HTML5 and CSS3 All-in-One For Dummies, 3rd Edition

Chapter 6

Working with Files and Directories

In This Chapter

Saving to text files

Reading from text files

Reading a file as an array

Parsing delimited text data

Working with file and directory functions

An important part of any programming language is file manipulations. Whether you need to create a comma-separated value (CSV) file or generate a dynamic list of files in a directory, or just need a semi-permanent place to log records on the server, file manipulation functions are an indispensable part of your PHP toolbox.

Text File Manipulation

Work with text files is split into two basic categories: writing and reading. Writing and reading come down to six basic functions. See the following bullet list for a brief explanation of the six basic file functions. Each function has an entire subsection in the following “Writing text to files” and “Reading from the file” sections:

• fopen(): Stores a connection to a file you specify in a variable you specify
• fwrite(): Writes text you specify ...