How to Download a CSV File from a PHP Script?

How to Generate and Download CSV Files from PHP Scripts: A Comprehensive Guide

Introduction

Creating and downloading CSV (Comma-Separated Values) files is often necessary for data exchange and analysis. In PHP, this task can be accomplished through several methods. This guide will provide a thorough walkthrough on how to achieve this, even for novice programmers.

Creating the CSV String

To create a CSV string from an array, each element must be converted into a comma-separated value. This can be achieved using the fputcsv() function:

$output = fopen("php://temp", "w");
foreach ($array as $line) {
    fputcsv($output, $line);
}
fseek($output, 0);

Sending HTTP Headers

To prompt the browser to save the CSV file instead of displaying it, we need to send specific HTTP headers:

header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="filename.csv"');
header('Content-Type: text/csv');

Generating and Downloading the CSV File

Combining the above steps, we can create a function to generate and download CSV files:

function downloadCsv(array $array, string $filename): void
{
    // Create the CSV string
    $output = fopen("php://temp", "w");
    foreach ($array as $line) {
        fputcsv($output, $line);
    }
    fseek($output, 0);
    
    // Send HTTP headers
    header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="' . $filename . '"');
    header('Content-Type: text/csv');
    
    // Send the CSV file
    fpassthru($output);
}

You can use this function to download CSV files with the following code:

$array = [
    ['id', 'name', 'email'],
    ['1', 'John', 'john@example.com'],
    ['2', 'Jane', 'jane@example.com']
];
downloadCsv($array, 'contacts.csv');

Alternative Method

Instead of using php://temp, you can directly write to the output buffer:

function downloadCsv2(array $array, string $filename): void
{
    header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="' . $filename . '"');
    header('Content-Type: text/csv');
    
    $f = fopen('php://output', 'w');
    foreach ($array as $line) {
        fputcsv($f, $line);
    }
}

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