How to Generate "config.php" via PHP Form?

Question

I'm building a small php-based application which requires a "config.php" file containing a username and password. Rather than requiring the end user to modify "config.php" manually before they upload the application to their server, I would like to dynamically generate "config.php" from a setup form.

Basically, I'd like to use this:

<form method="POST" action="?setup-config">
<fieldset>
    <div class="clearfix">
        <label for="username">Desired User Name</label>
        <div class="input">
            <input type="text" name="username" id="username">
        </div>
    </div>
    <div class="clearfix">
        <label for="password">Desired Password</label>
        <div class="input">
            <input type="password" name="password" id="password">
        </div>
    </div>
    <div class="actions">
        <input type="submit" value="Save Username &amp; Password">
    </div>
</fieldset>
</form>

to create "config.php":

<?php

$username = 'entered username';
$password = 'entered password';

What? No, no, no, no, no. Usernames and passwords belong in a database. Period. And the passwords need to be secured through a hash. — Matt
– Matt, Commented Aug 3, 2012 at 17:20
@Matt - I agree in principle, but there's nothing wrong with storing user login data for small applications in the file system so long as it's (a) Outside the document root; and (b) You hash the password data (as you mentioned) — Ben D
– Ben D, Commented Aug 3, 2012 at 18:21

Mike Mackintosh · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-03 18:11:58Z

2

I would suggest file_put_contents():

$config[] = "<?php";
$config[] = "\$username = '$_POST['username']';";
$config[] = "\$password = '$_POST['password']';";

file_put_contents("config.php", implode("\n", $config));

edited Aug 3, 2012 at 18:11

answered Aug 3, 2012 at 17:26

Mike Mackintosh

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3 Comments

Ben D Over a year ago

You're not using the correct operators. You need to use the concatination operator: .=... otherwise you'll just have $config = "\$password = '$_POST['password']';\n" in the config file.

Mike Mackintosh Over a year ago

True, updated to use my preferred syntax. I prefer arrays and implode for scalability, although something of this small of scale, concating the vars would be fine.

user1457656 Over a year ago

I like the file_put_contents() method as well

John Conde · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-03 17:21:52Z

1

A very basic example. This can be improved upon a lot.

<?php
$fp = fopen('config.php', 'w');
fwrite($fp, "<?php\n");
fwrite($fp, "\$username = '$_POST['username']';\n");
fwrite($fp, "\$password = '$_POST['password']';\n");
fclose($fp);
?>

answered Aug 3, 2012 at 17:21

John Conde

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