fread() reads up to length bytes from the file pointer referenced by fp. Reading stops when length bytes have been read or EOF is reached, whichever comes first.
// get contents of a file into a string $filename = "/usr/local/something.txt"; $fd = fopen ($filename, "r"); $contents = fread ($fd, filesize ($filename)); fclose ($fd); |
Note: On systems which differentiate between binary and text files (i.e. Windows) the file must be opened with 'b' included in fopen() mode parameter.
$filename = "c:\\files\\somepic.gif"; $fd = fopen ($filename, "rb"); $contents = fread ($fd, filesize ($filename)); fclose ($fd); |
See also fwrite(), fopen(), fsockopen(), popen(), fgets(), fgetss(), fscanf(), file(), and fpassthru().