[RESOLVED] Writing to a file, newline issues across different OS's

mikie46

Im going nuts with this issue and cant work out what the problem is.

I have an application that will run on a CentOS server as well as a FreeBSD server. I really dont want to write different write routines for both server types, not that i think i should. This should work across all server types except on a windows server but since im not deploying this application on a Windows server i wont worry about it.

Here is the issue that has been driving me nuts for about a week.

I have the following routine in my code.

                                $file = file ('/usr/local/app/file.cfg');
                                $new = array_unique($file);
                                $ff = fopen ('/usr/local/app/file.cfg', 'w');
                                foreach ($new as $line)
                                {
                                        if (ereg ('^Test3:=', $line))
                                        {
                                                if ($line1 != yes)
                                                {
                                                        $line = 'Test3:=127.0.0.1';
                                                        $line1 = yes;
                                                }
                                                else
                                                {
                                                        $line = '';
                                                }
                                        }

                                    fwrite ($ff, $line);
                            }

When this completes execution on a CentOS box my resulting file looks like this;

Test1:=
Test2:=
Test3:=127.0.0.1
Test4:=
Test5:=

Which is correct, but if i run the same code on a FreeBSD box the result is as follows;

Test1:=
Test2:=
Test3:=127.0.0.1Test4:=
Test5:=

I have spent about a week trying to work out why this is so. Im at whits end.

I have tried changing the write line to;

fwrite ($ff, $line . "\n");

also tried;

fwrite ($ff, $line . "\r\n"); and fwrite ($ff, $line . '');

But none of these solutions fix the newline issue on a FreeBSD server.

Anyone have any idea why? I'v never had to code any of my application differently across both OS's. The application code works fine on both OS's except when writing to or updating a file. I cant for the life of me work out why the results are different across two platforms on a write.

Thanks

laserlight

This should work:

$line = "test3:=127.0.0.1\n";

Incidentally, you defined a constant named yes? It looks like you want to just use boolean values instead.

mikie46

Will i have to do a if then else routine for Centos vs Freebsd or should this work on both sides? Let me test this and see.

BTW, what happens if this is an array? Could i just plop a \n at the end of it? Im also having this issue when writing arrays.

laserlight

Will i have to do a if then else routine for Centos vs Freebsd or should this work on both sides? Let me test this and see.

This should work for both (and on Windows too, if I am not wrong).

BTW, what happens if this is an array? Could i just plop a \n at the end of it? Im also having this issue when writing arrays.

You have to loop through the array, much like you are looping through the $file array. The reason why you do not need to append a newline for the elements of $file is that file() returns an array of the lines in the file read, but does not strip the newline from each line. This may not be the case on other arrays, of course.

mikie46

laserlight wrote:
This should work:
$line = "test3:=127.0.0.1\n";
Incidentally, you defined a constant named yes? It looks like you want to just use boolean values instead.

That didnt work either, i got

Test3:=127.0.0.1\nTest4:=

Could it be that im using single quotes?

$line = 'test3:=127.0.0.1\n';

laserlight

Could it be that im using single quotes?

That's correct. In this case you should use double quote delimited strings.

mikie46

Thanks a million. That works now. Amazing!!! Im so used to using single quotes. I should get into the habbit of using double quotes when reading and writing to a file i think.

laserlight

I should get into the habbit of using double quotes when reading and writing to a file i think.

No need. You just need to recognise that here double quotes are needed due to the \n escape sequence. Otherwise using single quotes is fine, and may even be better.

mikie46

But i really dont understand why i need double quotes anyway. Because i shouldnt have to proceed \n and "" to the end on a FreeBSD server. It works fine on a CentOS box without \n and "".

laserlight

It works fine on a CentOS box without \n and "".

It should not work fine on the CentOS box. I have no idea why your original code works on CentOS, but it should not, since the logic dictates as such.

mikie46

Thank you. Ill have questions about writing arrays too since im having this problem with those as well. Ill post if i cant resolve it.