how to read a web page content into a file in php

prasannaforu

hi folks,
i want to store(read) the contents of a "web page" into a file. how can i do it in PHP. Please help me. The web page contains a table. i want to fetch & store the contents of that table into a file.
thanks in advance...
Prasanna

halojoy

Hello prasannaforu

I think you can read html source code directly from URL into a fwrite()
If page is your own, at your website,
I think you can use outbuffer and make a copy contents
and save it to file.
But I am not good enough to tell you details.
What functions / code to use.

Installer

If your server has fopen wrappers enabled, you can use file_get_contents(). If not, you can use curl functions if curl is enabled.

prasannaforu

hi haloj.. & installer,
i dont need source code.just i want the web page contents to be stored in a file. exactly which function i have to use?

Installer

Well, combining halojoy's answer with mine, you'd end up with something like this:

$fp = fopen($local_file, 'w');
fwrite($fp, file_get_contents($remote_file));
fclose($fp);

Edit: Wait. I see now that this doesn't answer your question. Hang on.

Installer

Use curl to retrieve the output of the remote file into a string. Then, using string functions or regular expressions, parse out the contents of the table.

Installer

You said, in your first post:

i want to fetch & store the contents of that table into a file.

The code below will get the output of a remote page, parse out the table, and store the table in a local file:

$remote_url = 'http://example.com/page.php';
$local_file = 'whatever.txt';

$ch = curl_init($remote_url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, 0);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
$str = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);

$table_start = strpos($str, '<table>');
$table_end = strpos($str, '</table>') + strlen('</table>');
$table_len = $table_end - $table_start;
$table = substr($str, $table_start, $table_len);

$fp = fopen($local_file, 'w');
fwrite($fp, $table);
fclose($fp);

This assumes that the table you want is the only or first one on the page and that there are no other complicating factors. Otherwise you'll have to do some more serious parsing.

Edit: I didn't notice that you cross-posted this. If I had I wouldn't have replied.

halojoy

Yes, that is probably a good (best) solution.
And very easy, too.
Will work, if you compile and install PHP --with curl--
See curl manual link above in Installer reply.

halojoy

Originally posted by prasannaforu
hi folks,
i want to store(read) the contents of a "web page" into a file. how can i do it in PHP. Please help me. The web page contains a table. i want to fetch & store the contents of that table into a file.
thanks in advance...
Prasanna

Here is a nice and simple way to create a file copy of a webpage!
I have tested this code, and it works.
Enjoy!

<?php // CREATE and SAVE A FILE index.html

// turn on ob, output buffer
ob_start();

// perform any html/php code that creates a page
// normally being displayed,
// but now only stored in ob, output buffer
?>
<html><head>
<title>INDEX</title>
</head>
<body>
<?php
echo 'Welcome to my index page';
echo '</body></html>';

// save as: 'files/index.html'
   $page = ob_get_contents();
   ob_end_clean();
   $cwd = getcwd();
   $file = "$cwd" .'/files/'. "index.html";
   @chmod($file,0755);
   $fw = fopen($file, "w");
   fputs($fw,$page, strlen($page));
   fclose($fw);
   die();

?>

This code is my modified version of a contribution in http://www.php.net/ob-start

/halojoy - loved this one
🙂