email verification

music_man

[ Just a note that this script originally comes from OpenNewsletter-1.1 ]

I have been trying to set up a script where the user types in their email address in a form and when they click submit it adds their email address and a random number to a temporary file and sends them out a confirmation email with the random number under "id".

When they click on the link it takes them to the confirmation page where it checks the id from the email with the one in the temporary file, if there is a match it submits.

At the moment it saves properly but I can't get it to check properly.

Cheers.

"email.php"



<?php $page="about"; include ("inc/files/header.php");

$_POST["email"] = $email;

$number = rand(1000, 9999);

$email_address = stripslashes($_POST['email']);
$email_id = "$number";

$email_id = md5($email_id);

// tried using crypt but I wondered
// about URLs...

$filename = 'tmp.txt';

$pipe = "|";

$cr = "\n";

$data .= $email_address . $pipe . $email_id . $cr;

$confirm_message = "

\"http://website.com/newslettersubscribe.php?email=$email&action=add&id=$email_id \"";


if($_POST["action"] == "send")

{

$fp = fopen($filename,"a");
if($fp){
    fwrite($fp,$data);    // Write information to the file
    fclose($fp);        // Close the file

}


mail($_POST["email"], Confirmation, $confirm_message, "From: test");

$msg = "A confirmation email has been sent out to you";

}


 ?>
        <!-- content -->
        <div id="content">
            <h3>
				<?php echo "$msg"; ?>

 <form name=add action='test.php' method='POST'>
				 Email: <input class=textField type=text name=email>
				 <input class=button type=submit value=Send>
				 <input type=hidden name=action value=send>

</form>
				<script language=javascript>
					var validator  = new Validator('add');
					validator.addValidation('email','req','Please enter a valid email');
					validator.addValidation('email','email','Please enter a valid email');
				</script>

        </h3>
    </div>
    <!-- // content -->
<?php include ("inc/files/footer.php"); ?>

"suscribe.php"


<?php 

$new_email_address = $_GET['email'];

$new_email_id = $_GET['id'];

// Get list of valid users
$file = file('tmp.txt');

// Process list of existing users into name/pwd arrays
foreach ($file as $line) {
  $user[] = explode("|",$line);
  $user_name[] = trim($user[0]);
  $user_pwd[] = trim($user[1]);
}

$found = false;
foreach($user_name as $key => $user) {
  if($user_name[$key] == $new_email_address) {
    $pwd = md5($new_email_id, $user_pwd[$key]);
    if($user_pwd[$key] == $pwd) {
      $found = true;
      break 3;
    }
  }
} 

// Do user specific action
if($found) {


		$fp = fopen("subscribers.txt", "r");
		$file_text = fread($fp, 999999);
		fclose($fp);

		$subscribers = explode(",",$file_text);
		foreach($subscribers as $subscriber)
		{

			if($subscriber == $_GET["email"])
			{
				$result = 1;
				break;
			}
			else
			{
				$result = 0;
			}
		}

		if($result == 1)
		{
			$msg = "<h3>Sorry, we cannot add you as... you already exist on this list...</h3>";
		}
		else
		{
			$fp = fopen("subscribers.txt", "a+");
			fwrite($fp, $_GET["email"] . ",");
			fclose($fp);
			$msg = "<h3>You have been added to the newsletter. Thanks!</h3>";
		}
	}

else {

die ('no');

}

$page="about"; include ("inc/files/header.php"); ?>
        <!-- content -->
        <div id="content"><?php echo "$msg"; ?></div>
        <!-- // content -->
<?php include ("inc/files/footer.php"); ?>

Any ideas?

Thanks

bpat1434

In subscribe.php:

<?php

$new_email_address = $_GET['email'];
$new_email_id = $_GET['id'];
$found = FALSE;

$file = file_get_contents('tmp.txt');
$lines = explode("\n", $file);

foreach($lines as $line)
{
  $info = explode('|', $line);
  if($info[0] == $new_email_address)
  {
    if($info[1] == $new_email_id)
    {
      $found = TRUE;
      break 3;
    }
  }
}

if($found)
{
  $contents = file_get_contents('subscribers.txt');
  $subscribers = explode(",", $contents);
  if(in_array($new_email_address, $subscribers))
  {
    $result = TRUE;
  }
  else
  {
    $result = FALSE;
  }

  if($result)
  {
    $msg = "<h3>Sorry, we cannot add you as... you already exist on this list...</h3>";
  }
  else
  {
    $fp = fopen("subscribers.txt", "a+");
    fwrite($fp, $_GET["email"] . ",");
    fclose($fp);
    $msg = "<h3>You have been added to the newsletter. Thanks!</h3>";
  }
}
else
{
  die('Not found');
}

$page = 'about';
include ("inc/files/header.php"); 
?>
        <!-- content -->
        <div id="content"><?php echo $msg; ?></div>
        <!-- // content -->
<?php 
include ("inc/files/footer.php"); 
?>

~Brett

music_man

That is fantastic and works! I had to remove the "break: 3" code.

Do you have any idea of how I could then remove that line from tmp.txt when they are subsribed?

Thanks a lot for your quick and accurate reply.

bpat1434

Yes...

Do it while you're looping through:

foreach($lines as $line)
{
  $info = explode('|', $line);
  if($info[0] == $new_email_address)
  {
    if($info[1] == $new_email_id)
    {
      $found = TRUE;
      $user_info = $info;
    }
    else
    {
      $awaiting = implode('|', $info)."\n";
    }
  }
}

Then, just truncate the file to 0 length with the "w" flag in fopen() and write the contents of $awaiting to the file.

~Brett

music_man

I tried it but I am not sure how it works:


foreach($lines as $line)
{
  $info = explode('|', $line);
  if($info[0] == $new_email_address)
  {
    if($info[1] == $new_email_id)
    {
      $found = TRUE;
      $user_info = $info;
    }
    else
    {
      $awaiting = implode('|', $info)."\n";
    }
  }
} 

if(found)
{
  $contents = file_get_contents('subscribers.txt');
  $subscribers = explode(",", $contents);
  if(in_array($new_email_address, $subscribers))
  {
    $result = TRUE;
  }
  else
  {
    $result = FALSE;
  }

  if($result)
  {
    $msg = "<h3>Sorry, we cannot add you as... you already exist on this list...</h3>";
  }
  else
  {
    $fp = fopen("subscribers.txt", "a+");
    fwrite($fp, $_GET["email"] . ",");
    fclose($fp);
    $msg = "<h3>You have been added to the newsletter. Thanks!</h3>";
  }

{

$fp2 = fopen("newsletter/data/subscribers.txt", "w+");
    fwrite($fp2, $awaiting . ",");
    fclose($fp2);
}

}
else
{
  die('Not found');
}

bpat1434

No no no.... tmp.txt needs to be rewritten with $awaiting. Not subscribers.txt. So $fp2 should open and write to "tmp.txt".

Here's how it works:
We read the contents of the file into a variable:

$file = file_get_contents('tmp.txt');

THen we separate each line by exploding the string into an array based upon the string separater of a new line character:

$lines = explode("\n", $file);

Now we loop through each line in our array. We split the line by the pipe, and if the first element is equal to the email address, and if the second item is equal to the id, then we give a value of TRUE. If not, then we just implode (bring strings together from array) separated by our pipe, ending with the new line character.

foreach($lines as $line)
{
  $info = explode('|', $line);
  if($info[0] == $new_email_address)
  {
    if($info[1] == $new_email_id)
    {
      $found = TRUE;
      $user_info = $info;
    }
    else
    {
      $awaiting = implode('|', $info)."\n";
    }
  }
  else
  {
    $awaiting = implode('|', $info)."\n";
  }
}

Now, we just need to write $awaiting to a file:

$fp2 = fopen('tmp.txt', "w");
fwrite($fp2, $awaiting);
chmod('tmp.txt', 0777); // So we can write to it later...
fclose($fp2);

~Brett

music_man

Yes! It works!

Thank you very much for your help!!

music_man

I've come across a problem in my unsubscribe now.

I set it up like the subscribe page with the differences being that if it cannot find the email in subscribers.txt it doesn't allow the confirmation email to be sent. I tried setting == to != to no avail. The other changes are the link in $confirm_message and changing the txt file to tmprmv.txt.


<?php $page="about"; include ("inc/files/header.php");

$_POST["email"] = $email;

$number = rand(1000, 9999);

$email_address = stripslashes($_POST['email']);
$email_id = "$number";

$email_id = md5($email_id);

$filename = 'tmprmv.txt';

$pipe = "|";

$cr = "\n";

$data .= $email_address . $pipe . $email_id . $cr;

$confirm_message = "

http://website.co.nz/newsletterunsubscribe.php?email=$email&action=add&id=$email_id";

if($_POST["action"] == "send")

{



$fp = fopen("subscribers.txt", "r");
			$file_text = fread($fp, 999999);
			fclose($fp);

		$subscribers = explode(",",$file_text);
		foreach($subscribers as $subscriber)
		{
			if($subscriber != $email)

// Should that be $_POST["email"] ?
				{


die("<div id=\"content\"><h3><b>Sorry</b> we cannot find your email on the list</h3></div>");


			} 

			else {


$fp = fopen($filename,"a");
if($fp){
    fwrite($fp,$data);    // Write information to the file
    fclose($fp);        // Close the file


}
}
}
$headers  = 'MIME-Version: 1.0' . "\r\n";
$headers .= 'Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1' . "\r\n";
$headers .= 'From: email' . "\r\n";

mail($_POST["email"], Confirmation, $confirm_message, $headers);

$msg = "A confirmation email has been sent out to you";

}

?>
        <!-- content -->
        <div id="content">
            <h3>
				<?php echo "$msg"; ?>
<?php 
if($_POST["action"] != "send") { ?>

 <form name=add action='test_unsubscribe.php' method='POST'>
				 Email: <input class=textField type=text name=email>
				 <input class=button type=submit value=Send>
				 <input type=hidden name=action value=send>

</form>
				<script language=javascript>
					var validator  = new Validator('add');
					validator.addValidation('email','req','Please enter a valid email');
					validator.addValidation('email','email','Please enter a valid email');
				</script>
<?php } ?>
            </h3>
        </div>
        <!-- // content -->
<?php include ("inc/files/footer.php"); ?>

bpat1434

Try switching this line around:

$_POST["email"] = $email;

Why are you setting a post variable? Most likely you should be setting the $email variable...

$email = $_POST['email']

~Brett

music_man

The unsubscribe form (not process) page looks up to see if the user is on the subscription list and if the user isn't then it says that it cannot find their email. Otherwise it sends out an email with unsubscribe details.

The problem is that it says that they are not subscribed even when they are. I tried using if($subscriber != $email) - I changed that post thing at the top. It still does not go.

<?php $page="about"; include ("inc/files/header.php");


#####################
#
# Newsletter unsubscribe
#
#####################


$email = $_POST["email"];

$number = rand(1000, 9999);

$email_address = stripslashes($_POST['email']);
$email_id = "$number";

$email_id = md5($email_id);

$filename = 'tmprmv.txt';

$pipe = "|";

$cr = "\n";

$data .= $email_address . $pipe . $email_id . $cr;

$confirm_message = "

http://website/newslettersubscribe_process.php?email=$email&action=add&id=$email_id 
";


if($_POST["action"] == "send")

{


$fp2 = fopen("subscribers.txt", "r");
			$file_text = fread($fp2, 999999);
			fclose($fp2);

		$subscribers = explode(",",$file_text);
		foreach($subscribers as $subscriber)
		{
			if($email != $subscriber)
			{
				die("<div id=\"content\"><h3><b>Sorry</b> we cannot find you on the mailiing list.</h3></div>");
			}
			else
			{



$fp = fopen($filename,"a");
if($fp){
    fwrite($fp,$data);    // Write information to the file
    fclose($fp);        // Close the file

}
  }
}

$headers  = 'MIME-Version: 1.0' . "\r\n";
$headers .= 'Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1' . "\r\n";
$headers .= 'From: email' . "\r\n";

mail($_POST["email"], Confirmation, $confirm_message, $headers);

$msg = "A confirmation email has been sent out to you";

}


 ?>
        <!-- content -->


<?php 
if($_POST["action"] != "send") { ?>

<div style="border: 1px solid #ccc; background-color: #eee; padding: 5px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: .8em;"><h3>
<b>Remove yourself from mailing list</b></h3>
<br />
 <form name=add action='newsletterunsubscribe.php' method='POST'>
				 Email address: <input class=textField type=text name=email>
				 <input class=button type=submit value=Send>
				 <input type=hidden name=action value=send>

</form>
				<script language=javascript>
					var validator  = new Validator('add');
					validator.addValidation('email','req','Please enter a valid email');
					validator.addValidation('email','email','Please enter a valid email');
				</script>
</div>
<?php } else { ?>

<div style="border: 1px solid #ccc; background-color: #eee; padding: 5px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: .8em;"><h3><?php echo "$msg"; ?></h3>
</div>

<?php } ?>

    <!-- // content -->
<?php include ("inc/files/footer.php"); ?>

bpat1434

Read your logic outloud for a second (forget about any errors you may be seeing):

Explode my subscription file by the comma character into the array "subscribers". For Each of the values in the subscribers array if the submitted email is not the same as the current subscriber, echo an error message. Otherwise, write the name into the temporary text file.

Hmm.... How about you do it this way:
If the user isn't found, just add them to an array, then continue to go through the subscriptiosn array. What you're doing now is killing the script with the die() if $email doesn't equal the first subscription email...

<?php
$page="about";
include ("inc/files/header.php");

#####################
#
# Newsletter unsubscribe
#
#####################
$old_subs = array(); // Will hold all of our old subscribers

$email = $_POST["email"];
$number = rand(1000, 9999);

$email_address = stripslashes($_POST['email']);
$email_id = md5($number);

$filename = 'tmprmv.txt';
$pipe = "|";
$cr = "\n";

//$data .= $email_address . $pipe . $email_id . $cr;

$confirm_message = "http://website/newslettersubscribe_process.php?email=$email&action=add&id=$email_id ";


if($_POST["action"] == "send")
{
		$fp = fopen("subscribers.txt", "r");
		$file_text = fread($fp, 999999);
		fclose($fp);

	$subscribers = explode(",",$file_text);
	foreach($subscribers as $subscriber)
	{
			if($email != $subscriber)
			{
					// This email address is not what we're searching for.
					// Don't delete this address, add it to old_subs:
					array_push($old_subs, $subscriber);
			}
			else
			{
					// We've found our removal address.  Let's write the text file
					// for the temporary remove, and continue through the rest of
					// the subscriptions.txt file to get the rest of the old_subs
					// populated
					echo 'We are removing you from our list';
					$fp2 = fopen($filename,"a");
					if($fp2){
							fwrite($fp2, $data);    // Write information to the file
							fclose($fp2);        // Close the file
					}
			}
	}

	/**
	 *	Rewrite Subscriptions.txt
	 *
	 *		Take all non-unsubscribing users and rewrite the subscribers.txt file with their
	 *		email addresses.  Will be separated by a comma like before.
	 */
	$rewrite_text = implode(',', $old_subs);
	$fp3 = fopen("subscribers.txt", "w");
	fwrite($fp3, $rewrite_text);
	fclose($fp3);

	$headers  = 'MIME-Version: 1.0' . "\r\n";
	$headers .= 'Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1' . "\r\n";
	$headers .= 'From: email' . "\r\n";

	mail($_POST["email"], Confirmation, $confirm_message, $headers);
	$msg .= "A confirmation email has been sent out to you";
	?>
<div style="border: 1px solid #ccc; background-color: #eee; padding: 5px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: .8em;"><h3><?php echo $msg; ?></h3>
</div>
		<?php
}
?>
<!-- content -->
<?php 
else($_POST["action"] != "send")
{
?>
<div style="border: 1px solid #ccc; background-color: #eee; padding: 5px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: .8em;"><h3>
<b>Remove yourself from mailing list</b></h3>
<br />
 <form name=add action='newsletterunsubscribe.php' method='POST'>
				 Email address: <input class=textField type=text name=email>
				 <input class=button type=submit value=Send>
				 <input type=hidden name=action value=send>

</form>
				<script language=javascript>
					var validator  = new Validator('add');
					validator.addValidation('email','req','Please enter a valid email');
					validator.addValidation('email','email','Please enter a valid email');
				</script>
</div>
<?php
}
?>
<!-- // content -->
<?php
include ("inc/files/footer.php");
?>

~Brett

music_man

The code above appears to remove the email address before confirmation. I had planned to have it so that the suer has to confirm that they would like to be removed from the mailiing list via a link on the confirming email.

When they click the link it takes them to the unsubscribe_process page where it happens. I don't think this code checks whether they are on the mailiing list or not (I am still not sure if that is necessary).

Here is the code

<?php
$page="about";
include ("inc/files/header.php");

#####################
#
# Newsletter unsubscribe
#
#####################
$old_subs = array(); // Will hold all of our old subscribers

$email = $_POST["email"];
$number = rand(1000, 9999);

$email_address = stripslashes($_POST['email']);
$email_id = md5($number);

$filename = 'tmprmv.txt';
$pipe = "|";
$cr = "\n";

//$data .= $email_address . $pipe . $email_id . $cr;

$confirm_message = "http://website/newsletterunsubscribe_process.php?email=$email&action=add&id=$email_id ";


if($_POST["action"] == "send")
{
               $fp = fopen("subscribers.txt", "r");
               $file_text = fread($fp, 999999);
               fclose($fp);

           $subscribers = explode(",",$file_text);
           foreach($subscribers as $subscriber)
           {
                           if($email != $subscriber)
                           {
                                           // This email address is not what we're searching for.
                                           // Don't delete this address, add it to old_subs:
                                           array_push($old_subs, $subscriber);
                           }
                           else
                           {
                                           // We've found our removal address.  Let's write the text file
                                           // for the temporary remove, and continue through the rest of
                                           // the subscriptions.txt file to get the rest of the old_subs
                                           // populated
                                           echo 'We are removing you from our list';
                                           $fp2 = fopen($filename,"a");
                                           if($fp2){
                                                           fwrite($fp2, $data);    // Write information to the file
                                                           fclose($fp2);        // Close the file
                                           }
                           }
           }

           /**
            *      Rewrite Subscriptions.txt
            *
            *              Take all non-unsubscribing users and rewrite the subscribers.txt file with their
            *              email addresses.  Will be separated by a comma like before.
            */
           $rewrite_text = implode(',', $old_subs);
           $fp3 = fopen("subscribers.txt", "w");
           fwrite($fp3, $rewrite_text);
           fclose($fp3);

           $headers  = 'MIME-Version: 1.0' . "\r\n";
           $headers .= 'Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1' . "\r\n";
           $headers .= 'From: email' . "\r\n";

           mail($_POST["email"], Confirmation, $confirm_message, $headers);
           $msg .= "A confirmation email has been sent out to you";
}


 ?>
<!-- content -->
<?php
if($_POST["action"] != "send")
{
?>
<div style="border: 1px solid #ccc; background-color: #eee; padding: 5px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: .8em;"><h3>
<b>Remove yourself from mailing list</b></h3>
<br />
 <form name=add action='newsletterunsubscribe.php' method='POST'>
                                Email address: <input class=textField type=text name=email>
                                <input class=button type=submit value=Send>
                                <input type=hidden name=action value=send>

</form>
                               <script language=javascript>
                                       var validator  = new Validator('add');
                                       validator.addValidation('email','req','Please enter a valid email');
                                       validator.addValidation('email','email','Please enter a valid email');
                               </script>
</div>
<?php
}
else
{
?>

<div style="border: 1px solid #ccc; background-color: #eee; padding: 5px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: .8em;"><h3><?php echo $msg; ?></h3>
</div>

<?php
}
?>
<!-- // content -->
<?php
include ("inc/files/footer.php");
?>

bpat1434

Well, what my code does is:
User requested to be removed.
Itterate through subscriptions.txt searching for email address
If found:
[indent]Remove that email from subscriptions.txt
Move it to tmprmv.txt[/indent]
If not found:
[indent]Remove no-names from subscriptions.txt[/indent]
Rewrite subscriptions.txt with updated list of names that did not ask to be unsubscribed
Add to tmprmv.txt with email and conf# of user who wanted to be removed.

Make sense? Then when they confirm their removal, you're checking & updating 1 file, not two...

~Brett

music_man

What if someone types in the user's email address without the user's consent? The email would then be off the list and put on a temporary deletion one (tmprmv.txt) .

The reason why I had the confirmation thing was that if someone typed in the user's email without the user's consent then the user would not be taken off the list. Having it add it to the tmprmv.txt file and keeping it on the subscribers.txt file would make sense for this reason.

I think the code above bypasses the confirmation idea. That they are already deleted in effect and all they are doing is removing their name from the tmmrmv.txt file with the confirmation email.

The unsubscribe_process file would just delete their name from the tmprmv.txt file I presume.

bpat1434

No, the code does not bypass it. It actually works like 99% of all other unsubscribes do.

Someone inputs the email address that isn't theirs. The script then moves their name to the unsubscribe list. An email is sent out saying:

You've tenatively been unsubscribed. To confirm this action, click this link (link to unsubscribe).

If this email has been sent in error, please click this link (link to re-subscribe) to be added back into our list.

Then, if they are unknowingly unsubscribed, they can click the link to "re-subscribe" or take their name off of the tmprmv list and put it back on subscribers.

However you want to do it is up to you. But that was an alternative.

~Brett

music_man

I will do the system you suggest. The problem now is that my "unsubscribe_process.php" file is all wrong. I had set it like the newsletter subscribe page and now it has to change drastically to accomodate this new system.

I tried changing the subscriptions bit and instead use only the tmprmv.txt file because that makes sense. Only it doesn't work now. I think the page opens the tmprmv.txt file and looks at it. If it finds the email from the confirmation URL that matches then it deletes the entry from the tmprmv.txt file, if not then it comes up with an error.

<?php


#######################
#                                               #
# Newsletter unsubscribe process #
#                                               #
#######################

$new_email_address = $_GET['email'];
$new_email_id = $_GET['id'];
$found = FALSE;

$file = file_get_contents('newsletter/data/tmprmv.txt');
$lines = explode("\n", $file);

foreach($lines as $line)
{
  $info = explode('|', $line);
  if($info[0] == $new_email_address)
  {
    if($info[1] == $new_email_id)
    {
      $found = TRUE;
      $user_info = $info;
    }
}

}

if($found)
{

 $fp2 = fopen('tmprmv.txt', "w");
fwrite($fp2, $info[1]);
fclose($fp2); 
    $msg = "<h3><b>You</b> have been comfirmed your removal from the newsletter. Sorry to see you go!</h3>";


}
else
{
  die('<b>I am sorry<b>, but you cannot be removed from the list for some reason. Please try again or take it up with the <a href=\"mailto:williamparry.com?subject=Unsubscribe help\">webmaster</a>.');
}

$page = 'about';
include ("inc/files/header.php");
?>
        <!-- content -->
        <div id="content"><?php echo $msg; ?></div>
        <!-- // content -->
<?php
include ("inc/files/footer.php");
?>

This code only shows up errors.

music_man

I am not sure how to do this. Should I try in another forum?

bpat1434

No, this is the right forum. But you've got me confused. You want a system that has 3 files: subscribers.txt, tmp.txt and tmprmv.txt. Then, when you to add the name and confirmation number to tmp.txt and tmprmv.txt depending upon whether the action is Subscribe or Unsubscribe respectively. Then an email is sent with a(n) (un)subscribe link for the user to follow. The link contains a randomly generated code. You check the codes with the email in the tmp(rmv).txt file. If they match: (un)subscribe that person. If not, display an error.

I'm at work right now, but I'd be more than happy to help you write it all out.... just need some time.

~Brett

music_man

Cheers!

I have the subscription thing all sorted out thanks to you. It's the unsubscribe where I have hit a hurdle.

This is the process for subscribing at the moment.

User types in email on newsletter.php
When they push submit, newsletter.php generates a random id and stores their email under tmp.txt as: email|g978ygjfdg (for example)

(I had hoped to have a checker to see whether the email was already in the tmp.txt. At the moment it only checks the subscribers.txt file)

They recieve an email with the id in the link. E.g. website.com/newsletter_subsribe.php?email=email&action=add&id=g978ygjfdg
When they click that link it takes them to newsletter_subscribe.php and that file checks to see if that email exists with the corresponding id in tmp.txt (this is to stop people from copy and pasting in the URL for adding their email).

If a match is found then it removes that entry from tmp.txt and adds the email only to subscribers.txt.

bpat1434

Okay, so what are your ideas for the unsubscribe? Here's mine:

User types in email for unsubscribe
When form is submitted: PHP generates a random id and stores email & code in tmprmv.txt as email|g987ygjfdg
user receives email with confirmation link. E.g. website.com/newsletter_subscribe.php?email=email&action=remove&id=g987ygjfdg
When they click that link, takes them to newsletter_subscribe.php. That checks to see if they're actually in tmprmv.txt.
- If they're in tmprmv.txt:
  [indent] Remove that line in tmprmv.txt & their email in subscriptions.txt[/indent]
- If they're not in tmprmv.txt:
  [indent] Don't remove anything. Give them feedback telling them what to do/where to go[/indent]

Sound good?

<?php
if($_GET['action'] == 'remove')
{
	$found = $removed = FALSE; // Set defaults for $found & $removed vars
	$keep = array(); // What email addresses we're keeping

$unsubs = explode("\n", file_get_contents('tmprmv.txt')); // Get email|id pairs into array

$email = $_GET['email'];
$id = $_GET['id'];

foreach($unsubs as $u)
{
	// Set up the ability to keep them in the tmprmv.txt file
	array_push($keep, $u);

	list($e, $i) = explode('|', $u);
	if($e == $email)
	{
		$found = TRUE:
		// Email address found: verify IDs
		// Write to the $keep array:
		if($i == $id)
		{
			// Remove them from tmprmv.txt
			array_pop($keep); // Remove them from the $keep array...
			$removed = TRUE;
		}
		else
		{
			$removed = FALSE;
		}
	}
}

if($found)
{
	if($removed)
	{
		// We've found & removed the email address that is to be unsubscribed.  We're okay to write the new
		// text files.

		// Truncate and write to tmprmv.txt
		$unsubs = implode("\n", $keep);  // Implode array elements into string so each gets its own line
		$fp = fopen('tmprmv.txt', "w");
		fwrite($fp, $keep);
		fclose($fp);

		// Now, following same guidelines as above, remove email from subscribers.txt
		$keep = array(); // Empty the array
		$subs = explode('|', file_get_contents('subscriptions.txt'));
		foreach($subs as $sub)
		{
			array_push($keep, $sub);
			if($sub == $email)
			{
				array_pop($keep);
			}
		}
		$subs = implode('|', $sub);
		$fp = fopen('subscriptions.txt', "w");
		fwrite($fp, $subs);
		fclose($fp);

		echo 'You have been removed from our email list.  You should not receive any more emails from us.  Please allow 48 hours for the update to take effect.  Thank you.';
	}
	else
	{
		echo 'Your email was found but not removed from our list.  Please contact support to have it removed manually.';
	}
}
else
{
	echo 'Your email address was not found.  Please check the address and make sure it is exactly as shown in your email.';
}
}	
?>

~Brett