Writing text file (\n does not work)

[sparkie624]

I am trying to write a text file using:

$myFile = "users.lst";
$fh = fopen($myFile, 'w');

$stringData = "<$email> $fname $lname \n";
fwrite($fh, $stringData);

Everything works perfectly, except for the fact that instead of going to a new line it is word wrapping and continuing to the next record with a square/rectangular box seperating the records. I am using PHP Version 4.3.10

Thanks in advance for any assistance on this.

Sparkie

[bradgrafelman]

sparkie624 wrote:

I am using PHP Version 4.3.10

Ouch... ever think about upgrading to a version of PHP that's at least supported as far as security patches go? 😉

As for your problem, how are you trying to read the file? Using Notepad in Windows? Either switch to a text editor that isn't silly/ignorant (even Wordpad on Windows is a better alternative), or switch to using proper Windows-style line endings (CRLF, or "\r\n" in a PHP string).

[sparkie624]

It has to be read by my mail server (basic text file). It is reading a MYSQL datafile from our club membership to update a listserv.

the "\r\n" worked perfectly. Thanks a mil.

Sparkie

[bradgrafelman]

Don't forget to mark this thread resolved using the link on the Thread Tools menu.

[sparkie624]

One more issue that came to light, I am trying to copy the file to a network location.

I have tried:
$myFile = "z:\Announce\users.lst";

$myFile = "\192.168.1.109\Announce\users.lst";

and it does not work, however
$myFile = "users.lst";
works fine, Any ideas?

Sparkie

[bradgrafelman]

The backslash has special meaning in PHP - it's an escape character. For every literal backslash you want, you have to escape it (with a backslash). Thus, "z:\Announce" would become "z:\announce".

EDIT: See this page for more information: [man]string[/man].

[sparkie624]

I am not understanding what I am doing wrong for some reason it still does not seem to work, here is my entire code:

<?php 
// open the connection 
$conn = mysql_connect("localhost", "STuser", ""); 
// pick the database to use 
mysql_select_db("rvrc",$conn); 
$y = 1;
// create the SQL statement 
$sql = "SELECT * FROM members WHERE active='Y' AND email <> '' ORDER BY lname, fname";

$myFile = "z:\\users.lst";
$fh = fopen($myFile, 'w');

// execute the SQL statement 
$result = mysql_query($sql, $conn) or die(mysql_error()); 
//go through each row in the result set and display data 
while ($newArray = mysql_fetch_array($result)) { 
// give a name to the fields 
$id = $newArray['id']; 
$fname = $newArray['fname']; 
$lname = $newArray['lname'];
$email = $newArray['email'];

$stringData = "<$email> $fname $lname \r\n";
fwrite($fh, $stringData);

}
fclose($fh);
?>

Thanks in advance.
Sparkie

[bradgrafelman]

Do you have display_errors set to On and error_reporting set to E_ALL ? If so, are there any PHP error messages?

[sparkie624]

bradgrafelman;10952342 wrote:

Do you have display_errors set to On and error_reporting set to E_ALL ? If so, are there any PHP error messages?

I turned on display_errors and the error_reporting was already set. Still getting no errors. Everything goes through like it is supposed to, but does not write the file.

Sparkie

[bradgrafelman]

Perhaps no rows were found? Try adding this just under the line where you define $result:

echo "# of rows matched: " . mysql_num_rows($result) . "<br>\n";

[sparkie624]

It does not work if I use:

$myFile = "z:\users.lst";

But it does work if I use:

$myFile = "users.lst";

Problem is that I have to get the users.lst file over to the Z: drive to where it needs go go. Is there a good way to get it over there? I have been trying "exec(sync.bat);" which works great from a command line?

Sparkie

[bradgrafelman]

It's very possible that PHP doesn't have the appropriate permissions to write to the networked drive. If that was the case, however, you should be getting error messages... provided that error_reporting was set to E_ALL and display_errors set to On.

Otherwise, I can't think of anything that would cause this to fail as soon as you switch to using a networked drive without generating some sort of error message.

[Weedpacket]

Does the user account PHP runs under (probably the same as the server) have access to the share? Has it been mapped for that user?

Can you refer to the shared folder by UNC ("\\computername\path\to\share\users.lst")?

Incidentally, PHP's file functions (such as [man]fopen[/man]) know to reverse forward slashes in file paths when talking to Windows, so that's another way of avoiding having to double up backslashes.

[zstarsales04]

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[sparkie624]

Weedpacket;10952359 wrote:

Does the user account PHP runs under (probably the same as the server) have access to the share? Has it been mapped for that user?

Can you refer to the shared folder by UNC ("\\computername\path\to\share\users.lst")?

Incidentally, PHP's file functions (such as [man]fopen[/man]) know to reverse forward slashes in file paths when talking to Windows, so that's another way of avoiding having to double up backslashes.

That did not work, so I guess I am going to have to dig deeper into what account is actually being used. I had assumed since the server is running under the administrator account and having the drive pathed that it would use the same account where permissions are available. I will have to find what user name that the PHP is using so that I can setup the account on the mail server. Until then, I am just creating the file and have a scheduled batch file to copy it over at the top of the hour. That will be a good temp fix.

Thanks for all the kind help.

Sparkie.

[bradgrafelman]

sparkie624 wrote:

I am going to have to dig deeper into what account is actually being used.

If you're using Windows Server 2k3 or newer, try:

echo `whoami`;

for other Windows variants, try:

echo `echo %USERNAME%`;

sparkie624 wrote:

I had assumed since the server is running under the administrator account and having the drive pathed that it would use the same account where permissions are available.

The server doesn't "run" under any account - it just runs. You might log onto the server as an administrator, but that's just your logon session. Background services have their own set of credentials that they're configured to run as (this can be found in the Services MMC under Administrative Tools... or by typing "services.msc" into the Run box).

sparkie624 wrote:

I will have to find what user name that the PHP is using so that I can setup the account on the mail server.

You could also configure the web service to run as a network domain account, rather than a local account.

One last thing... I know I've said this many times, but I just want to be sure. If you do a phpinfo(), what are the values for 'display_errors' and 'error_reporting' ?

[sparkie624]

Actually I am using Windows 2K advanced server which I have loved for years and has always been bullet proof to me. I will try the command anyway and see what happens.

If you find out anything more, please let me know.

Sparkie