Writing a new and appending a file in PHP without erasing contents

Question

How could one write a new line to a file in php without erasing all the other contents of the file?

<?php
if(isset($_POST['songName'])){

        $newLine = "\n";
        $songName = $_POST['songName'];
        $filename = fopen('song_name.txt', "wb");
        fwrite($filename, $songName.$newLine);
        fclose($filename);
    };

?>

This is what the file looks like Current view

This is what is should look like Ideal View

Right now the content of the file looks like this 123456789 It should look like this 123 456 789 With each group of 3 numbers on a new line of the file — Giga Chad Coding, Aug 09 '16 at 03:12
Please add the details to your answer, within a code block, so we can see where the line breaks are and where they should be. This comment also doesn't tell us what was on the file, and what you're trying to append. — BeetleJuice, Aug 09 '16 at 03:14
glad i could help. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3066421/writing-a-new-line-to-file-in-php — coder, Aug 09 '16 at 03:19

BeetleJuice · Accepted Answer · 2016-08-09T03:21:21.580

5

Simply:

file_put_contents($filename,$songName.$newLine,FILE_APPEND);

Takes care of opening, writing to, and closing the file. It will even create the file if needed! (see docs)

If your new lines aren't working, the issue is with your $newLine variable, not the file append operations. One of the following will work:

$newLine = PHP_EOL;  << or >>  $newLine = "\r\n";

edited Aug 09 '16 at 03:21

answered Aug 09 '16 at 02:55

BeetleJuice

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This does not add a new line to the file, it merely appends on to the end of the current line – Giga Chad Coding Aug 09 '16 at 03:01
@JohnSmith All file append operations, including the other solution, do the same thing. it appends whatever you indicate. If you want a new line, start with a new line character :-). Eg: append `$newLine.$songName.$newLine` – BeetleJuice Aug 09 '16 at 03:04
@JohnSmith I think it would help if you showed what you're getting, and what you expect to get. Your last comment under the other answer seems to be different from the OP. Do you want to add just one line (as in the OP), or add a new line at the end of each existing line (as in your comment)? – BeetleJuice Aug 09 '16 at 03:10
I attached images of the desired results to be displayed by the file – Giga Chad Coding Aug 09 '16 at 03:16
That works now, thank you for your help, it is very much appreciated! I Marked yours as the answer! – Giga Chad Coding Aug 09 '16 at 03:20
@JohnSmith good to know. Suggest you upvote both answers because Robert had the right idea too, just a different approach to appending content. – BeetleJuice Aug 09 '16 at 03:22

Robert · Answer 2 · 2016-08-09T02:58:26.777

4

You have it set for writing with the option w which erases the data.

You need to "append" the data like this:

$filename = fopen('song_name.txt', "a");

For a complete explanation of what all options do, read here.

edited Aug 09 '16 at 02:58

answered Aug 09 '16 at 02:53

Robert

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when set to "a" it does not add new line to the file it merely adds to the end. – Giga Chad Coding Aug 09 '16 at 03:00
That's not what I am trying to accomplish. I am trying to write to a new line in the file without erasing the file's current data – Giga Chad Coding Aug 09 '16 at 03:04
At a specific position? – Robert Aug 09 '16 at 03:05
Sure you could say that. I'm trying to add a new line at the end of each line of input. – Giga Chad Coding Aug 09 '16 at 03:08
I attached images of the desired results to be displayed by the file – Giga Chad Coding Aug 09 '16 at 03:16

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 09 '16 at 03:19

To add a new line to a file and append it, do the following

$songName = $_POST['songName'];
        $filename = fopen('song_name.txt', "a+");
        fwrite($filename, $songName.PHP_EOL);
        fclose($filename);

PHP_EOL will add a new line to the file

Writing a new and appending a file in PHP without erasing contents

3 Answers3