PHP File Handling

Files are extremely important.

Almost everything uses files:

✅ Configurations

✅ Logs

✅ Databases

✅ Cache

✅ JSON

✅ Plugin Data

---

Reading Files

file_get_contents()

$data =
file_get_contents(
    "config.json"
);

---

Writing Files

file_put_contents()

file_put_contents(
    "test.txt",
    "Hello World"
);

---

Appending

file_put_contents(
    "logs.txt",
    "Player Joined\n",
    FILE_APPEND
);

---

fopen()

$file =
fopen(
    "test.txt",
    "r"
);

---

Modes

Mode	Description
r	Read
w	Write
a	Append
x	Create
r+	Read + Write

---

Reading Lines

while (
    !feof($file)
) {

    echo fgets($file);

}

---

Closing Files

fclose($file);

---

Check Existence

file_exists();

---

Delete File

unlink();

---

Create Directory

mkdir(
    "data"
);

---

Delete Directory

rmdir();

---

Scan Directory

scandir();

---

PocketMine Example

$this->saveDefaultConfig();

---

Logging System

file_put_contents(
    "logs.txt",
    date("c")
    . " Player Joined\n",
    FILE_APPEND
);

---

JSON Config Example

$data =
json_decode(
    file_get_contents(
        "config.json"
    ),
    true
);

---

Security

Never allow:

../../

Directory Traversal Attacks.

---

Next Chapter

➡ JSON