file_get_contents to read file in PHP

file_get_contents() in PHP to open file to read

file_get_contents return the output of a file as displayed in browser. Here it is

echo file_get_contents(url);

In addition to the URL we can also use addtinal ( optional ) parameters.

include_path, context, start, max_length.

We will use them and develop a sample script

We will keep our function in one main file and try to read another file by sending request. In second file we will keep minimum code to just return a welcome message with name. From our main file we will send the name by using GET method.

Here is a sample code to get output content from a file. While sending the request we will send name variable and try to get the welcome message with the name. We have used localhost for this. You should use your host or path in this code.

$v1=urlencode('Alex John');
$str="https://127.0.0.1/t/file/file_get_contents-demo.php?name=$v1";
echo $str;
echo "<hr>";
echo file_get_contents($str,1,null,0,20);

Here is the second file where we will read the output file_get_contents-demo.php.

<?Php
$v1=$_GET['name']; // collect from url 
$v1=urldecode($v1);
echo "Welcome $v1";
?>

You can change the output by changing the start and max_length optional parameters of the function.

Getting external URL content

This is a security risk to allow file_get_contents(). It can be used to get content from external URL if allow_url_fopen is set to On in php.ini file.

Reading external url by curl

Reading a file by fread()

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