i need to do a very basic task...
read every line in a log file AND if it finds a string im looking for copy that entire LINE to another file then keep moving
essentially i need to make a minilog file from a master one
whats really hanging me up is how you copy the entire line to another file
Well, log files can get pretty big, so I wouldn't be wanting to read the whole thing at once in case memory goes pop, so there's your fgets - and now we be needing your criteria for selecting a line - would a simple [man]strpos[/man] find your line, or do you need some more complex regular expression type thing? Sadly I've got to be going to bed, as the merlot-chlorians are strong in my veins, but if I can help in the morning (afternoon) when I get up I will.
Saluté!
basically.... i need to feed my script an IP address... and wherever it finds that IP address copy that whole line out to a log file of its own
You basically need a loop.
$out_fp = fopen( ... );
$fp = fopen( ... );
while( $line = fgets( $fp ,1000 ) ) {
if( strpos( $line,$ip ) !== FALSE ) {
fwrite( $out_fp , $line )
}
}Something like:
$log = fopen('log_file_name', 'r');
$newLog = fopen('new_log_file_name', 'w');
while(!EOF)
{
$line = fgets($log);
if(strpos($line, $ipAddress) !== false)
{
fputs($newLog, $line);
}
}
fclose($log);
fclose($newLog);
Heh, that one minute it took to look up whether it's strpos(needle, haystack) or strpos(haystack, needle) let Halfabee beat me to it. 
thanks to both...
this did nicely:
<?php
$ip = '';
$out_fp = fopen($ip.'.log','w' );
$fp = fopen('ex080904.log','r');
while( $line = fgets( $fp ,1000 ) ) {
if( strpos( $line,$ip ) !== FALSE )
{
fwrite( $out_fp , $line );
}
}
?>