fread() not starting at top of file.

timstring

I am trying to access a file via readfile() and it's not starting at the beginning of the file. I have this code at the beginning of the file:

 <?php
session_name("PassTech");
session_start();
echo "This is a test";
?>

When I try readfile, it ignores this script. I know, because it doesn't do the echo command.
I have this code inside the target file:

<?php
	echo $_SESSION['FirstName'] . " " . $_SESSION['LastName'];
	echo "<br />";
	echo $_SESSION['System'] . "<br /><br />";
?>

When the page hits this code I get the following results:

  "; echo $_SESSION['System'] . "

  "; ?>

The server is skimming past the <?php command and starting in the middle of the script.

I have an http form action that also accesses the page and it does run the code.

laserlight

I suggest that you view source.

timstring

Pardon me for being an ignoramus. How do I view source?

laserlight

It depends on your browser. Typically, right clicking on the page will show a context menu with such an option. Alternatively, you can do things like enclose the text in <pre> and </pre> HTML tags. However, as I do not actually see a readfile call in your code snippets, I am unable to tell exactly how are you using it.

timstring

I have this code embedded in the sending page:

elseif ($StoredPW==$PostedPW  && $PostedPW != "gigem" && $PostedPW != "" && $TechEntry != "" && $TechNum == $TechEntry)
	{ 
	echo "<h1>" . $_SESSION['FirstName'] . " " . $_SESSION['LastName'] . "<br /> " . $_SESSION['System'] . "</h1>";

	echo readfile("lookupsplash.php");
     }

What gives?
when the script hits the readfile command, it starts reading somewhere in the middle of lookupsplash.php

bradgrafelman

timstring;11014083 wrote:
when the script hits the readfile command, it starts reading somewhere in the middle of lookupsplash.php

No, it doesn't. It outputs exactly what you've written in the "lookupsplash.php" script. However, since PHP's opening tags are similar to an HTML tag, your browser doesn't render the text properly. That's why laserlight was telling you to view the source of the page rather than looking at the rendered mess your browser produces.

Your problem is that [man]readfile/man does not parse the contents of the file for PHP code to be parsed and executed. It simply reads the file and outputs it as-is. For the former to happen, you'd have to use something like [man]include[/man] or [man]require[/man].

laserlight

readfile just reads and output the file. The PHP interpreter is not invoked. You could pass it the name of a file containing the text of a novel, the code of a C++ program, or in this case a PHP script, and you will ne shown what it contains, and that's all.

However, when you call readfile to output to a HTML page, what is output is HTML. So if your file contains:

<div>Hello world!</div>

You will see:

Hello world!

It is not that readfile started reading at "Hello", rather, you didn't see the HTML tags because they are just markup.

Let's consider this file:

<?php
	echo $_SESSION['FirstName'] . " " . $_SESSION['LastName'];
	echo "<br />";
	echo $_SESSION['System'] . "<br /><br />";
?>

You can imagine that your web browser interprets it as a HTML snippet containing an invalid HTML element:

<?php echo $_SESSION['FirstName'] . " " . $_SESSION['LastName']; echo "<br />

After this comes some text:

"; echo $_SESSION['System'] . "

then two HTML elements:

<br /><br />

then more text:

"; ?>

Hence, what you see is:

"; echo $_SESSION['System'] . "

"; ?>

So, it is not the case that readfile "starts reading somewhere in the middle of lookupsplash.php".

Having said all this, I wonder if you even want to use readfile in the first place. Were you perhaps looking to use [man]include[/man] instead?

timstring

The include command did the trick. You, sir, are a genius.