PHP+file handling+confused???

[Twey]

Not tested thoroughly enough, obviously How about this?

<?php
define('DATABASE_FILE', 'database_fake.php');
define('SEPARATOR', ',');
define('LINEBREAK', "\n");

define('USERNAME', 0);
define('PASSWORD', 1);
define('EMAIL', 2);
define('COUNTRY', 3);
define('ZIP', 4);

function updateUser() {
  $ret = 0;
  $lines = array_unique(file(DATABASE_FILE));
  $argv = func_get_args();
  $conditions = array();
  $changes = array();
  for($i = 0; $i < count($argv) && $argv[$i] !== SEPARATOR; $i += 2)
    $conditions[$argv[$i]] = $argv[$i + 1];
  for(++$i; $i < count($argv); $i += 2)
    $changes[$argv[$i]] = $argv[$i + 1];
  for($i = 0; $i < count($lines); ++$i) {
    $cline = explode(SEPARATOR, $lines[$i]);
    $changeThisLine = true;
    foreach($conditions as $k => $v)
      if($cline[$k] != $v)
        $changeThisLine = false;
    if(!$changeThisLine) continue;
    foreach($changes as $k => $v)
      $cline[$k] = $v;
    $lines[$i] = implode(SEPARATOR, $cline);
    ++$ret;
  }
  $f = fopen(DATABASE_FILE, 'w');
  fwrite($f, str_replace(LINEBREAK . LINEBREAK, LINEBREAK, implode("\n", $lines)));
  fclose($f);
  return $ret;
}
?>

And by the way if I remove the <?php exit()?> lines then anyone would be able to view the database(sure I could encrypt the password with md5 hash but what about the email addresses??They'd be a great source for spambots).

There are many different ways to accomplish this. For a start, that file is not referenced anywhere that's visible to the user, so it'd have to be one lucky spammer to stumble across the file (especially if you give it a slightly less obvious name).
If that's not enough for you (and it shouldn't be, really) a simple solution is to move the file outside the web root.

[shachi]

Twey, this script has the same problem, it doesn't update the file.

Currently my page looks like this:

<?php
define('DATABASE_FILE', 'database.php');
define('SEPARATOR', ',');
define('LINEBREAK', "\n");

define('USERNAME', 0);
define('PASSWORD', 1);
define('EMAIL', 2);
define('COUNTRY', 3);
define('ZIP', 4);

function updateUser() {
  $ret = 0;
  $lines = array_unique(file(DATABASE_FILE));
  $argv = func_get_args();
  $conditions = array();
  $changes = array();
  for($i = 0; $i < count($argv) && $argv[$i] !== SEPARATOR; $i += 2)
    $conditions[$argv[$i]] = $argv[$i + 1];
  for(++$i; $i < count($argv); $i += 2)
    $changes[$argv[$i]] = $argv[$i + 1];
  for($i = 0; $i < count($lines); ++$i) {
    $cline = explode(SEPARATOR, $lines[$i]);
    $changeThisLine = true;
    foreach($conditions as $k => $v)
      if($cline[$k] != $v)
        $changeThisLine = false;
    if(!$changeThisLine) continue;
    foreach($changes as $k => $v)
      $cline[$k] = $v;
    $lines[$i] = implode(SEPARATOR, $cline);
    ++$ret;
  }
  $f = fopen(DATABASE_FILE, 'w');
  fwrite($f, str_replace(LINEBREAK . LINEBREAK, LINEBREAK, implode("\n", $lines)));
  fclose($f);
  return $ret;
}
updateUser(USERNAME, 'Shachi', COUNTRY, 'nepal', SEPARATOR, COUNTRY, 'Nepal', EMAIL, 'some.new@email-address.com');
?>

and my db file looks like this:

Test,test,test@test.com
testuser,test,test@user.com
Shachi,test,shachibista@gmail.com,nepal

:'(

[Twey]

Aha, seems we had a few extraneous linebreaks hanging around:

<?php
define('DATABASE_FILE', 'database.php');
define('SEPARATOR', ',');
define('LINEBREAK', "\n");

define('USERNAME', 0);
define('PASSWORD', 1);
define('EMAIL', 2);
define('COUNTRY', 3);
define('ZIP', 4);

function updateUser() {
  $ret = 0;
  $lines = array_unique(file(DATABASE_FILE));
  $argv = func_get_args();
  $conditions = array();
  $changes = array();
  for($i = 0; $i < count($argv) && $argv[$i] !== SEPARATOR; $i += 2)
    $conditions[$argv[$i]] = $argv[$i + 1];
  for(++$i; $i < count($argv); $i += 2)
    $changes[$argv[$i]] = $argv[$i + 1];
  for($i = 0; $i < count($lines); ++$i) {
    $cline = explode(SEPARATOR, str_replace(LINEBREAK, '', $lines[$i]));
    if(count($cline) < 2) continue;
    $changeThisLine = true;
    foreach($conditions as $k => $v)
      if($cline[$k] != $v)
        $changeThisLine = false;
    if(!$changeThisLine) continue;
    foreach($changes as $k => $v)
      $cline[$k] = $v;
    $lines[$i] = implode(SEPARATOR, $cline);
    ++$ret;
  }
  $f = fopen(DATABASE_FILE, 'w');
  fwrite($f, str_replace(LINEBREAK . LINEBREAK, LINEBREAK, implode("\n", $lines)));
  fclose($f);
  return $ret;
}
updateUser(USERNAME, 'Shachi', COUNTRY, 'nepal', SEPARATOR, COUNTRY, 'Nepal', EMAIL, 'some.new@email-address.com');
?>

The syntax is, for example:

updateUser(condition_column_1, condition_value_1, condition_column_2, condition_value_2, SEPARATOR, column_1, new_value_1, column_2, new_value_2)

... which would be similar to the SQL:

UPDATE table SET column_1=new_value_1, column_2=new_value_2 WHERE condition_column_1=condition_value_1 AND condition_column_2=condition_value_2;

[shachi]

Twey it does what I want. Can I add more arguements?? like zip, 'somevalue' ??Thanks.

[Twey]

Yes, you can add as many column/value pairs as you like.

[shachi]

Then it works just fine, but I have another question, Can the function have only one arguement instead of two and will it also work fine??

[Twey]

For each column to be checked or altered, it needs two arguments: a column number (provided by the defines) and a value. You should be able to miss out all the arguments on either side of the SEPARATOR without problems, though.

[shachi]

Thank you very much Twey, for all your support and help and time. It worked like a dream.

Thank you again!!!

[Twey]

No problem -- I even learnt a bit in the process.