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<h1 class="refname">file_get_contents</h1>
<p class="verinfo">(PHP 4 >= 4.3.0, PHP 5)</p><p class="refpurpose"><span class="refname">file_get_contents</span> — <span class="dc-title">Reads entire file into a string</span></p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 description" id="refsect1-function.file-get-contents-description">
<h3 class="title">Description</h3>
<div class="methodsynopsis dc-description">
<span class="type">string</span> <span class="methodname"><strong>file_get_contents</strong></span>
( <span class="methodparam"><span class="type">string</span> <code class="parameter">$filename</code></span>
[, <span class="methodparam"><span class="type">bool</span> <code class="parameter">$use_include_path</code><span class="initializer"> = false</span></span>
[, <span class="methodparam"><span class="type">resource</span> <code class="parameter">$context</code></span>
[, <span class="methodparam"><span class="type">int</span> <code class="parameter">$offset</code><span class="initializer"> = -1</span></span>
[, <span class="methodparam"><span class="type">int</span> <code class="parameter">$maxlen</code></span>
]]]] )</div>
<p class="para rdfs-comment">
This function is similar to <span class="function"><a href="function.file.html" class="function">file()</a></span>, except that
<span class="function"><strong>file_get_contents()</strong></span> returns the file in a
<span class="type"><a href="language.types.string.html" class="type string">string</a></span>, starting at the specified <em><code class="parameter">offset</code></em>
up to <em><code class="parameter">maxlen</code></em> bytes. On failure,
<span class="function"><strong>file_get_contents()</strong></span> will return <strong><code>FALSE</code></strong>.
</p>
<p class="para">
<span class="function"><strong>file_get_contents()</strong></span> is the preferred way to read the
contents of a file into a string. It will use memory mapping techniques if
supported by your OS to enhance performance.
</p>
<blockquote class="note"><p><strong class="note">Note</strong>:
<p class="para">
If you're opening a URI with special characters, such as spaces, you
need to encode the URI with <span class="function"><a href="function.urlencode.html" class="function">urlencode()</a></span>.
</p>
</p></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 parameters" id="refsect1-function.file-get-contents-parameters">
<h3 class="title">Parameters</h3>
<p class="para">
<dl>
<dt>
<span class="term"><em><code class="parameter">filename</code></em></span>
<dd>
<p class="para">
Name of the file to read.
</p>
</dd>
</dt>
<dt>
<span class="term"><em><code class="parameter">use_include_path</code></em></span>
<dd>
<blockquote class="note"><p><strong class="note">Note</strong>:
<p class="para">
As of PHP 5 the <strong><code>FILE_USE_INCLUDE_PATH</code></strong> constant can be used
to trigger <a href="ini.core.html#ini.include-path" class="link">include path</a>
search.
</p>
</p></blockquote>
</dd>
</dt>
<dt>
<span class="term"><em><code class="parameter">context</code></em></span>
<dd>
<p class="para">
A valid context resource created with
<span class="function"><a href="function.stream-context-create.html" class="function">stream_context_create()</a></span>. If you don't need to use a
custom context, you can skip this parameter by <strong><code>NULL</code></strong>.
</p>
</dd>
</dt>
<dt>
<span class="term"><em><code class="parameter">offset</code></em></span>
<dd>
<p class="para">
The offset where the reading starts on the original stream.
</p>
<p class="para">
Seeking (<em><code class="parameter">offset</code></em>) is not supported with remote files.
Attempting to seek on non-local files may work with small offsets, but this
is unpredictable because it works on the buffered stream.
</p>
</dd>
</dt>
<dt>
<span class="term"><em><code class="parameter">maxlen</code></em></span>
<dd>
<p class="para">
Maximum length of data read. The default is to read until end
of file is reached. Note that this parameter is applied to the
stream processed by the filters.
</p>
</dd>
</dt>
</dl>
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 returnvalues" id="refsect1-function.file-get-contents-returnvalues">
<h3 class="title">Return Values</h3>
<p class="para">
The function returns the read data or <strong><code>FALSE</code></strong> on failure.
</p>
<div class="warning"><strong class="warning">Warning</strong><p class="simpara">This function may
return Boolean <strong><code>FALSE</code></strong>, but may also return a non-Boolean value which
evaluates to <strong><code>FALSE</code></strong>. Please read the section on <a href="language.types.boolean.html" class="link">Booleans</a> for more
information. Use <a href="language.operators.comparison.html" class="link">the ===
operator</a> for testing the return value of this
function.</p></div>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 errors" id="refsect1-function.file-get-contents-errors">
<h3 class="title">Errors/Exceptions</h3>
<p class="para">
An <strong><code>E_WARNING</code></strong> level error is generated if <em><code class="parameter">filename</code></em> cannot be found, <em><code class="parameter">maxlength</code></em>
is less than zero, or if seeking to the specified <em><code class="parameter">offset</code></em> in the stream fails.
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 examples" id="refsect1-function.file-get-contents-examples">
<h3 class="title">Examples</h3>
<p class="para">
<div class="example" id="example-2365">
<p><strong>Example #1 Get and output the source of the homepage of a website</strong></p>
<div class="example-contents">
<div class="phpcode"><code><span style="color: #000000">
<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php<br />$homepage </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">file_get_contents</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'http://www.example.com/'</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br />echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$homepage</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>
</span>
</code></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="example" id="example-2366">
<p><strong>Example #2 Searching within the include_path</strong></p>
<div class="example-contents">
<div class="phpcode"><code><span style="color: #000000">
<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php<br /></span><span style="color: #FF8000">// <= PHP 5<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$file </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">file_get_contents</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'./people.txt'</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">true</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /></span><span style="color: #FF8000">// > PHP 5<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$file </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">file_get_contents</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'./people.txt'</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">FILE_USE_INCLUDE_PATH</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>
</span>
</code></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="example" id="example-2367">
<p><strong>Example #3 Reading a section of a file</strong></p>
<div class="example-contents">
<div class="phpcode"><code><span style="color: #000000">
<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php<br /></span><span style="color: #FF8000">// Read 14 characters starting from the 21st character<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$section </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">file_get_contents</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'./people.txt'</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">NULL</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">NULL</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">20</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">14</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">var_dump</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$section</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>
</span>
</code></div>
</div>
<div class="example-contents"><p>The above example will output
something similar to:</p></div>
<div class="example-contents screen">
<div class="cdata"><pre>
string(14) "lle Bjori Ro"
</pre></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="example" id="example-2368">
<p><strong>Example #4 Using stream contexts</strong></p>
<div class="example-contents">
<div class="phpcode"><code><span style="color: #000000">
<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php<br /></span><span style="color: #FF8000">// Create a stream<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$opts </span><span style="color: #007700">= array(<br /> </span><span style="color: #DD0000">'http'</span><span style="color: #007700">=>array(<br /> </span><span style="color: #DD0000">'method'</span><span style="color: #007700">=></span><span style="color: #DD0000">"GET"</span><span style="color: #007700">,<br /> </span><span style="color: #DD0000">'header'</span><span style="color: #007700">=></span><span style="color: #DD0000">"Accept-language: en\r\n" </span><span style="color: #007700">.<br /> </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"Cookie: foo=bar\r\n"<br /> </span><span style="color: #007700">)<br />);<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$context </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">stream_context_create</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$opts</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #FF8000">// Open the file using the HTTP headers set above<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$file </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">file_get_contents</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'http://www.example.com/'</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">false</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$context</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>
</span>
</code></div>
</div>
</div>
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 changelog" id="refsect1-function.file-get-contents-changelog">
<h3 class="title">Changelog</h3>
<p class="para">
<table class="doctable informaltable">
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Version</th>
<th>Description</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody class="tbody">
<tr>
<td>5.1.0</td>
<td>
Added the <em><code class="parameter">offset</code></em> and
<em><code class="parameter">maxlen</code></em> parameters.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>5.0.0</td>
<td>
Added context support.
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 notes" id="refsect1-function.file-get-contents-notes">
<h3 class="title">Notes</h3>
<blockquote class="note"><p><strong class="note">Note</strong>: <span class="simpara">This function is
binary-safe.</span></p></blockquote>
<div class="tip"><strong class="tip">Tip</strong><p class="simpara">A URL can be used as a
filename with this function if the <a href="filesystem.configuration.html#ini.allow-url-fopen" class="link">fopen wrappers</a> have been enabled.
See <span class="function"><a href="function.fopen.html" class="function">fopen()</a></span> for more details on how to specify the
filename. See the <a href="wrappers.html" class="xref">Supported Protocols and Wrappers</a> for links to information
about what abilities the various wrappers have, notes on their usage,
and information on any predefined variables they may
provide.</p></div>
<div class="warning"><strong class="warning">Warning</strong><p class="para">When using SSL, Microsoft IIS
will violate the protocol by closing the connection without sending a
<em>close_notify</em> indicator. PHP will report this as "SSL: Fatal
Protocol Error" when you reach the end of the data. To work around this, the
value of <a href="errorfunc.configuration.html#ini.error-reporting" class="link">error_reporting</a> should be
lowered to a level that does not include warnings.
PHP 4.3.7 and higher can detect buggy IIS server software when you open
the stream using the <em>https://</em> wrapper and will suppress the
warning. When using <span class="function"><a href="function.fsockopen.html" class="function">fsockopen()</a></span> to create an
<em>ssl://</em> socket, the developer is responsible for detecting
and suppressing this warning.</p></div>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 seealso" id="refsect1-function.file-get-contents-seealso">
<h3 class="title">See Also</h3>
<p class="para">
<ul class="simplelist">
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.file.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">file()</a> - Reads entire file into an array</span></li>
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.fgets.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">fgets()</a> - Gets line from file pointer</span></li>
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.fread.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">fread()</a> - Binary-safe file read</span></li>
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.readfile.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">readfile()</a> - Outputs a file</span></li>
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.file-put-contents.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">file_put_contents()</a> - Write a string to a file</span></li>
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.stream-get-contents.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">stream_get_contents()</a> - Reads remainder of a stream into a string</span></li>
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.stream-context-create.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">stream_context_create()</a> - Creates a stream context</span></li>
<li class="member"><a href="reserved.variables.httpresponseheader.html" class="link">$http_response_header</a></li>
</ul>
</p>
</div>
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