file_put_contents in PHP

file_put_contents is a PHP function that writes a specified string of data to a file. If the concerned file does not exist, it gets created. Conversely, if the file exists, its contents will be overwritten by the specified data. The function is easy to implement and only requires the file name and data to be written as parameters. Additionally, it is possible to write data to a remote file by specifying a URL or modifying the function’s behavior using flags. file_put_contents is a valuable tool for a multitude of purposes, such as storing form data, generating log files, or debugging through the creation of written records.

Start Your Free Software Development Course

Web development, programming languages, Software testing & others

Syntax and Parameters

The syntax and parameters of the file_put_contents function are crucial to its correct usage and behavior. The syntax defines the structure of the function and the required order of the parameters. The parameters themselves allow for the specification of the target file, the data to be written, and options to modify the behavior of the function. A clear understanding of the syntax and parameters of the file_put_contents function is important for accurate and effective usage of the function.

Syntax:

file_put_contents(filename, data, [flags, context]);

Parameters:

Examples

Here an array of data is converted to a JSON string and written to a remote URL using an HTTP POST request. The stream_context_create function is used to create a stream context resource that specifies the HTTP method, header information, and timeout for the request. The file_put_contents function is then used to send the JSON data to the specified URL using the specified context. The function then returns the number of bytes written to the file, or false if there is any error. The response is checked to determine if the data was sent successfully, and a message is displayed accordingly.

Example #1

Code:

<?php
$data = array("name" => "John Doe", "email" => "[email protected]", "phone" => "555-555-1212");
$json = json_encode($data);
$context = stream_context_create(array(
'http' => array(
'method' => 'POST',
'header' => "Content-Type: application/json\r\n".
"Accept: application/json\r\n".
"User-Agent: My PHP Script",
'content' => $json,
'timeout' => 60
)
));
$response = file_put_contents("https://www.example.com/api/create_user", $json, 0, $context);
if ($response === false) {
echo "Error: Could not send data to remote server.";
} else {
echo "Data successfully sent to remote server. Response: $response";
}
?>

Output:

The output in the above example would be a message indicating the success or failure of the data being sent to the remote server. If the data is sent successfully, the output would be:

If an error occurs, the output would be:

Example #2

Code:

<?php
$file = "https://cdn.educba.com/var/www/html/students.txt";
$data = "1, Alice, 23, History, 3.7\n2, Bob, 25, Mathematics, 3.9\n3, Charlie, 22, English, 3.5\n4, Dave, 24, Computer Science, 4.0\n";
// Writing data to the file
file_put_contents($file, $data);
// Check if the file was written successfully
if (file_exists($file)) {
echo "Data was successfully written to the file.";
} else {
echo "An error occurred while writing data to the file.";
}
?>

Output:

The output for the code would depend on the server’s response to the request. If the request was successful, the output would be:

If the request was unsuccessful, the output would be:

Conclusion

file_put_contents is a useful PHP function for writing data to a file. It has several parameters that allow you to control the behavior of the function, such as the file path, data to be written, and the mode in which the file is opened. With the help of the optional stream context, file_put_contents can even write data to remote servers. This function is a simple and efficient way to write data to a file, making it a popular choice among PHP developers.

Recommended Article

In this article, you learned about file_put_contents in PHP. To know more about the topic, you can refer to these articles.

1. PHP 7 MySQL
2. PHP 7 mysql_connect 
3. PHP Timestamp
4. PHP urlencode

The above is the detailed content of file_put_contents in PHP. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!