PHP fopen returning null on files that work fine with include and get_file_contents

Question

Hi,

I have XAMPP installed on a windows 2000 server. everything is working great except the PHP fopen function. I can neither create nor open files with it. the strange thing is that i can include/require/file_get_contents/other file related functions; also fopen does not generate any errors or notices it just returns NULL.

I have gone as far as to grant full control of the file and all enclosing folders to everybody but i still get NULL instead of a file pointer.

I have tried this on php 5.2.9, 5.2.13, and 5.3.1 with the same effect. i have gone through the php.ini file looking for something that is breaking it; i have even tried deleting and using the basic ini file from a linux box where fopen is working and still nothing.

I know i have to restart apache after changing my ini and all that and have been (I have even restarted the server) so thats not it.

I am at this poing assuming it is an apache configuration issue somehow, tomorrow im going to run a test through php-cli to make sure.

I really don't want to bruise my head anymore over this can some apache/php wizard come to my aid?

---

Hi guys,

thanks for the responses. you are right is is not any config problem. the problem has to be with one of my dlls or one of my included files. I just tried the same code that isn't working in a new file without any include and i disabled my custom libraries and it worked.

for the record here is what I was doing that wasn't working:

$test_file = 'c:\\test.csv';//everybody has full control. is very large.
    if(file_exists($test_file) && is_readable($test_file)){
        $fp = fopen($test_file, 'r');
        echo var_export($fp, true);//outputs NULL. on my linux box this is a number.
        if($fp !== false){
            //do the work
            fread($fp, 10);//throws the error that $fp is not a valid file handle
        }
    }

something that i am including must be breaking fopen somehow. works as expected in new file with no includes.

Answer 1

So we're to assume you're using this kind of code:

$fp = fopen( "my_file.txt", "r" );
$contents = fread($fp, filesize( "my_file.txt" ) );
fclose($fp);

Am I to assume the filesize() function returns null? Also try the stat($filename) function to see if you get a relatively complete array.

Let me know your results.

Answer 2

Hi guys,

thanks for the responses. you are right is is not any config problem. the problem has to be with one of my dlls or one of my included files. I just tried the same code that isn't working in a new file without any include and i disabled my custom libraries and it worked.

for the record here is what I was doing that wasn't working:

$test_file = 'c:\\test.csv';//everybody has full control. is very large.
    if(file_exists($test_file) && is_readable($test_file)){
        $fp = fopen($test_file, 'r');
        echo var_export($fp, true);//outputs NULL. on my linux box this is a number.
        if($fp !== false){
            //do the work
            fread($fp, 10);//throws the error that $fp is not a valid file handle
        }
    }

something that i am including must be breaking fopen somehow. works as expected in new file with no includes.