i am trying to store data in a text file, something like an array into a text file using php instead of storing into mysql database.
for example here are the data to be stored in a text file
name=>john
age=>25
location=>australia
then after saving it to a text file , how can I get the contents out and parse it with php , for like php can find the name , age and location and echo it out(something like parsing an array)
I need it for storing the data into a text file so it can be easily access from other domains without requiring to be on the same domain , connect to database , get the data from database. I am looking for a speedy solution. :)
I'm not sure which direction should I look into for this kind of functionality , hoping someone can point me out.
Storing:
1. Use serialize() to serialize your array into a string
2. Write that string to text file using file_put_contents()
Reading:
1. Use file_get_contents to read text file
2. Use unserialize() to unserialize previously serialized array
serialize()/unserialize() can be replaced by json_encode()/json_decode()
You may use
In case you want to convert the array to an XML you might want to read this post: How to convert array to SimpleXML
These functions should do what you want :
function storeInTextFile($array,$path) {
if(file_exists($path)) {
$handle = fopen($path,'wb');
fwrite($handle, arrayToString($array));
fclose($handle);
}
}
function arrayToString($array) {
$string = '';
foreach($array as $key => $value) {
$string .= "{$key} => {$value}
";
}
return $string;
}
function stringToArray($string) {
$explodedString = explode('
',$string);
$returnArray = array();
foreach($explodedString as $arrayValue) {
list($key,$value) = explode(' => ',$arrayValue);
$returnArray[$key] = $value;
}
return $returnArray;
}
//-- short -------------------------------------------
$data = [ "a" => "A", "b" => "B", "c" => "C" ];
echo '<br> data - array: ';
var_dump($data);
file_put_contents('db.php', json_encode($data) );
//get
$g = json_decode(file_get_contents('db.php') , 1); // 1 Array , 0 Object
echo '<br><hr>short: var_dump($g): ';
var_dump($g);
//-- long -------------------------------------------//
$data = [ "a" => "A", "b" => "B", "c" => "C" ];
echo '<br> data - array: ';
var_dump($data);
echo '<br> json_encode($data): ';
$jdata = json_encode($data);
var_dump($jdata);
echo'<hr>';
file_put_contents('db.php', $jdata);
//get
$jg = file_get_contents('db.php');
echo ' $jg = file_get_contents(\'db.php\'); $jg : ';
var_dump($jg);
echo '<br> json_decode($jg , 1) //1 Array<br>';
$g = json_decode($jg , 1);
var_dump($g);
echo '<br> json_decode($jg , 0) //0 Object<br>';
$g = json_decode($jg , 0);
var_dump($g);
I made a tiny library (~2 KB; <100 lines) that allows you to do just this: varDx
It has functions to write, read, modify, check and delete data. It implements serialization, and therefore supports all data types.
Here's how you can use it:
<?php
require 'varDx.php';
$dx = new \varDx\cDX; //create an object
$dx->def('file.dat'); //define data file
$val1 = "this is a string";
$dx->write('data1', $val1); //writes key to file
echo $dx->read('data1'); //returns key value from file