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Question

Read file containing PHP without parsing PHP

Answer 1

+1 A:

This might possibly work:

<textarea><?php readfile('myWebDoc.html'); ?></textarea>

But I think you might have to escape the HTML to make it work properly - I don't know for sure:

<textarea><?php echo htmlspecialchars(file_get_contents('myWebDoc.html')); ?></textarea>

Ray Hidayat 2010-07-14 01:29:33

You **do** have to escape HTML.

Alix Axel 2010-07-14 01:32:37

Answer 2

+2 A:

The correct form should be something like this:

<textarea><?php echo htmlspecialchars(file_get_contents('/path/to/file.html')); ?></textarea>

Depending on the contents of the HTML file you might also want to try htmlentities().

Alix Axel 2010-07-14 01:31:18

htmlspecialchars() did not work

Dr. DOT 2010-07-14 01:56:17

-1 for -1ing me one and for not using readfile instead of file_get_contents for outputting a file straight to the buffer. ;)

no 2010-07-14 01:58:16

@no: I'm not getting into a micro optimization discussion here, I still believe `file_get_contents()` is probably faster but that isn't the issue. `readfile()` will output directly to the browser, that means it will break the HTML if the file has any HTML special char. That was the reason for my down vote (and for not using `htmlspecialchars()` at all), got it?

Alix Axel 2010-07-14 02:12:49

@Dr. DOT: Could you share the contents of the HTML file? Regarding your comment on @no answer: you should **definitely** use `htmlspecialchars()` (or similar, like `htmlentities()`), otherwise it can break your HTML.

Alix Axel 2010-07-14 02:15:34

Alix, readfile will output directly to the current buffer, not necessarily the browser. I never said not to use htmlspecialchars or similar. An output buffer callback could easily be used to process the text before insertion if necessary. And it's not necessarily necessary... It should only screw up if the inserted file contains a closing `</textarea>` tag. He's editing a document; chances are there's no `</textarea>` in the document, and for all I know FCKeditor will not treat escaped HTML as HTML at all (see comment from OP on my answer).

no 2010-07-14 04:47:53

@no: I'm sorry but IMHO the OP is wrong. `htmlspecialchars()` should always be used when displaying (XML, HTML, PHP, whatever) tags inside another tag (in this case a textarea). Now, upon submission he may or may not want to use `htmlspecialchars_decode()` - but that's another question. Your answer didn't cover this at all, and certainly didn't provide a **solution**. I've my doubts if `readfile()` is faster than `file_get_contents()` - probably consumes less memory. To be continued...

Alix Axel 2010-07-14 05:00:33

@no: But I rather do `echo htmlspecialchars(file_get_contents('file.html'));` than do `ob_start(); readfile('file.html'); echo htmlspecialchars(ob_get_clean());` - if I got your suggestion right! Anyway, this is pointless and the OP probably doesn't care so I'll stop wasting my time.

Alix Axel 2010-07-14 05:03:45

Answer 3

+1 A:

Try readfile instead of file_get_contents.

http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.readfile.php

no 2010-07-14 01:32:02

`file_get_contents()` is the preferred way to read the contents of a file into a string. It will use memory mapping techniques if supported by your OS to enhance performance.

Alix Axel 2010-07-14 01:34:01

He doesn't want to read it into a string, though, he wants to output the contents to the buffer. This means the file could be streamed instead of allocating all the memory for the string and then outputting that. In other words, if anything performance should be better, not worse.

no 2010-07-14 01:37:30

I have my doubts, still `readfile()` doesn't solve the problem at all.

Alix Axel 2010-07-14 01:43:20

readfile solves the problem of the omitted echo. Care to expound on your 'doubts?'

no 2010-07-14 01:50:50

Dr. DOT 2010-07-14 02:06:28

How come this is the accepted answer?

Alix Axel 2010-07-14 02:17:59

Because it's correct.

no 2010-07-14 04:49:27

@Dr. DOT: What's wrong with `<` and `>` inside the textarea? That's correctly formed HTML and would be exactly the result produced if you manually typed `<` and `>` inside it.

Alix Axel 2010-07-14 05:07:39

Dr. DOT 2010-07-20 11:30:55

So, if I let the text editor translate <?php into <?php and save it back to the server in that form -- then the server will no longer parse my php.IMO that's what's wrong

Dr. DOT 2010-07-20 11:31:23

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Read file containing PHP without parsing PHP

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