Reading from a file, then writing!

[Johno_M]

ok... I think I understand the basics of this stuff but I cant find a tutorial on the next bit.

How do I get.. say... index.php to open a file called 'accounts/barry.txt', search down the list of details about this barry guy, find something like $name = "Barry"; then change it to Kevin, and only that line?

And then.... if I make a file called count.txt, which contains a number '0', get index.php to load it, realise that it says 0, then replace it with 1, or ++ more than what was already in the file?

Any help would be great, once I can get my head around this bit I think I'm set ;-D

[laserlight]

How do I get.. say... index.php to open a file called 'accounts/barry.txt', search down the list of details about this barry guy, find something like $name = "Barry"; then change it to Kevin, and only that line?

This depends very much on how the content of the file is structured.
You might even want to use a relational database like MySQL or SQLite instead.

And then.... if I make a file called count.txt, which contains a number '0', get index.php to load it, realise that it says 0, then replace it with 1, or ++ more than what was already in the file?

This is relatively simple, here is one possible implementation:

<?php
function readCount($filename) {
	//open file for reading and writing without truncating it
	//we open in binary mode to be portable
	if ($fp = fopen($filename, "r+b")) {
		flock($fp, LOCK_EX); //lock file for writing
		//read count from file
		if (($count = fread($fp, filesize($filename))) !== false) {
			rewind($fp); //reset file pointer for writing
			//increment count and write it to file
			fwrite($fp, ++$count);
		} else {
			$count = 0;
		}
		flock($fp, LOCK_UN); //unlock file
		fclose($fp); //close file
		return $count;
	} else {
		return 0;
	}
}
echo "Count: " . readCount("count.txt");
?>

[Johno_M]

I want to keep it as a text or php file. trying to keep it as simple as possible :-)

[thorpe]

allot of people new to this stuff think using text files is easier than a db. in truth, most of the time it makes things more difficult. databases are made for storing relational data, text files are not.

if you have a database avaiable to you, it would be in your best interest to use it.

[Johno_M]

ok, but it seems so complicated :-/ do you know a good tutorial?

[laserlight]

I want to keep it as a text or php file. trying to keep it as simple as possible

That's understandable. Unfortunately, parsing files is not always a simple business.
What data do you have, and how do you intend to store it?
What happens if the data does not follow your prescribed format?
How will you handle simultaneous users?

[Johno_M]

lol, aahhhhh so many questions.

Ok i'll explain it like this:

i have a text file full of names:

John
Kevin
Will
Barry
Fred
Susan, etc

how can I give one of these names a tag, so that when I tell php to go straight to kevin, or barry, or any of them it does?

[laserlight]

Read into an array using file(), then search this array using in_array(), though you have to remember that file() leaves the end of line characters in place.

But the fallacy of this example is that it solves a specific problem: how to find a name given names in a file, where each name is on a different line.
From your original post, your problem is a different one, requiring a different solution.

[Johno_M]

hehe, ok mabye I didnt explain it well again!!!

I am starting to see that this maybe a lost cause, and if so I can find another way around I will :-)

Thank you for your help as well, you are being very patient, once I understand this stuff I do it well, but I have only been doing this for about 3 or 4 days.

contents of text file:

John //his name
[e-mail] //his email address
0 //this would be just a number, like how many posts he has has put up, or times he has logged on

Johns description, lots of things about him are here, etc// a description[COLOR]

thats his text file... called... john.txt

now...... index.php

load information from john.txt

load his name, give him the option to edit his name
load his email, give him the option to edit his email
load his description, give him the option to edit his description

so.... when i say his name is: it looks down, goes to john and loads it :-)