PHP fpassthru() Function

Complete PHP Filesystem Reference

Definition and Usage

The fpassthru() function reads all data from the current position in an open file, until EOF, and writes the result to the output buffer.

This function returns the number of characters passed or FALSE on failure.

Syntax

fpassthru(file)

Tips and Notes

Note: When using fpassthru() on a binary file on Windows, remember to open the file in binary mode.

Tip: Call rewind() to set the file pointer to the beginning of the file if you have already written to the file.

Tip: If you just want to dump the contents of a file to the output buffer, without first modifying it, use the readfile() function instead.

Example 1

<?php
$file = fopen("test.txt","r");

// Read first line
fgets($file);

// Send rest of the file to the output buffer
echo fpassthru($file);

fclose($file);
?> 

The output of the code above could be:

There are three lines in this file.
This is the last line.59

59 indicates the number of characters passed.

Example 2

Dump index page of a www server:

<?php
$file = fopen("http://www.example.com","r");
fpassthru($file);
?>

Complete PHP Filesystem Reference