[RESOLVED] File operations

planemaniac

Hi,

So, I'm running OS X (10.4.10) with the original Apache install (1.3.4 I think), and PHP 5.1.4. All I want to do is open & write to a file, here is my code:

<?php
$File = "YourFile.txt";
$Handle = fopen($File, 'w');
$Data = "Jane Doe\n";
fwrite($Handle, $Data);
$Data = "Bilbo Jones\n";
if(fwrite($Handle, $Data)) {
echo "Done";
} else {
echo "Not Done";
}

fclose($Handle);
?>

All I ever get on the page is Not Done, which supposedly indicates in can't write to the file, as it can't open it. I checked in the directory, and there's no YourFile.txt, so I have no idea what's happening. Any ideas?

If suggesting I update my PHP install please tell me how, as Entropy.ch only provides (currently) the version I'm using now.

Thanks,

George.

Kudose

Add in some error reporting.

<?php
error_reporting(E_ALL);
$File = "YourFile.txt";
$Handle = fopen($File, 'w') or die('can\'t open file');
$Data = "Jane Doe\n";
fwrite($Handle, $Data) or die('can\'t write to file');
fclose($Handle);
?>

planemaniac

Hi,

I edited your code, to add the line

ini_set("display_errors", "2");[code=php]

and left the rest the same. I now get this: 

[CODE]Warning: fopen(YourFile.txt) [function.fopen]: failed to open stream: Permission denied in /Library/WebServer/Documents/php/file.php on line 2
can't open file

What's this all about?

Thanks,

George

NogDog

Most likely the directory and/or the file are not writable by the webserver (as PHP scripts are normally executed by a webserver account, not your personal login account). Add a ini_set('display_errors', 1); right before or after the error_reporting() command, and see if that helps get the specific error for you.

More robust coding would be to use [man]is_writable/man to check the directory and file before trying to fopen() it for writing.

planemaniac

Right,

here is my code now:

<?php
ini_set("display_errors", "1");
error_reporting(E_ALL);
$File = "YourFile.txt";
if(is_writable($File)) {
$Handle = fopen($File, 'w') or die('can\'t open file');
$Data = "Jane Doe\n";
fwrite($Handle, $Data) or die('can\'t write to file');
fclose($Handle);
} else {
echo "No";
}
?>

And all it ever gives me is "No". I can't see a difference at all between 'display errors' being 1 or 2, and instead of printing the error now, it just gives me "no".

Would it be something to do with the bundled OS X Apache or anything like that?

Thanks,

George.

Kudose

planemaniac wrote:
Would it be something to do with the bundled OS X Apache or anything like that?

It is probably exactly what NogDog said ... you don't have write access.

planemaniac

I've checked the file permissions on /Library/WebServer/Documents/... and they're all set to Read and Write, so I'm thinking maybe something with httpd.conf or something.

Any ideas?

George.

NogDog

I'm not familiar with OSX, but do the permissions on the directory and file in question give write permission to all users? (In UNIX systems it would be "777" for the directory and at least "666" on the file.)

planemaniac

Well I've had a poke around and the directory is 'owned' by the system and I changed to Group flag to 'everyone', so I would have thought that would have worked, as it SHOULD have changed permissions to 'read & write' for everyone. I also had a look at the file permissions in Terminal, and it says that the file & the directory is read and write, but the number listed by it is only 1.

I'm getting quite confused by all of this, as it was never a problem on a Windows machine.

Thanks,

George.

NogDog

Is there a "world" or "all" flag in addition to the "group" flag? If so, it may need to be set, too, unless you define the file owner and the apache user to be in the same "group". (Caveat: As I said above, I don't know OSX, so the preceding is based on the possibility that it is similar to UNIX user permissions.)

planemaniac

I've fixed it now - changed the file permissions for the folder I was working in by changing the flag 'Others' to read and write. Thanks for all your help guys!