How to Generate and Download CSV Files from PHP Scripts?

Generating and Downloading CSV Files from PHP Scripts

Creating and providing download options for CSV files from PHP scripts can be a useful feature for data management applications. This article aims to provide a comprehensive guide for novice programmers on how to achieve this.

Creating the CSV File

To create a CSV file from a PHP array, you can use the fputcsv() function. This function takes two arguments: an open file handle and an array. It writes the elements of the array as comma-separated values to the file.

The following code demonstrates how to create a CSV file from an example array:

$f = fopen("tmp.csv", "w");
foreach ($array as $line) {
    fputcsv($f, $line);
}
fclose($f);

Providing the Download Option

To allow users to download the CSV file, you need to send the appropriate HTTP headers. Specifically, you need to set the Content-Disposition header to 'attachment' and specify the filename using the 'filename' parameter.

The following code shows how to set the HTTP headers:

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

Combining Creation and Download

Combining the steps of creating and providing the download option, you can use the following function:

function array_to_csv_download($array, $filename = "export.csv", $delimiter=";") {
    header('Content-Type: text/csv');
    header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="' . $filename . '"');

    $f = fopen('php://memory', 'w');
    foreach ($array as $line) {
        fputcsv($f, $line, $delimiter);
    }
    fseek($f, 0);
    fpassthru($f);
}

This function takes the array, filename, and delimiter as parameters and generates the CSV file. It then sets the appropriate HTTP headers and streams the CSV file to the user's browser, prompting them to download it.

Conclusion

You can now easily create CSV files from PHP arrays and provide download options for users. This can simplify data sharing and enable various data management tasks from PHP scripts.

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