{"id":1164,"date":"2021-04-17T07:55:57","date_gmt":"2021-04-17T07:55:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phptutorial.net\/?page_id=1164"},"modified":"2021-05-09T07:49:17","modified_gmt":"2021-05-09T07:49:17","slug":"php-download-file","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.phptutorial.net\/php-tutorial\/php-download-file\/","title":{"rendered":"PHP Download File"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Summary<\/strong>: in this tutorial, you will learn how to download a file in PHP using the <code>readfile()<\/code> function.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id='introduction-to-the-php-readfile-function'>Introduction to the PHP readfile() function <a href=\"#introduction-to-the-php-readfile-function\" class=\"anchor\" id=\"introduction-to-the-php-readfile-function\" title=\"Anchor for Introduction to the PHP readfile() function\">#<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The <code>readfile()<\/code> function reads data from a file and writes it to the output buffer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here&#8217;s the syntax of the <code>readfile()<\/code> function:<\/p>\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\" aria-describedby=\"shcb-language-1\" data-shcb-language-name=\"PHP\" data-shcb-language-slug=\"php\"><span><code class=\"hljs language-php\">readfile ( \n    string $filename , \n    bool $use_include_path = <span class=\"hljs-keyword\">false<\/span> , \n    resource $context = ? \n) : int|<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">false<\/span><\/code><\/span><small class=\"shcb-language\" id=\"shcb-language-1\"><span class=\"shcb-language__label\">Code language:<\/span> <span class=\"shcb-language__name\">PHP<\/span> <span class=\"shcb-language__paren\">(<\/span><span class=\"shcb-language__slug\">php<\/span><span class=\"shcb-language__paren\">)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n<p>The <code>readfile()<\/code> function has the following parameters:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><code>$filename<\/code> is the path to the file.<\/li><li><code>$use_include_path<\/code> if set to <code>true<\/code>, the function will search for the file in the include path.<\/li><li><code>$context<\/code> specifies the stream context.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The <code>readfile()<\/code> function returns the number of bytes if it successfully reads data from the file, or <code>false<\/code> if it fails to read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id='php-download-file-example'>PHP download file example <a href=\"#php-download-file-example\" class=\"anchor\" id=\"php-download-file-example\" title=\"Anchor for PHP download file example\">#<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The following example shows how to download the <code>readme.pdf<\/code> file using the <code>readfile()<\/code> function example.<\/p>\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\" aria-describedby=\"shcb-language-2\" data-shcb-language-name=\"HTML, XML\" data-shcb-language-slug=\"xml\"><span><code class=\"hljs language-xml\"><span class=\"php\"><span class=\"hljs-meta\">&lt;?php<\/span>\n\n$filename = <span class=\"hljs-string\">'readme.pdf'<\/span>;\n\n<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">if<\/span> (file_exists($filename)) {\n\theader(<span class=\"hljs-string\">'Content-Description: File Transfer'<\/span>);\n\theader(<span class=\"hljs-string\">'Content-Type: application\/octet-stream'<\/span>);\n\theader(<span class=\"hljs-string\">'Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=\"'<\/span> . basename($filename) . <span class=\"hljs-string\">'\"'<\/span>);\n\theader(<span class=\"hljs-string\">'Expires: 0'<\/span>);\n\theader(<span class=\"hljs-string\">'Cache-Control: must-revalidate'<\/span>);\n\theader(<span class=\"hljs-string\">'Pragma: public'<\/span>);\n\theader(<span class=\"hljs-string\">'Content-Length: '<\/span> . filesize($filename));\n\treadfile($filename);\n\t<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">exit<\/span>;\n}<\/span><\/code><\/span><small class=\"shcb-language\" id=\"shcb-language-2\"><span class=\"shcb-language__label\">Code language:<\/span> <span class=\"shcb-language__name\">HTML, XML<\/span> <span class=\"shcb-language__paren\">(<\/span><span class=\"shcb-language__slug\">xml<\/span><span class=\"shcb-language__paren\">)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id='php-download-file-with-a-download-rate-limit'>PHP download file with a download rate limit <a href=\"#php-download-file-with-a-download-rate-limit\" class=\"anchor\" id=\"php-download-file-with-a-download-rate-limit\" title=\"Anchor for PHP download file with a download rate limit\">#<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>To set a download rate limit, you use the following script:<\/p>\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\" aria-describedby=\"shcb-language-3\" data-shcb-language-name=\"HTML, XML\" data-shcb-language-slug=\"xml\"><span><code class=\"hljs language-xml\"><span class=\"php\"><span class=\"hljs-meta\">&lt;?php<\/span>\n\n$file_to_download = <span class=\"hljs-string\">'book.pdf'<\/span>;\n$client_file = <span class=\"hljs-string\">'mybook.pdf'<\/span>;\n\n$download_rate = <span class=\"hljs-number\">200<\/span>; <span class=\"hljs-comment\">\/\/ 200Kb\/s<\/span>\n\n$f = <span class=\"hljs-keyword\">null<\/span>;\n\n<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">try<\/span> {\n\t<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">if<\/span> (!file_exists($file_to_download)) {\n\t\t<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">throw<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-keyword\">new<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-keyword\">Exception<\/span>(<span class=\"hljs-string\">'File '<\/span> . $file_to_download . <span class=\"hljs-string\">' does not exist'<\/span>);\n\t}\n\n\t<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">if<\/span> (!is_file($file_to_download)) {\n\t\t<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">throw<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-keyword\">new<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-keyword\">Exception<\/span>(<span class=\"hljs-string\">'File '<\/span> . $file_to_download . <span class=\"hljs-string\">' is not valid'<\/span>);\n\t}\n\n\theader(<span class=\"hljs-string\">'Cache-control: private'<\/span>);\n\theader(<span class=\"hljs-string\">'Content-Type: application\/octet-stream'<\/span>);\n\theader(<span class=\"hljs-string\">'Content-Length: '<\/span> . filesize($file_to_download));\n\theader(<span class=\"hljs-string\">'Content-Disposition: filename='<\/span> . $client_file);\n\n\t<span class=\"hljs-comment\">\/\/ flush the content to the web browser<\/span>\n\tflush();\n\n\t$f = fopen($file_to_download, <span class=\"hljs-string\">'r'<\/span>);\n\n\t<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">while<\/span> (!feof($f)) {\n\t\t<span class=\"hljs-comment\">\/\/ send the file part to the web browser<\/span>\n\t\t<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">print<\/span> fread($f, round($download_rate * <span class=\"hljs-number\">1024<\/span>));\n\n\t\t<span class=\"hljs-comment\">\/\/ flush the content to the web browser<\/span>\n\t\tflush();\n\n\t\t<span class=\"hljs-comment\">\/\/ sleep one second<\/span>\n\t\tsleep(<span class=\"hljs-number\">1<\/span>);\n\t}\n} <span class=\"hljs-keyword\">catch<\/span> (\\Throwable $e) {\n\t<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">echo<\/span> $e-&gt;getMessage();\n} <span class=\"hljs-keyword\">finally<\/span> {\n\t<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">if<\/span> ($f) {\n\t\tfclose($f);\n\t}\n}\n<\/span><\/code><\/span><small class=\"shcb-language\" id=\"shcb-language-3\"><span class=\"shcb-language__label\">Code language:<\/span> <span class=\"shcb-language__name\">HTML, XML<\/span> <span class=\"shcb-language__paren\">(<\/span><span class=\"shcb-language__slug\">xml<\/span><span class=\"shcb-language__paren\">)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n<p>How it works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>First, define the path to the file (<code>$file_to_download<\/code>) to download and the name of the downloaded file (<code>$client_file<\/code>).<\/li><li>Next, define the download rate (<code>$download_rate<\/code>) and set it to 200 Kb\/s<\/li><li>Then, throw an exception if the file doesn&#8217;t <a href=\"https:\/\/phptutorial.net\/php-tutorial\/php-file-exists\/\">exist<\/a> or is not a regular file.<\/li><li>After that, read the part of the file and sleep for 1 second until the no more file data to read.<\/li><li>Finally, close the file using the <code>fclose()<\/code> function.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id='summary'>Summary <a href=\"#summary\" class=\"anchor\" id=\"summary\" title=\"Anchor for Summary\">#<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Use the <code>readfile()<\/code> function to force a file download in PHP.<\/li><\/ul>\n<div class=\"helpful-block-content\" data-title=\"\">\n\t<header>\n\t\t<div class=\"wth-question\">Did you find this tutorial useful?<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"wth-thumbs\">\n\t\t\t<button\n\t\t\t\tdata-post=\"1164\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-post-url=\"https:\/\/www.phptutorial.net\/php-tutorial\/php-download-file\/\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-post-title=\"PHP Download File\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-response=\"1\"\n\t\t\t\tclass=\"wth-btn-rounded 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