The SplFileObject class

(PHP 5 >= 5.1.0, PHP 7)

Introduction

The SplFileObject class offers an object oriented interface for a file.

Class synopsis

SplFileObject extends SplFileInfo implements RecursiveIterator , SeekableIterator {

/* Constants */

const integer DROP_NEW_LINE = 1 ;

const integer READ_AHEAD = 2 ;

const integer SKIP_EMPTY = 4 ;

const integer READ_CSV = 8 ;

/* Methods */

public string|array current ( void )

public bool eof ( void )

public bool fflush ( void )

public string fgetc ( void )

public array fgetcsv ([ string $delimiter = "," [, string $enclosure = "\"" [, string $escape = "\\" ]]] )

public string fgets ( void )

public string fgetss ([ string $allowable_tags ] )

public bool flock ( int $operation [, int &$wouldblock ] )

public int fpassthru ( void )

public int fputcsv ( array $fields [, string $delimiter = "," [, string $enclosure = '"' [, string $escape = "\" ]]] )

public string fread ( int $length )

public mixed fscanf ( string $format [, mixed &$... ] )

public int fseek ( int $offset [, int $whence = SEEK_SET ] )

public array fstat ( void )

public int ftell ( void )

public bool ftruncate ( int $size )

public int fwrite ( string $str [, int $length ] )

public void getChildren ( void )

public array getCsvControl ( void )

public int getFlags ( void )

public int getMaxLineLen ( void )

public bool hasChildren ( void )

public int key ( void )

public void next ( void )

public void rewind ( void )

public void seek ( int $line_pos )

public void setCsvControl ([ string $delimiter = "," [, string $enclosure = "\"" [, string $escape = "\\" ]]] )

public void setFlags ( int $flags )

public void setMaxLineLen ( int $max_len )

public void __toString ( void )

public bool valid ( void )

/* Inherited methods */

public SplFileInfo::__construct ( string $file_name )

public int SplFileInfo::getATime ( void )

public string SplFileInfo::getBasename ([ string $suffix ] )

public int SplFileInfo::getCTime ( void )

public string SplFileInfo::getExtension ( void )

public SplFileInfo SplFileInfo::getFileInfo ([ string $class_name ] )

public string SplFileInfo::getFilename ( void )

public int SplFileInfo::getGroup ( void )

public int SplFileInfo::getInode ( void )

public string SplFileInfo::getLinkTarget ( void )

public int SplFileInfo::getMTime ( void )

public int SplFileInfo::getOwner ( void )

public string SplFileInfo::getPath ( void )

public SplFileInfo SplFileInfo::getPathInfo ([ string $class_name ] )

public string SplFileInfo::getPathname ( void )

public int SplFileInfo::getPerms ( void )

public string SplFileInfo::getRealPath ( void )

public int SplFileInfo::getSize ( void )

public string SplFileInfo::getType ( void )

public bool SplFileInfo::isDir ( void )

public bool SplFileInfo::isExecutable ( void )

public bool SplFileInfo::isFile ( void )

public bool SplFileInfo::isLink ( void )

public bool SplFileInfo::isReadable ( void )

public bool SplFileInfo::isWritable ( void )

public SplFileObject SplFileInfo::openFile ([ string $open_mode = "r" [, bool $use_include_path = false [, resource $context = NULL ]]] )

public void SplFileInfo::setFileClass ([ string $class_name = "SplFileObject" ] )

public void SplFileInfo::setInfoClass ([ string $class_name = "SplFileInfo" ] )

public void SplFileInfo::__toString ( void )

}

Predefined Constants

SplFileObject::DROP_NEW_LINE: Drop newlines at the end of a line.
SplFileObject::READ_AHEAD: Read on rewind/next.
SplFileObject::SKIP_EMPTY: Skips empty lines in the file. This requires the READ_AHEAD flag be enabled, to work as expected.
SplFileObject::READ_CSV: Read lines as CSV rows.

Changelog

Version	Description
5.3.9	`SplFileObject::SKIP_EMPTY` value changed to 4. Previously, value was 6.

SplFileObject::__construct — Construct a new file object.
SplFileObject::current — Retrieve current line of file
SplFileObject::eof — Reached end of file
SplFileObject::fflush — Flushes the output to the file
SplFileObject::fgetc — Gets character from file
SplFileObject::fgetcsv — Gets line from file and parse as CSV fields
SplFileObject::fgets — Gets line from file
SplFileObject::fgetss — Gets line from file and strip HTML tags
SplFileObject::flock — Portable file locking
SplFileObject::fpassthru — Output all remaining data on a file pointer
SplFileObject::fputcsv — Write a field array as a CSV line
SplFileObject::fread — Read from file
SplFileObject::fscanf — Parses input from file according to a format
SplFileObject::fseek — Seek to a position
SplFileObject::fstat — Gets information about the file
SplFileObject::ftell — Return current file position
SplFileObject::ftruncate — Truncates the file to a given length
SplFileObject::fwrite — Write to file
SplFileObject::getChildren — No purpose
SplFileObject::getCsvControl — Get the delimiter and enclosure character for CSV
SplFileObject::getCurrentLine — Alias of SplFileObject::fgets
SplFileObject::getFlags — Gets flags for the SplFileObject
SplFileObject::getMaxLineLen — Get maximum line length
SplFileObject::hasChildren — SplFileObject does not have children
SplFileObject::key — Get line number
SplFileObject::next — Read next line
SplFileObject::rewind — Rewind the file to the first line
SplFileObject::seek — Seek to specified line
SplFileObject::setCsvControl — Set the delimiter and enclosure character for CSV
SplFileObject::setFlags — Sets flags for the SplFileObject
SplFileObject::setMaxLineLen — Set maximum line length
SplFileObject::__toString — Alias of SplFileObject::current
SplFileObject::valid — Not at EOF

User Contributed Notes

Lars Gyrup Brink Nielsen

2 years ago


Note that this class has a private (and thus, not documented) property that holds the file pointer. Combine this with the fact that there is no method to close the file handle, and you get into situations where you are not able to delete the file with unlink(), etc., because an SplFileObject still has a handle open.

To get around this issue, delete the SplFileObject like this:

---------------------------------------------------------------------
<?php
print "Declaring file object\n";
$file = new SplFileObject('example.txt');

print "Trying to delete file...\n";
unlink('example.txt');

print "Closing file object\n";
$file = null;

print "Deleting file...\n";
unlink('example.txt');

print 'File deleted!';
?>
---------------------------------------------------------------------

which will output:

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Declaring file object 
Trying to delete file... 

Warning: unlink(example.txt): Permission denied in file.php on line 6
Closing file object 
Deleting file... 
File deleted!
---------------------------------------------------------------------

marcus at synchromedia dot co dot uk

1 year ago


If you want to skip blank lines when reading a CSV file, you need *all * the flags:

$file->setFlags(SplFileObject::READ_CSV | SplFileObject::READ_AHEAD | SplFileObject::SKIP_EMPTY | SplFileObject::DROP_NEW_LINE);