The php Function Stream_Get_Contents
The php function stream_get_contents is one of the most useful PHP functions available. It is a great way to read the contents of a file into a string variable. It can also be used to get content from a remote URL. Its capabilities make it a very versatile part of your PHP toolkit.
The first argument is the name of the file or URL to read. The second argument is the optional use_include_path parameter which, if set to True, causes the function to search for the file in the include path as well. The third argument is the valid context resource created with stream_context_create() or null if you don't need to use a custom context. The fourth argument is the offset where reading starts on the original stream and the fifth is the maximum length of data to read from the stream. The function will return the content of the file if it is successful or false if it fails.
Streams are the mechanism that PHP uses under the hood to perform most file, network, and data compression operations. They can be used to open a file in a mode such as read-only ('r') or read/write ('rw'). They are also used when transferring files from and to the database using fgets() or fpassthru(). They are an effective alternative to traditional methods such as opening and closing a file and can help minimize the memory footprint of large files. In the next article we will discuss how to work with streams.