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<h1 class="refname">file_put_contents</h1>
<p class="verinfo">(PHP 5)</p><p class="refpurpose"><span class="refname">file_put_contents</span> — <span class="dc-title">Write a string to a file</span></p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 description" id="refsect1-function.file-put-contents-description">
<h3 class="title">Description</h3>
<div class="methodsynopsis dc-description">
<span class="type">int</span> <span class="methodname"><strong>file_put_contents</strong></span>
( <span class="methodparam"><span class="type">string</span> <code class="parameter">$filename</code></span>
, <span class="methodparam"><span class="type"><a href="language.pseudo-types.html#language.types.mixed" class="type mixed">mixed</a></span> <code class="parameter">$data</code></span>
[, <span class="methodparam"><span class="type">int</span> <code class="parameter">$flags</code><span class="initializer"> = 0</span></span>
[, <span class="methodparam"><span class="type">resource</span> <code class="parameter">$context</code></span>
]] )</div>
<p class="para rdfs-comment">
This function is identical to calling <span class="function"><a href="function.fopen.html" class="function">fopen()</a></span>,
<span class="function"><a href="function.fwrite.html" class="function">fwrite()</a></span> and <span class="function"><a href="function.fclose.html" class="function">fclose()</a></span> successively
to write data to a file.
</p>
<p class="para">
If <em><code class="parameter">filename</code></em> does not exist, the file is created.
Otherwise, the existing file is overwritten, unless the
<strong><code>FILE_APPEND</code></strong> flag is set.
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 parameters" id="refsect1-function.file-put-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">
Path to the file where to write the data.
</p>
</dd>
</dt>
<dt>
<span class="term"><em><code class="parameter">data</code></em></span>
<dd>
<p class="para">
The data to write. Can be either a <span class="type"><a href="language.types.string.html" class="type string">string</a></span>, an
<span class="type"><a href="language.types.array.html" class="type array">array</a></span> or a <span class="type"><span class="type stream">stream</span></span> resource.
</p>
<p class="para">
If <em><code class="parameter">data</code></em> is a <span class="type"><span class="type stream">stream</span></span> resource, the
remaining buffer of that stream will be copied to the specified file.
This is similar with using <span class="function"><a href="function.stream-copy-to-stream.html" class="function">stream_copy_to_stream()</a></span>.
</p>
<p class="para">
You can also specify the <em><code class="parameter">data</code></em> parameter as a single
dimension array. This is equivalent to
<em>file_put_contents($filename, implode('', $array))</em>.
</p>
</dd>
</dt>
<dt>
<span class="term"><em><code class="parameter">flags</code></em></span>
<dd>
<p class="para">
The value of <em><code class="parameter">flags</code></em> can be any combination of
the following flags, joined with the binary OR (<em>|</em>)
operator.
</p>
<p class="para">
<table class="doctable table">
<caption><strong>Available flags</strong></caption>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Flag</th>
<th>Description</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody class="tbody">
<tr>
<td>
<strong><code>FILE_USE_INCLUDE_PATH</code></strong>
</td>
<td>
Search for <em><code class="parameter">filename</code></em> in the include directory.
See <a href="ini.core.html#ini.include-path" class="link">include_path</a> for more
information.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<strong><code>FILE_APPEND</code></strong>
</td>
<td>
If file <em><code class="parameter">filename</code></em> already exists, append
the data to the file instead of overwriting it.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<strong><code>LOCK_EX</code></strong>
</td>
<td>
Acquire an exclusive lock on the file while proceeding to the
writing.
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</p>
</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>.
</p>
</dd>
</dt>
</dl>
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 returnvalues" id="refsect1-function.file-put-contents-returnvalues">
<h3 class="title">Return Values</h3>
<p class="para">
This function returns the number of bytes that were written to the file, 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 examples" id="refsect1-function.file-put-contents-examples">
<h3 class="title">Examples</h3>
<p class="para">
<div class="example" id="example-2369">
<p><strong>Example #1 Simple usage example</strong></p>
<div class="example-contents">
<div class="phpcode"><code><span style="color: #000000">
<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php<br />$file </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #DD0000">'people.txt'</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /></span><span style="color: #FF8000">// Open the file to get existing content<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$current </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">file_get_contents</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$file</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /></span><span style="color: #FF8000">// Append a new person to the file<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$current </span><span style="color: #007700">.= </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"John Smith\n"</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /></span><span style="color: #FF8000">// Write the contents back to the file<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">file_put_contents</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$file</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$current</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>
</span>
</code></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="example" id="example-2370">
<p><strong>Example #2 Using flags</strong></p>
<div class="example-contents">
<div class="phpcode"><code><span style="color: #000000">
<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php<br />$file </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #DD0000">'people.txt'</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /></span><span style="color: #FF8000">// The new person to add to the file<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$person </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"John Smith\n"</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /></span><span style="color: #FF8000">// Write the contents to the file, <br />// using the FILE_APPEND flag to append the content to the end of the file<br />// and the LOCK_EX flag to prevent anyone else writing to the file at the same time<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">file_put_contents</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$file</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$person</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">FILE_APPEND </span><span style="color: #007700">| </span><span style="color: #0000BB">LOCK_EX</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-put-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>5.0.0</td>
<td>
Added context support
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>5.1.0</td>
<td>
Added support for <strong><code>LOCK_EX</code></strong> and the ability to pass
a stream resource to the <em><code class="parameter">data</code></em> parameter
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 notes" id="refsect1-function.file-put-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>
<div class="refsect1 seealso" id="refsect1-function.file-put-contents-seealso">
<h3 class="title">See Also</h3>
<p class="para">
<ul class="simplelist">
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.fopen.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">fopen()</a> - Opens file or URL</span></li>
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.fwrite.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">fwrite()</a> - Binary-safe file write</span></li>
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.file-get-contents.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">file_get_contents()</a> - Reads entire file 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>
</ul>
</p>
</div>
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