book

Learning PHP 5

Name: Learning PHP 5
Author: David Sklar
ISBN: 9780596005603

by David Sklar

June 2004

Beginner

368 pages

11h 1m

English

O'Reilly Media, Inc.

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Dedication
A Note Regarding Supplemental Files
Preface
Who This Book Is ForContents of This BookOther ResourcesConventions Used in This BookProgramming ConventionsTypographical ConventionsUsing Code ExamplesComments and QuestionsAcknowledgments
1. Orientation and First Steps
1.1. PHP’s Place in the Web World1.2. What’s So Great About PHP?1.2.1. PHP Is Free (as in Money)1.2.2. PHP Is Free (as in Speech)1.2.3. PHP Is Cross-Platform1.2.4. PHP Is Widely Used1.2.5. PHP Hides Its Complexity1.2.6. PHP Is Built for Web Programming1.3. PHP in Action1.4. Basic Rules of PHP Programs1.4.1. Start and End Tags1.4.2. Whitespace and Case-Sensitivity1.4.3. Comments1.5. Chapter Summary
2. Working with Text and Numbers
2.1. Text2.1.1. Defining Text Strings2.1.2. Manipulating Text2.1.2.1. Validating strings2.1.2.2. Formatting text2.2. Numbers2.2.1. Using Different Kinds of Numbers2.2.2. Arithmetic Operators2.3. Variables2.3.1. Operating on Variables2.3.2. Putting Variables Inside Strings2.4. Chapter Summary2.5. Exercises
3. Making Decisions and Repeating Yourself
3.1. Understanding true and false3.2. Making Decisions3.3. Building Complicated Decisions3.4. Repeating Yourself3.5. Chapter Summary3.6. Exercises
4. Working with Arrays
4.1. Array Basics4.1.1. Creating an Array4.1.2. Choosing a Good Array Name4.1.3. Creating a Numeric Array4.1.4. Finding the Size of an Array4.2. Looping Through Arrays4.3. Modifying Arrays4.4. Sorting Arrays4.5. Using Multidimensional Arrays4.6. Chapter Summary4.7. Exercises
5. Functions
5.1. Declaring and Calling Functions5.2. Passing Arguments to Functions5.3. Returning Values from Functions5.4. Understanding Variable Scope5.5. Chapter Summary5.6. Exercises
6. Making Web Forms
6.1. Useful Server Variables6.2. Accessing Form Parameters6.3. Form Processing with Functions6.4. Validating Data6.4.1. Required Elements6.4.2. Numeric or String Elements6.4.3. Number Ranges6.4.4. Email Addresses6.4.5. <select> Menus6.4.6. HTML and JavaScript6.4.7. Beyond Syntax6.5. Displaying Default Values6.6. Putting It All Together6.7. Chapter Summary6.8. Exercises
7. Storing Information with Databases
7.1. Organizing Data in a Database7.2. Connecting to a Database Program7.3. Creating a Table7.4. Putting Data into the Database7.5. Inserting Form Data Safely7.6. Generating Unique IDs7.7. A Complete Data Insertion Form7.8. Retrieving Data from the Database7.9. Changing the Format of Retrieved Rows7.10. Retrieving Form Data Safely7.11. A Complete Data Retrieval Form7.12. MySQL Without PEAR DB7.13. Chapter Summary7.14. Exercises

8. Remembering Users with Cookies and Sessions
8.1. Working with Cookies8.2. Activating Sessions8.3. Storing and Retrieving Information8.4. Configuring Sessions8.5. Login and User Identification8.6. Why setcookie( ) and session_start( ) Want to Be at the Top of the Page8.7. Chapter Summary8.8. Exercises
9. Handling Dates and Times
9.1. Displaying the Date or Time9.2. Parsing a Date or Time9.3. Dates and Times in Forms9.3.1. A Single Menu with One Choice Per Day9.3.2. Multiple Menus for Month, Day, and Year9.3.3. Multiple Menus for Hour and Minute9.3.4. Processing Date and Time <select> Menus9.4. Displaying a Calendar9.5. Chapter Summary9.6. Exercises
10. Working with Files
10.1. Understanding File Permissions10.2. Reading and Writing Entire Files10.2.1. Reading a File10.2.2. Writing a File10.3. Reading and Writing Parts of Files10.4. Working with CSV Files10.5. Inspecting File Permissions10.6. Checking for Errors10.7. Sanitizing Externally Supplied Filenames10.8. Chapter Summary10.9. Exercises
11. Parsing and Generating XML
11.1. Parsing an XML Document11.2. Generating an XML Document11.3. Chapter Summary11.4. Exercises
12. Debugging
12.1. Controlling Where Errors Appear12.2. Fixing Parse Errors12.3. Inspecting Program Data12.4. Fixing Database Errors12.5. Chapter Summary12.6. Exercises
13. What Else Can You Do with PHP?
13.1. Graphics13.2. PDF13.3. Shockwave/Flash13.4. Browser-Specific Code13.5. Sending and Receiving Mail13.6. Uploading Files in Forms13.7. The HTML_QuickForm Form-Handling Framework13.8. Classes and Objects13.8.1. Object Basics13.8.2. Creating a New Object13.8.3. Accessing Properties and Methods13.9. Advanced XML Processing13.10. SQLite13.11. Running Shell Commands13.12. Advanced Math13.13. Encryption13.14. Talking to Other Languages13.15. IMAP, POP3, and NNTP13.16. Command-Line PHP13.17. PHP-GTK13.18. Even More Things You Can Do with PHP
A. Installing and Configuring the PHP Interpreter
A.1. Using PHP with a Web-Hosting ProviderA.2. Installing the PHP InterpreterA.2.1. Installing on WindowsA.2.1.1. Installing PHPA.2.1.2. EasyPHPA.2.2. Installing on Linux and UnixA.2.3. Installing on OS XA.3. Installing PEARA.4. Downloading and Installing PHP’s FriendsA.4.1. Installing ApacheA.4.1.1. Apache on WindowsA.4.1.2. Apache on OS XA.4.1.3. Apache on LinuxA.4.2. MySQLA.5. Modifying PHP Configuration DirectivesA.6. Appendix Summary
B. Regular Expression Basics
B.1. Characters and MetacharactersB.2. QuantifiersB.3. AnchorsB.4. Character ClassesB.5. GreedB.6. PHP’s PCRE FunctionsB.6.1. MatchingB.6.2. ReplacingB.6.3. Array ProcessingB.7. Appendix SummaryB.8. Exercises
C. Answers To Exercises
C.1. Chapter 2C.1.1. Exercise 1:C.1.2. Exercise 2:C.1.3. Exercise 3:C.1.4. Exercise 4:C.1.5. Exercise 5:C.2. Chapter 3C.2.1. Exercise 1:C.2.2. Exercise 2:C.2.3. Exercise 3:C.2.4. Exercise 4:C.3. Chapter 4C.3.1. Exercise 1:C.3.2. Exercise 2:C.3.3. Exercise 3:C.3.4. Exercise 4:C.4. Chapter 5C.4.1. Exercise 1:C.4.2. Exercise 2:C.4.3. Exercise 3:C.4.4. Exercise 4:C.5. Chapter 6C.5.1. Exercise 1:C.5.2. Exercise 2:C.5.3. Exercise 3:C.5.4. Exercise 4:C.5.5. Exercise 5:C.6. Chapter 7C.6.1. Exercise 1:C.6.2. Exercise 2:C.6.3. Exercise 3:C.6.4. Exercise 4:C.7. Chapter 8C.7.1. Exercise 1:C.7.2. Exercise 2:C.7.3. Exercise 3:C.7.4. Exercise 4:C.8. Chapter 9C.8.1. Exercise 1:C.8.2. Exercise 2:C.8.3. Exercise 3:C.8.4. Exercise 4:C.9. Chapter 10C.9.1. Exercise 1:C.9.2. Exercise 2:C.9.3. Exercise 3:C.9.4. Exercise 4:C.9.5. Exercise 5:C.10. Chapter 11C.10.1. Exercise 1:C.10.2. Exercise 2:C.10.3. Exercise 3:C.10.4. Exercise 4:C.11. Chapter 12C.11.1. Exercise 1:C.11.2. Exercise 2:C.11.3. Exercise 3:C.11.4. Exercise 4:C.12. Appendix BC.12.1. Exercise 1:C.12.2. Exercise 2:C.12.3. Exercise 3:C.12.4. Exercise 4:
Index
About the Author
Colophon
Copyright

Content preview from Learning PHP 5

Chapter 10. Working with Files

The data storage destination of choice for a web application is a database. That doesn’t mean that you’re completely off the hook from dealing with regular old files, though. Plain text files are still a handy, universal way to exchange some kinds of information.

You can do some easy customization of your web site by storing HTML templates in text files. When it’s time to generate a specialized page, load the text file, substitute real data for the template elements, and print it. Example 10-1 shows you how to do this.

Files are also good for importing or exporting tabular data between your program and a spreadsheet. In your PHP programs, you can easily read and write the CSV (“comma-separated value”) files with which spreadsheet programs work.

Working with files in PHP also means working with remote web pages. A great thing about file handling in PHP is you can open a remote file on another computer as easily as you can open a file that sits on your web server. Most file-handling functions in PHP understand URLs as well as local filenames. However, for this feature to work, the allow_url_fopen configuration directive must be enabled. It is enabled by default, but if you’re having problems loading a remote file, check this setting.

Understanding File Permissions

To read or write a file with any of the functions you’ll learn about in this chapter, the PHP interpreter must have permission from the operating system to do so. Every program that runs on a computer, ...

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Learning PHP 5

by David Sklar

Chapter 10. Working with Files

Understanding File Permissions

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