trying to delete data from a file with php

steve51184 · 10-20-2010, 06:09 PM

hey all i've been using php/fwrite to add text to a file using the below code but how do i remove text from a file?

note that i don't know what line it's on as there will be other content in the file

Code:

<?PHP
$File = "textfile.txt";
$fh = fopen($File, 'a');
$Data = "text to put in the text file";
fwrite($fh, $Data);
fclose($fh); 
?>

sleddog · 10-20-2010, 06:31 PM

If it's a relatively small file then you could:

- Read the file content into a variable, using file_get_contents()
- Use str_replace() to delete/replace text in the variable,
- Write the altered content backed to the file using fopen(), fwrite(), fclose() as you did in your example.

steve51184 · 10-20-2010, 06:32 PM

sounds good... can you do me an example please?

sleddog · 10-20-2010, 06:49 PM

Code:

<?php
// "textfile.txt" contains the phrase "all that glitters is not gold."
//
$file = "textfile.txt";
$content = file_get_contents($file);
$content = str_replace('not gold', 'shiny', $content);
$fh = fopen($file, 'w');
fwrite($fh, $content);
fclose($fh); 
//
// "textfile.txt" now reads "all that glitters is shiny."
?>

Not tested, but you get the idea

Read up on how each function works in the PHP documentation, e.g., str_replace().

steve51184 · 10-20-2010, 07:32 PM

works perfect thank you

athrin · 04-28-2011, 02:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sleddog

Code:

<?php
// "textfile.txt" contains the phrase "all that glitters is not gold."
//
$file = "textfile.txt";
$content = file_get_contents($file);
$content = str_replace('not gold', 'shiny', $content);
$fh = fopen($file, 'w');
fwrite($fh, $content);
fclose($fh); 
//
// "textfile.txt" now reads "all that glitters is shiny."
?>

Not tested, but you get the idea

Read up on how each function works in the PHP documentation, e.g., str_replace().

wait what this code means?

Code:

$content = str_replace('not gold', 'shiny', $content);

not gold?? shiny??