as you are displaying the text in a html page.
As you should know, HTML parses <br> (or <br />) as newlines, not the newline sequence.
You should check the file itself.

talkster5

Ok this is my code below

<?php
$filename = 'config.php';
$content1 = '$database_host = "";"\n"$database_name = "";"\n"$database_username = "";"\n"$database_password = "";"\n"//Connect String"\n"$connect = $dbh=mysql_connect ("localhost", "hosting_admin", "<PASSWORD HERE>") or die ("I cannot connect to the database because: " . mysql_error());"\n"mysql_select_db ("hosting_xtremecp");"\n"?>';

if (is_writable($filename)) {
   if (!$handle = fopen($filename, 'a')) {
         echo "Cannot open file ($filename)";
         exit;
   }
   if (fwrite($handle, $content1) === FALSE) { 
       echo "Cannot write to file ($filename)";
       exit;
   }

   echo "Success, wrote information to config.php";

   fclose($handle);

} else {
   echo "The file $filename is not writable";
}
?>

laserlight

$content1 = '$database_host = "";' . "\n"
	. '$database_name = "";' . "\n"
	. '$database_username = "";' . "\n"
	. '$database_password = "";' . "\n"
	. '//Connect String' . "\n"
	. '$connect = $dbh=mysql_connect ("localhost", "hosting_admin", "<PASSWORD HERE>")' . "\n"
	. '\tOR die ("I cannot connect to the database because: " . mysql_error());' . "\n"
	. 'mysql_select_db ("hosting_xtremecp");' . "\n"
	. '?>';

talkster5

thankyou so much for your help it works great.

talkster5

One last problem in between the "" after $database_.... how can i make it enter the data from the form because if i put $database_host it just writes that instead of inserting it from the form

laserlight

um, you need to get the whole idea.

Strings delimited (enclosed) by single quotes are not parsed for variables (or escaped characters like \n)

Strings delimited by double quotes are parsed for variables (variable interpolation).

Since you are already using single quotes, stick to that. If you need to have a variable actually work (i.e. be parsed), you just concatenate (i.e. join with the dot operator) it to the string.

talkster5

Im sorry i do not get what your saying.

laserlight

Create a new PHP page.
Type:

<?php
$test = 'hello';
echo "$test world<br />\n";
echo '$test world<br />\n';
echo "{$test} world<br />\n";
echo '{$test} world\n';
?>

Then run the script.
Look at the output, and also view source.
From there, make inferences.

I'm sorry, but if this still doesnt help you, then you're just not cut out for programming 🙁