file_put_contents

(PHP 5, PHP 7)

file_put_contents — 将一个字符串写入文件

说明

int file_put_contents ( string $filename , mixed $data [, int $flags = 0 [, resource $context ]] )

和依次调用 fopen()，fwrite() 以及 fclose() 功能一样。

If filename does not exist, the file is created. Otherwise, the existing file is overwritten, unless the FILE_APPEND flag is set.

参数

filename

要被写入数据的文件名。

data

要写入的数据。类型可以是 string，array 或者是 stream 资源（如上面所说的那样）。

如果 data 指定为 stream 资源，这里 stream 中所保存的缓存数据将被写入到指定文件中，这种用法就相似于使用 stream_copy_to_stream() 函数。

参数 data 可以是数组（但不能为多维数组），这就相当于 file_put_contents($filename, join('', $array))。

flags

flags 的值可以是 以下 flag 使用 OR (|) 运算符进行的组合。

Available flags
Flag 描述
FILE_USE_INCLUDE_PATH 在 include 目录里搜索 filename。 更多信息可参见 include_path。
FILE_APPEND 如果文件 filename 已经存在，追加数据而不是覆盖。
LOCK_EX 在写入时获得一个独占锁。

context

一个 context 资源。

返回值

该函数将返回写入到文件内数据的字节数，失败时返回FALSE

Warning

此函数可能返回布尔值 FALSE，但也可能返回等同于 FALSE 的非布尔值。请阅读 布尔类型章节以获取更多信息。应使用 === 运算符来测试此函数的返回值。

范例

Example #1 Simple usage example

<?php
$file = 'people.txt';
// Open the file to get existing content
$current = file_get_contents($file);
// Append a new person to the file
$current .= "John Smith\n";
// Write the contents back to the file
file_put_contents($file, $current);
?>

Example #2 Using flags

<?php
$file = 'people.txt';
// The new person to add to the file
$person = "John Smith\n";
// Write the contents to the file, 
// using the FILE_APPEND flag to append the content to the end of the file
// and the LOCK_EX flag to prevent anyone else writing to the file at the same time
file_put_contents($file, $person, FILE_APPEND | LOCK_EX);
?>

更新日志

版本 说明
5.0.0 Added context support
5.1.0 添加了对 LOCK_EX 的支持和 data 参数处理 stream 资源的功能。

注释

Note: 此函数可安全用于二进制对象。

Tip

如已启用fopen 包装器，在此函数中， URL 可作为文件名。关于如何指定文件名详见 fopen()。各种 wapper 的不同功能请参见 支持的协议和封装协议，注意其用法及其可提供的预定义变量。

参见

User Contributed Notes

marc at gutt dot it 27-Mar-2017 10:57
This php.net example could be confusing:
<?php
file_put_contents($file, $person, FILE_APPEND | LOCK_EX);
?>

You do not need LOCK_EX if you write only to a file (like log files). Multiple writing processes are already queued. Test it on your own by calling this script 4 times simultaneously:
<?php
function string_rand($len, $split="\n") {
    return substr(chunk_split(bin2hex(openssl_random_pseudo_bytes(ceil($len / 2))), 1023, $split), 0, $len);
}

ini_set('memory_limit', '200M');

if (!file_put_contents('../cache4/file.txt', string_rand(102400000), FILE_APPEND)) {
    exit('file_put_contents() error!');
}

clearstatcache();
echo 'filesize: ' . filesize('../cache4/file.txt') . PHP_EOL;

$fp = fopen('../cache4/file.txt', 'r');
if ($fp) {
    while (($line = fgets($fp)) !== false) {
        if (strlen($line) != 1024) {
            exit('Line length error!');
        }
    }
    fclose($fp);
}
?>

You will not see an error, the last called script needs the longest time (as it is the last one in the queue) and the final size will be 409600000 bytes as it should be.
vaneatona at gmail dot com 16-Mar-2017 06:09
I'm updating a function that was posted, as it would fail if there was no directory. It also returns the final value so you can determine if the actual file was written.

    public static function file_force_contents($dir, $contents){
        $parts = explode('/', $dir);
        $file = array_pop($parts);
        $dir = '';

        foreach($parts as $part) {
            if (! is_dir($dir .= "{$part}/")) mkdir($dir);
        }

        return file_put_contents("{$dir}{$file}", $contents);
    }
Anonymous 26-Feb-2017 07:20
Make sure not to corrupt anything in case of failure.

<?php

function file_put_contents_atomically($filename, $data, $flags = 0, $context = null) {
    if (file_put_contents($filename."~", $data, $flags, $context) === strlen($contents)) {
        return rename($filename."~",$filename,$context);
    }

    @unlink($filename."~", $context);
    return FALSE;
}

?>
josemiguel at likeik dot com 20-Sep-2016 09:22
Under PHP7.0, I have seen that using an empty string as $data, the function returns FALSE instead of 0 as it should:

        $data = ''
        $size = file_put_contents($filename, $data, FILE_APPEND);
        if ($size == FALSE)
        {
               echo "error writing file"
        }

Code will give error when $data is an empty string even using == operator.

Hope it helps somebody...
aabaev arroba gmail coma com 21-May-2016 08:02
I suggest to expand file_force_contents() function of TrentTompkins at gmail dot com by adding verification if patch is like: "../foo/bar/file"

if (strpos($dir, "../") === 0)
    $dir = str_replace("..", substr(__DIR__, 0, strrpos(__DIR__, "/")), $dir);
vilhar at hotmail dot com 23-Mar-2016 08:48
This should also handle $filename from other than root and also $filename without path.

function file_force_contents($filename, $data, $per = 0755, $flags = 0) {
        $fn = "";
    if(substr($filename, 0, 1) === "/") $fn .= "/";
    $parts = explode("/", $filename);
        $file = array_pop($parts);
    
        foreach($parts as $part) {
            if(!is_dir($fn .= "$part")) mkdir($fn, $per, true);
        $fn .= "/";
    }

        file_put_contents($fn.$file, $data, $flags);  
}
Nadeem 28-Nov-2014 07:01
Log custom or error messages to a file.

<?php

class Logger{

    protected $file;
       
    protected $content;
   
    protected $writeFlag;
   
    protected $endRow;
   

    public function __construct($file,$endRow="\n",$writeFlag=FILE_APPEND) {
       
        $this->file=$file;
       
        $this->writeFlag=$writeFlag;
       
        $this->endRow=$endRow;
       
    }
   
   
    public function AddRow($content="",$newLines=1){
       
        for ($m=0;$m<$newLines;$m++)
        {
       
            $newRow .= $this->endRow;
           
        }
       
        $this->content .= $content . $newRow;
       
    }
   
   
    public function Commit(){
   
            return file_put_contents($this->file,$this->content,$this->writeFlag);
       
    }
   
    public function LogError($error,$newLines=1)
    {
        if ($error!=""){
       
            $this->AddRow($error,$newLines);
            echo $error;
           
        }       
       
    }

}

$logFileDirectoryAndName="/yourDirectory/yourFileName.xxx";

$logger = new Logger($logFileDirectoryAndName);

$logger->AddRow("Your Log Message");

#log a system error and echo a message
$logger->LogError(mysql_error($conn));

$logger->Commit();
?>
gurjindersingh at SPAM dot hotmail dot com 19-Oct-2014 03:03
File put contents fails if you try to put a file in a directory that doesn't exist. This function creates the directory.
 
i have updated code of "TrentTompkins at gmail dot com". thanks
<?php
/**
 * @param string $filename <p>file name including folder.
 * example :: /path/to/file/filename.ext or filename.ext</p>
 * @param string $data <p> The data to write.
 * </p>
 * @param int $flags same flags used for file_put_contents.
 * more info: http://php.net/manual/en/function.file-put-contents.php
 * @return bool <b>TRUE</b> file created succesfully <br> <b>FALSE</b> failed to create file.
 */
function file_force_contents($filename, $data, $flags = 0){
    if(!is_dir(dirname($filename)))
        mkdir(dirname($filename).'/', 0777, TRUE);
    return file_put_contents($filename, $data,$flags);
}
// usage

file_force_contents('test1.txt','test1 content');  // test1.txt created

file_force_contents('test2/test2.txt','test2 content');
// test2/test2.txt created "test2" folder. 

file_force_contents('~/test3/test3.txt','test3 content');
// /path/to/user/directory/test3/test3.txt created "test3" folder in user directory (check on linux "ll ~/ | grep test3"). 
?>
klunker dot roox at gmail dot com 17-Oct-2014 07:47
if path to the file not exist function file_put_contents can't create it. This simple function make it on UNIX-based and Windows servers.
<?php
function file_put_contents_force(){
    $args = func_get_args();
    $path = str_replace(array('/','\\'), DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR, $args[0]);
    $parts = explode(DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR, $path);
    array_pop($parts);
    $directory =  '';
    foreach($parts as $part):
        $check_path = $directory.$part;
            if( is_dir($check_path.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR) === FALSE) {
                mkdir($check_path, 0755);
            }
            $directory = $check_path.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR;
    endforeach;    
    call_user_func_array('file_put_contents',$args);
}
?>
chris at ocportal dot com 28-Jul-2013 08:13
It's important to understand that LOCK_EX will not prevent reading the file unless you also explicitly acquire a read lock (shared locked) with the PHP 'flock' function.

i.e. in concurrent scenarios file_get_contents may return empty if you don't wrap it like this:

<?php
$myfile=fopen('test.txt','rt');
flock($myfile,LOCK_SH);
$read=file_get_contents('test.txt');
fclose($myfile);
?>

If you have code that does a file_get_contents on a file, changes the string, then re-saves using file_put_contents, you better be sure to do this correctly or your file will randomly wipe itself out.
michel kollenhoven 19-Jul-2013 06:35
re: moura dot kadu at gmail dot com

why not ? file_put_contents('ftp://user:pass@server/path/to/file',$data);
vahkos at mail dot ru 23-Jan-2012 05:06
file_put_contents does not issue an error message if file name is incorrect(for example has improper symbols on the end of it /n,/t)
that is why use trim() for file name.
$name=trim($name);
file_put_contents($name,$content);
caiofior at gmail dot com 27-Oct-2011 10:56
I had some troubles using file_put_contents with an absolute but no canonicalized path (eg. w:/htdocs/pri/../test/log.txt): on windows environment php was unable to create the file also using the realpath function .
I had to use fopen and frwite functions to write the data.
moura dot kadu at gmail dot com 23-Sep-2011 09:18
I made ??a ftp_put_contents function.

hope you enjoy.

<?php

function ftp_put_contents($fpc_path_and_name, $fpc_content) {
   
    //Temporary folder in the server
    $cfg_temp_folder = str_replace("//", "/", $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT']."/_temp/");
   
    //Link to FTP
    $cfg_ftp_server = "ftp://ftp.com";
   
    //FTP username
    $cfg_user = "user";
   
    //FTP password
    $cfg_pass = "password";
   
    //Document Root of FTP
    $cfg_document_root = "DOCUMENT ROOT OF FTP";
   
    //Link to the website
    $cfg_site_link = "Link to the website";
   
    //Check if conteins slash on the path of the file
    $cotains_slash = strstr($fpc_path_and_name, "/");
   
    //Get filename and paths
    if ($cotains_slash) {
        $fpc_path_and_name_array = explode("/", $fpc_path_and_name);
        $fpc_file_name = end($fpc_path_and_name_array);
    }
    else {
        $fpc_file_name = $fpc_path_and_name;
    }
   
    //Create local temp dir
    if (!file_exists($cfg_temp_folder)) {
        if (!mkdir($cfg_temp_folder, 0777)) {
            echo "Unable to generate a temporary folder on the local server - $cfg_temp_folder.<br />";
            die();
        }
    }
   
    //Create local file in temp dir
    if (!file_put_contents(str_replace("//", "/", $cfg_temp_folder.$fpc_file_name), $fpc_content)) {
        echo "Unable to generate the file in the temporary location - ".str_replace("//", "/", $cfg_temp_folder.$fpc_file_name).".<br />";
        die();
    }

    //Connection to the FTP Server
    $fpc_ftp_conn = ftp_connect("$cfg_ftp_server");
   
    //Check connection
    if (!$fpc_ftp_conn) {
        echo "Could not connect to server <b>$cfg_ftp_server</b>.<br />";
        die();
    }
    else {
       
        // login
        // check username and password
        if (!ftp_login($fpc_ftp_conn, "$cfg_user", "$cfg_pass")) {
            echo "User or password.<br />";
            die();
        }
        else {
           
            //Document Root
            if (!ftp_chdir($fpc_ftp_conn, $cfg_document_root)) {
                echo "Error to set Document Root.<br />";
                die();
            }
           
           
            //Check if there are folders to create
            if ($cotains_slash) {
               
                //Check if have folders and is not just the file name
                if (count($fpc_path_and_name_array) > 1) {
                   
                    //Remove last array
                    $fpc_remove_last_array = array_pop($fpc_path_and_name_array);
                   
                    //Checks if there slashs on the path
                    if (substr($fpc_path_and_name,0,1) == "/") {
                        $fpc_remove_first_array = array_shift($fpc_path_and_name_array);
                    }
                   
                    //Create each folder on ftp
                    foreach ($fpc_path_and_name_array as $fpc_ftp_path) {
                        if (!@ftp_chdir($fpc_ftp_conn, $fpc_ftp_path)) {
                            if (!ftp_mkdir($fpc_ftp_conn, $fpc_ftp_path)) {
                                echo "Error creating directory $fpc_ftp_path.<br />";
                            }
                            else {
                                if (!ftp_chdir($fpc_ftp_conn, $fpc_ftp_path)) {
                                    echo "Error go to the directory $fpc_ftp_path.<br />";
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
                else {
                   
                }
            }
           
            //Check upload file
            if (!ftp_put($fpc_ftp_conn, $fpc_file_name, str_replace("//", "/", $cfg_temp_folder.$fpc_file_name), FTP_ASCII)) {
                echo "File upload <b>$fpc_path_and_name</b> failed!<br />";
                die();
            }
            else {
                if (!unlink(str_replace("//", "/", $cfg_temp_folder.$fpc_file_name))) {
                    echo "Error deleting temporary file.<br />";
                    die();
                }
                else {
                    echo "File upload <a href='$cfg_site_link".str_replace("//", "/", "/$fpc_path_and_name")."'><b>$cfg_site_link".str_replace("//", "/", "/$fpc_path_and_name")."</a></b> successfully performed.<br />";
                }
            }
           
            //Close connection to FTP server
            ftp_close($fpc_ftp_conn);
        }
    }
}

#Sample

$content_file = "<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN\" \"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd\">
<html xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml\">
<head>
<meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text/html; CHARSET=gb2312\" />
<title>Title</title>
</head>
<body>
<p>Test</p>
</body>
</html>";

ftp_put_contents("test.php", $content_file);
?>
justin dot carlson at gmail dot com 16-Aug-2011 05:28
It should be obvious that this should only be used if you're making one write, if you are writing multiple times to the same file you should handle it yourself with fopen and fwrite, the fclose when you are done writing.

Benchmark below:

file_put_contents() for 1,000,000 writes - average of 3 benchmarks:

 real 0m3.932s
 user 0m2.487s
 sys 0m1.437s

fopen() fwrite() for 1,000,000 writes, fclose() -  average of 3 benchmarks:

 real 0m2.265s
 user 0m1.819s
 sys 0m0.445s
Brandon Lockaby 08-Jul-2011 07:56
Calling file_put_contents within a destructor will cause the file to be written in SERVER_ROOT...
ravianshmsr08 at gmail dot com 15-Dec-2010 10:39
To upload file from your localhost to any FTP server.
pease note 'ftp_chdir' has been used instead of putting direct remote file path....in ftp_put ...remoth file should be only file name

<?php
$host = '*****';
$usr = '*****';
$pwd = '**********';        
$local_file = './orderXML/order200.xml';
$ftp_path = 'order200.xml';
$conn_id = ftp_connect($host, 21) or die ("Cannot connect to host");     
ftp_pasv($resource, true);
ftp_login($conn_id, $usr, $pwd) or die("Cannot login");
// perform file upload
ftp_chdir($conn_id, '/public_html/abc/');
$upload = ftp_put($conn_id, $ftp_path, $local_file, FTP_ASCII);
if($upload) { $ftpsucc=1; } else { $ftpsucc=0; }
// check upload status:
print (!$upload) ? 'Cannot upload' : 'Upload complete';
print "\n";
// close the FTP stream
ftp_close($conn_id);
?>
error at example dot com 11-Dec-2010 09:47
It's worth noting that you must make sure to use the correct path when working with this function. I was using it to help with logging in an error handler and sometimes it would work - while other times it wouldn't. In the end it was because sometimes it was called from different paths resulting in a failure to write to the log file.

__DIR__ is your friend.
hilton at allcor dot com dot br 04-Nov-2010 01:20
NOTE : file_put_contents create files UTF-8

<?php
$myFile = 'test.txt';
$myContent = 'I love PHP';

file_put_contents($myFile, utf8_encode($myContent));
?>
clement dot delmas at gmail dot com 17-Sep-2010 03:22
NOTE : file_put_contents doesn't add a valid BOM while creating the file

<?php
$myFile = 'test.txt';
$myContent = 'I love PHP';

file_put_contents($myFile, "\xEF\xBB\xBF".$myContent);
?>
deqode at felosity dot nl 15-Feb-2010 09:14
Please note that when saving using an FTP host, an additional stream context must be passed through telling PHP to overwrite the file.

<?php
 /* set the FTP hostname */
 $user = "test";
 $pass = "myFTP";
 $host = "example.com";
 $file = "test.txt";
 $hostname = $user . ":" . $pass . "@" . $host . "/" . $file;

 /* the file content */
 $content = "this is just a test.";
 
 /* create a stream context telling PHP to overwrite the file */
 $options = array('ftp' => array('overwrite' => true));
 $stream = stream_context_create($options);
 
 /* and finally, put the contents */
 file_put_contents($hostname, $content, 0, $stream);
?>
John Galt 29-Jul-2009 09:14
I use file_put_contents() as a method of very simple hit counters. These are two different examples of extremely simple hit counters, put on one line of code, each.

Keep in mind that they're not all that efficient. You must have a file called counter.txt with the initial value of 0.

For a text hit counter:
<?php
 $counter = file_get_contents("counter.txt"); $counter++; file_put_contents("counter.txt", $counter); echo $counter;
?>

Or a graphic hit counter:
<?php
 $counter = file_get_contents("counter.txt"); $counter++; file_put_contents("counter.txt", $counter); for($i = 0; $i < strlen($counter); $i++) echo "<img src=\"counter/".substr($counter, $i, 1).".gif\" alt=\"".substr($counter, $i, 1)."\" />";
?>
wjsams at gmail dot com 25-Jun-2009 05:57
file_put_contents() strips the last line ending

If you really want an extra line ending at the end of a file when writing with file_put_contents(), you must append an extra PHP_EOL to the end of the line as follows.

<?php
$a_str = array("these","are","new","lines");
$contents = implode(PHP_EOL, $a_str);
$contents .= PHP_EOL . PHP_EOL;
file_put_contents("newfile.txt", $contents);
print("|$contents|");
?>

You can see that when you print $contents you get two extra line endings, but if you view the file newfile.txt, you only get one.
kola_lola at hotmail dot com 07-Nov-2008 12:31
I wrote this script implementing the file_put_contents() and file_get_contents() functions to be compatible with both php4.* and php 5.*. It is a PHP Command line interface script which searches and replaces a specific word recursively through all files in the supplied directory hierarchy.

Usage from a Linux command line: ./scriptname specifieddirectory searchString replaceString

#!/usr/bin/php
<?php
$argc = $_SERVER['argc'];
$argv = $_SERVER['argv'];

if($argc != 4)
{
echo "This command replaces a search string with a replacement string\n for the contents of all files in a directory hierachy\n";
echo "command usage: $argv[0]  directory searchString replaceString\n";
echo "\n";
exit;
}
?><?php
     
if (!function_exists('file_put_contents')) {
    function file_put_contents($filename, $data) {
        $f = @fopen($filename, 'w');
        if (!$f) {
            return false;
        } else {
            $bytes = fwrite($f, $data);
            fclose($f);
            return $bytes;
        }
    }
}

function get_file_contents($filename)

      /* Returns the contents of file name passed

      */
      {
      if (!function_exists('file_get_contents'))
      {
      $fhandle = fopen($filename, "r");
      $fcontents = fread($fhandle, filesize($filename));
      fclose($fhandle);
      }
      else
      {
      $fcontents = file_get_contents($filename);
      }
      return $fcontents;
      }
?><?php

function openFileSearchAndReplace($parentDirectory, $searchFor, $replaceWith)
{
//echo "debug here- line 1a\n";
//echo "$parentDirectory\n";
//echo "$searchFor\n";
//echo "$replaceWith\n";

if ($handle = opendir("$parentDirectory")) {
    while (false !== ($file = readdir($handle))) {
        if (($file != "." && $file != "..") && !is_dir($file)) {
          chdir("$parentDirectory"); //to make sure you are always in right directory
         // echo "$file\n";
         $holdcontents = file_get_contents($file);
         $holdcontents2 = str_replace($searchFor, $replaceWith, $holdcontents);
         file_put_contents($file, $holdcontents2);
         // echo "debug here- line 1\n";
         // echo "$file\n";

        }
        if(is_dir($file) && ($file != "." && $file != ".."))
        {
        $holdpwd = getcwd();
        //echo "holdpwd = $holdpwd \n";
        $newdir = "$holdpwd"."/$file";
        //echo "newdir = $newdir \n";  //for recursive call
        openFileSearchAndReplace($newdir, $searchFor, $replaceWith);
        //echo "debug here- line 2\n";
        //echo "$file\n";
        }
    }
    closedir($handle);
 }
}

$parentDirectory2 = $argv[1];
$searchFor2 = $argv[2];
$replaceWith2 = $argv[3];

//Please do not edit below to keep the rights to this script
//Free license, if contents below this line is not edited
echo "REPLACED\n'$searchFor2' with '$replaceWith2' recursively through directory listed below\nFor all files that current user has write permissions for\nDIRECTORY: '$parentDirectory2'\n";
echo "command written by Kolapo Akande :) all rights reserved :)\n";

 $holdpwd = getcwd();
 //echo "$holdpwd\n";
chdir($parentDirectory2);
openFileSearchAndReplace($parentDirectory2, $searchFor2, $replaceWith2);
exit;
?>
admin at nabito dot net 04-Aug-2008 10:11
This is example, how to save Error Array into simple log file

<?php

$error[] = 'some error';
$error[] = 'some error 2';

@file_put_contents('log.txt',date('c')."\n".implode("\n", $error),FILE_APPEND);

?>
TrentTompkins at gmail dot com 02-Jul-2008 02:25
File put contents fails if you try to put a file in a directory that doesn't exist. This creates the directory.

<?php
    function file_force_contents($dir, $contents){
        $parts = explode('/', $dir);
        $file = array_pop($parts);
        $dir = '';
        foreach($parts as $part)
            if(!is_dir($dir .= "/$part")) mkdir($dir);
        file_put_contents("$dir/$file", $contents);
    }
?>
the geek man at hot mail point com 03-Jan-2008 12:23
I use the following code to create a rudimentary text editor. It's not fancy, but then it doesn't have to be. You could easily add a parameter to specify a file to edit; I have not done so to avoid the potential security headaches.

There are still obvious security holes here, but for most applications it should be reasonably safe if implemented for brief periods in a counterintuitive spot. (Nobody says you have to make a PHP file for that purpose; you can tack it on anywhere, so long as it is at the beginning of a file.)

<?php
$random1 = 'randomly_generated_string';
$random2 = 'another_randomly_generated_string';
$target_file = 'file_to_edit.php';
$this_file = 'the_current_file.php';

if ($_REQUEST[$random1] === $random2) {
    if (isset($_POST['content']))
        file_put_contents($target_file, get_magic_quotes_qpc() ? stripslashes($_POST['content']) : $_POST['content']);
   
    die('<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
    <head>
        <title>Editing...</title>
    </head>
    <body>
        <form method="post" action="' . $this_file . '" />
        <input type="hidden" name="' . $random1 . '" value="' . $random2 . '" />
        <textarea name="content" rows="50" cols="100">' . file_get_contents($target_file) . '</textarea><br />
        <input type="submit" value="Save Changes" />
        </form>
    </body>
</html>');
}
?>

Then simply browse to hxxp://www.example.com/{$this_file}?{$random1}={$random2}, with the appropriate values substituted for each bracketed variable. Please note that this code assumes the target file to be world writable (-rw-rw-rw- or 666) and will fail to save properly without error if it is not.

Once again, this is by no means secure or permanent, but as a quick fix for brief edits to noncritical files it should be sufficient, and its small size is a definite bonus.
egingell at sisna dot com 21-Dec-2007 04:15
There is a better way. www.php.net/touch

Since you're not adding anything to the file,

<?php
function updateFile($filename) {
    if (!file_exists($filename)) return;
    touch($filename);
}
?>
Curtis 21-Dec-2006 12:20
As to the previous user note, it would be wise to include that code within a conditional statement, as to prevent re-defining file_put_contents and the FILE_APPEND constant in PHP 5:

<?php
   if ( !function_exists('file_put_contents') && !defined('FILE_APPEND') ) {
   ...
   }
?>

Also, if the file could not be accessed for writing, the function should return boolean false, not 0. An error is different from 0 bytes written, in this case.
egingell at sisna dot com 23-Jul-2006 01:11
In reply to the previous note:

If you want to emulate this function in PHP4, you need to return the bytes written as well as support for arrays, flags.

I can only figure out the FILE_APPEND flag and array support. If I could figure out "resource context" and the other flags, I would include those too.

<?

define('FILE_APPEND', 1);
function file_put_contents($n, $d, $flag = false) {
    $mode = ($flag == FILE_APPEND || strtoupper($flag) == 'FILE_APPEND') ? 'a' : 'w';
    $f = @fopen($n, $mode);
    if ($f === false) {
        return 0;
    } else {
        if (is_array($d)) $d = implode($d);
        $bytes_written = fwrite($f, $d);
        fclose($f);
        return $bytes_written;
    }
}

?>
aidan at php dot net 21-May-2004 04:11
This functionality is now implemented in the PEAR package PHP_Compat.

More information about using this function without upgrading your version of PHP can be found on the below link:

http://pear.php.net/package/PHP_Compat