File Operations in PHP
From the PHP cheat sheet · File Handling · verified Jul 2026
File Operations
Working with files and directories
php
// Read file
$content = file_get_contents('file.txt');
$lines = file('file.txt', FILE_IGNORE_NEW_LINES);
// Write file
file_put_contents('file.txt', $data);
file_put_contents('log.txt', $data, FILE_APPEND);
// File info
if (file_exists($file)) {
$size = filesize($file);
$modified = filemtime($file);
}
// Directory operations
$files = scandir($directory);
mkdir('new_directory', 0755, true);💡 Use file_get_contents for simple reads, handles for large files
⚡ Always check file_exists() before operations
📌 Use LOCK_EX flag to prevent race conditions
🔥 Set proper permissions (0755 for dirs, 0644 for files)