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<div class="refnamediv">
<h1 class="refname">fread</h1>
<p class="verinfo">(PHP 4, PHP 5)</p><p class="refpurpose"><span class="refname">fread</span> — <span class="dc-title">Binary-safe file read</span></p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 description" id="refsect1-function.fread-description">
<h3 class="title">Description</h3>
<div class="methodsynopsis dc-description">
<span class="type">string</span> <span class="methodname"><strong>fread</strong></span>
( <span class="methodparam"><span class="type">resource</span> <code class="parameter">$handle</code></span>
, <span class="methodparam"><span class="type">int</span> <code class="parameter">$length</code></span>
)</div>
<p class="para rdfs-comment">
<span class="function"><strong>fread()</strong></span> reads up to
<em><code class="parameter">length</code></em> bytes from the file pointer
referenced by <em><code class="parameter">handle</code></em>. Reading stops as soon as one
of the following conditions is met:
<ul class="itemizedlist">
<li class="listitem">
<span class="simpara">
<em><code class="parameter">length</code></em> bytes have been read
</span>
</li>
<li class="listitem">
<span class="simpara">
EOF (end of file) is reached
</span>
</li>
<li class="listitem">
<span class="simpara">
a packet becomes available or the <a href="function.socket-set-timeout.html" class="link">
socket timeout</a> occurs (for network streams)
</span>
</li>
<li class="listitem">
<span class="simpara">
if the stream is read buffered and it does not represent a plain file, at
most one read of up to a number of bytes equal to the chunk size (usually
8192) is made; depending on the previously buffered data, the size of the
returned data may be larger than the chunk size.
</span>
</li>
</ul>
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 parameters" id="refsect1-function.fread-parameters">
<h3 class="title">Parameters</h3>
<p class="para">
<dl>
<dt>
<span class="term"><em><code class="parameter">handle</code></em></span>
<dd>
<p class="para">A file system pointer <span class="type"><a href="language.types.resource.html" class="type resource">resource</a></span>
that is typically created using <span class="function"><a href="function.fopen.html" class="function">fopen()</a></span>.</p>
</dd>
</dt>
<dt>
<span class="term"><em><code class="parameter">length</code></em></span>
<dd>
<p class="para">
Up to <em><code class="parameter">length</code></em> number of bytes read.
</p>
</dd>
</dt>
</dl>
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 returnvalues" id="refsect1-function.fread-returnvalues">
<h3 class="title">Return Values</h3>
<p class="para">
Returns the read string or <strong><code>FALSE</code></strong> on failure.
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 examples" id="refsect1-function.fread-examples">
<h3 class="title">Examples</h3>
<p class="para">
<div class="example" id="example-2388">
<p><strong>Example #1 A simple <span class="function"><strong>fread()</strong></span> example</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">// get contents of a file into a string<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$filename </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"/usr/local/something.txt"</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$handle </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">fopen</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$filename</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"r"</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$contents </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">fread</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$handle</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">filesize</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$filename</span><span style="color: #007700">));<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">fclose</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$handle</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>
</span>
</code></div>
</div>
</div>
</p>
<p class="para">
<div class="example" id="example-2389">
<p><strong>Example #2 Binary <span class="function"><strong>fread()</strong></span> example</strong></p>
<div class="warning"><strong class="warning">Warning</strong>
<p class="para">
On systems which differentiate between binary and text files
(i.e. Windows) the file must be opened with 'b' included in
<span class="function"><a href="function.fopen.html" class="function">fopen()</a></span> mode parameter.
</p>
</div>
<div class="example-contents">
<div class="phpcode"><code><span style="color: #000000">
<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php<br />$filename </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"c:\\files\\somepic.gif"</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$handle </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">fopen</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$filename</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"rb"</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$contents </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">fread</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$handle</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">filesize</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$filename</span><span style="color: #007700">));<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">fclose</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$handle</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>
</span>
</code></div>
</div>
</div>
</p>
<p class="para">
<div class="example" id="example-2390">
<p><strong>Example #3 Remote <span class="function"><strong>fread()</strong></span> examples</strong></p>
<div class="warning"><strong class="warning">Warning</strong>
<p class="para">
When reading from anything that is not a regular local file, such as
streams returned when
reading <a href="features.remote-files.html" class="link">remote files</a> or from
<span class="function"><a href="function.popen.html" class="function">popen()</a></span> and <span class="function"><a href="function.fsockopen.html" class="function">fsockopen()</a></span>, reading
will stop after a packet is available. This means that you should
collect the data together in chunks as shown in the examples below.
</p>
</div>
<div class="example-contents">
<div class="phpcode"><code><span style="color: #000000">
<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php<br /></span><span style="color: #FF8000">// For PHP 5 and up<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$handle </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">fopen</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"http://www.example.com/"</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"rb"</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$contents </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">stream_get_contents</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$handle</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">fclose</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$handle</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>
</span>
</code></div>
</div>
<div class="example-contents">
<div class="phpcode"><code><span style="color: #000000">
<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php<br />$handle </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">fopen</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"http://www.example.com/"</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"rb"</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$contents </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #DD0000">''</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br />while (!</span><span style="color: #0000BB">feof</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$handle</span><span style="color: #007700">)) {<br /> </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$contents </span><span style="color: #007700">.= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">fread</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$handle</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">8192</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br />}<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">fclose</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$handle</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>
</span>
</code></div>
</div>
</div>
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 notes" id="refsect1-function.fread-notes">
<h3 class="title">Notes</h3>
<blockquote class="note"><p><strong class="note">Note</strong>:
<p class="para">
If you just want to get the contents of a file into a string, use
<span class="function"><a href="function.file-get-contents.html" class="function">file_get_contents()</a></span> as it has much better performance
than the code above.
</p>
</p></blockquote>
<blockquote class="note"><p><strong class="note">Note</strong>:
<p class="para">
Note that <span class="function"><strong>fread()</strong></span> reads from the current position of
the file pointer. Use <span class="function"><a href="function.ftell.html" class="function">ftell()</a></span> to find the current
position of the pointer and <span class="function"><a href="function.rewind.html" class="function">rewind()</a></span> to rewind the
pointer position.
</p>
</p></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 seealso" id="refsect1-function.fread-seealso">
<h3 class="title">See Also</h3>
<p class="para">
<ul class="simplelist">
<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.fopen.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">fopen()</a> - Opens file or URL</span></li>
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.fsockopen.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">fsockopen()</a> - Open Internet or Unix domain socket connection</span></li>
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.popen.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">popen()</a> - Opens process file pointer</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.fgetss.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">fgetss()</a> - Gets line from file pointer and strip HTML tags</span></li>
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.fscanf.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">fscanf()</a> - Parses input from a file according to a format</span></li>
<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.fpassthru.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">fpassthru()</a> - Output all remaining data on a file pointer</span></li>
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.ftell.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">ftell()</a> - Returns the current position of the file read/write pointer</span></li>
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.rewind.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">rewind()</a> - Rewind the position of a file pointer</span></li>
</ul>
</p>
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