Is it possible to edit a text file via PHP?

[rctxtreme]

I think it is, because I use SMF and when you edit its settings, /settings.php gets changed.

But how do you do this?

[thetestingsite]

You would want to use the file system functions in PHP. fopen, fread, fwrite, file_get_contents, and some other ones that you can see for yourself on their website (PHP.net).

A simple example of how to write to a text file:

<?php
$filename = 'test.txt';
$string = "This is some text that will be written to the test file!";

$fp = fopen($filename, 'w');
fwrite($fp, $string);
fclose($fp);
?>

Hope this helps.

[mburt]

In the fopen call, doesn't the handle have to be a string?

$fp = fopen($filename, "w");

[thetestingsite]

Ah yes, typing fast and missed my quotes; although, this will probably still work. Anyways, thanks for pointing that out Mike.

[Twey]

It will still work without quotes (unless there's a define with the name w) but it shouldn't be relied upon, because it requires error-correction to work and would conflict with the aforementioned define if it were introduced.

[motormichael12]

i have a script on my home computer that makes a text box containing the text file, you can edit it and click save and it makes the whole file look like the text box did.... i will post it later

[mburt]

I think the issue is simply writing to a text file, not the whole she-bang.
thetestingsite has explained what to do, anyways.

[motormichael12]

<?php
  if ($changefile) {
$slash = stripslashes($_POST['filetest']);
$filetochange = "http://site.com/file.txt";
$filetochangeOpen = fopen($filetochange,"w") or die ("Error editing.");
fputs($filetochangeOpen,$slash);
fclose($filetochangeOpen) or die ("Error Closing File!");
}
?>
 	<form method=post action="">
	
<textarea rows="40" cols="60" name="filetest">
<?
// Implode CSS
$filetochange = "http://site.com/file.txt";
print (implode("",file($filetochange)));
?>
</textarea><br />

                <br />
	<input type="submit" value="Change File" name="changefile">
	</form>

[Znupi]

1. You should use implode("\r\n", $filetochange);
2. You can dump the whole print(implode("\r\n", $filetochange)); for print(file_get_contents($filetochange));

[Twey]

1. You should use implode("\r\n", $filetochange);

You probably mean implode("\r\n", file($filetochange)), but the \r\n is only for Windows: UNIX-based operating systems use just \n, and the old Mac-based operating systems (pre OS X) use just \r.

2. You can dump the whole print(implode("\r\n", $filetochange)); for print(file_get_contents($filetochange));

Only in PHP 4.3.0 and later.