I have:
<?php
$file=fopen(date("Y-m-d").".txt","r+") or exit("Unable to open file!");
if ($_POST["lastname"] <> "")
{
fwrite($file,$_POST["lastname"]."\n");
}
fclose($file);
?>
but it overwrites the beginning of the file. How do I make it insert?
I'm not entirely sure of your question - do you want to write data and not have it over-write the beginning of an existing file, or write new data to the start of an existing file, keeping the existing content after it?
To insert text without over-writing the beginning of the file, you'll have to open it for appending (a+
rather than r+
)
$file=fopen(date("Y-m-d").".txt","a+") or exit("Unable to open file!");
if ($_POST["lastname"] <> "")
{
fwrite($file,$_POST["lastname"]."\n");
}
fclose($file);
If you're trying to write to the start of the file, you'll have to read in the file contents (see file_get_contents
) first, then write your new string followed by file contents to the output file.
$old_content = file_get_contents($file);
fwrite($file, $new_content."\n".$old_content);
The above approach will work with small files, but you may run into memory limits trying to read a large file in using file_get_conents
. In this case, consider using rewind($file)
, which sets the file position indicator for handle to the beginning of the file stream.
Note when using rewind()
, not to open the file with the a
(or a+
) options, as:
If you have opened the file in append ("a" or "a+") mode, any data you write to the file will always be appended, regardless of the file position.
A working example for inserting in the middle of a file stream without overwriting, and without having to load the whole thing into a variable/memory:
function finsert($handle, $string, $bufferSize = 16384) {
$insertionPoint = ftell($handle);
// Create a temp file to stream into
$tempPath = tempnam(sys_get_temp_dir(), "file-chainer");
$lastPartHandle = fopen($tempPath, "w+");
// Read in everything from the insertion point and forward
while (!feof($handle)) {
fwrite($lastPartHandle, fread($handle, $bufferSize), $bufferSize);
}
// Rewind to the insertion point
fseek($handle, $insertionPoint);
// Rewind the temporary stream
rewind($lastPartHandle);
// Write back everything starting with the string to insert
fwrite($handle, $string);
while (!feof($lastPartHandle)) {
fwrite($handle, fread($lastPartHandle, $bufferSize), $bufferSize);
}
// Close the last part handle and delete it
fclose($lastPartHandle);
unlink($tempPath);
// Re-set pointer
fseek($handle, $insertionPoint + strlen($string));
}
$handle = fopen("file.txt", "w+");
fwrite($handle, "foobar");
rewind($handle);
finsert($handle, "baz");
// File stream is now: bazfoobar
Composer lib for it can be found here
You get the same opening the file for appending
<?php
$file=fopen(date("Y-m-d").".txt","a+") or exit("Unable to open file!");
if ($_POST["lastname"] <> "")
{
fwrite($file,$_POST["lastname"]."\n");
}
fclose($file);
?>
If you want to put your text at the beginning of the file, you'd have to read the file contents first like:
<?php
$file=fopen(date("Y-m-d").".txt","r+") or exit("Unable to open file!");
if ($_POST["lastname"] <> "")
{
$existingText = file_get_contents($file);
fwrite($file, $existingText . $_POST["lastname"]."\n");
}
fclose($file);
?>