PHP write file from input to txt

Question

I've searched around this site for an answer but couldnt find any.

I have a form and I'd like to get the contents of the input written into a txt file. To make it simple I just wrote a simple form and a script but it keeps getting me a blank page. Here is what I got

<html>
<head>
    <title></title>
</head>
<body>
    <form>
        <form action="myprocessingscript.php" method="post">
        <input name="field1" type="text" />
        <input name="field2" type="text" />
        <input type="submit" name="submit" value="Save Data">
    </form>
    <a href='data.txt'>Text file</a>
</body>

and here is my PHP file

<?php
$txt = "data.txt"; 
$fh = fopen($txt, 'w+'); 
if (isset($_POST['field1']) && isset($_POST['field2'])) { // check if both fields are set
   $txt=$_POST['field1'].' - '.$_POST['field2']; 
   file_put_contents('data.txt',$txt."\n",FILE_APPEND); // log to data.txt 
   exit();
}
    fwrite($fh,$txt); // Write information to the file
    fclose($fh); // Close the file
    ?>

Does myprocessingscript.php produce any further output? If your second snippet is the whole PHP script then a blank page is what you should get as you are not generating any output. — acme
– acme, Commented Feb 21, 2013 at 9:46
Also it is normal that you get a blank page, you are no echo()ing anything to the client. — Floby
– Floby, Commented Feb 21, 2013 at 10:13

Raihan Shikdar · Accepted Answer · 2018-06-22 15:43:11Z

46

Your form should look like this :

<form action="myprocessingscript.php" method="POST">
    <input name="field1" type="text" />
    <input name="field2" type="text" />
    <input type="submit" name="submit" value="Save Data">
</form>

and the PHP

<?php
if(isset($_POST['field1']) && isset($_POST['field2'])) {
    $data = $_POST['field1'] . '-' . $_POST['field2'] . "\r\n";
    $ret = file_put_contents('/tmp/mydata.txt', $data, FILE_APPEND | LOCK_EX);
    if($ret === false) {
        die('There was an error writing this file');
    }
    else {
        echo "$ret bytes written to file";
    }
}
else {
   die('no post data to process');
}

I wrote to /tmp/mydata.txt because this way I know exactly where it is. using data.txt writes to that file in the current working directory which I know nothing of in your example.

file_put_contents opens, writes and closes files for you. Don't mess with it.

3 Comments

user2094841 Over a year ago

I changed it back to 'data.txt' but the rest of it is perfect

cryptic0 Over a year ago

On a shared host, where you don't have access to /tmp, where would you place the mydata.txt? My directory structure is ~/www-root/

Nathan Over a year ago

Really appreciate the time you spent here, Floby. This is really elegant solution and allowed me to ditch a ton of scripts required by 3rd party form processors such as are available with WordPress plugins. :)

Community · Accepted Answer · 2016-02-20 19:16:59Z

5

The problems you have are because of the extra <form> you have, that your data goes in GET method, and you are accessing the data in PHP using POST.

<body>
<!--<form>-->
    <form action="myprocessingscript.php" method="POST">

edited Feb 20, 2016 at 19:16

CommunityBot

11 silver badge

answered Feb 21, 2013 at 9:47

Yogesh Suthar

30.5k18 gold badges75 silver badges100 bronze badges

Comments

Lobo · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-21 09:47:32Z

0

A possible solution:

<?php
$txt = "data.txt"; 
if (isset($_POST['field1']) && isset($_POST['field2'])) { // check if both fields are set
    $fh = fopen($txt, 'a'); 
    $txt=$_POST['field1'].' - '.$_POST['field2']; 
    fwrite($fh,$txt); // Write information to the file
    fclose($fh); // Close the file
}
?>

You were closing the script before close de file.

answered Feb 21, 2013 at 9:47

Lobo

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Comments

Naryl · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-21 09:48:25Z

0

If you use file_put_contents you don't need to do a fopen -> fwrite -> fclose, the file_put_contents does all that for you. You should also check if the webserver has write rights in the directory where you are trying to write your "data.txt" file.

Depending on your PHP version (if it's old) you might not have the file_get/put_contents functions. Check your webserver log to see if any error appeared when you executed the script.

answered Feb 21, 2013 at 9:48

Naryl

1,8881 gold badge10 silver badges12 bronze badges

2 Comments

user2094841 Over a year ago

I noticed it works if I run it with admin on the server, how can I change the rights?

Naryl Over a year ago

If your webserver is apache for example: chown -R apache:apache dir_where_you_create_the_file

s.lenders · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-21 09:48:38Z

0

use fwrite() instead of file_put_contents()

answered Feb 21, 2013 at 9:48

s.lenders

1,1497 silver badges21 bronze badges

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