The SplFileObject class

    (PHP 5 >= 5.1.0, PHP 7, PHP 8)

    Introduction

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

    Class synopsis

    class SplFileObject extends SplFileInfo implements RecursiveIterator, SeekableIterator {
    /* Constants */
    public const int DROP_NEW_LINE;
    public const int READ_AHEAD;
    public const int SKIP_EMPTY;
    public const int READ_CSV;
    /* Methods */
    public __construct(
        string $filename,
        string $mode = "r",
        bool $useIncludePath = false,
        ?resource $context = null
    )
    public current(): string|array|false
    public eof(): bool
    public fflush(): bool
    public fgetc(): string|false
    public fgetcsv(string $separator = ",", string $enclosure = "\"", string $escape = "\\"): array|false
    public fgets(): string
    public fgetss(string $allowable_tags = ?): string
    public flock(int $operation, int &$wouldBlock = null): bool
    public fpassthru(): int
    public fputcsv(
        array $fields,
        string $separator = ",",
        string $enclosure = "\"",
        string $escape = "\\",
        string $eol = "\n"
    ): int|false
    public fread(int $length): string|false
    public fscanf(string $format, mixed &...$vars): array|int|null
    public fseek(int $offset, int $whence = SEEK_SET): int
    public fstat(): array
    public ftell(): int|false
    public ftruncate(int $size): bool
    public fwrite(string $data, int $length = 0): int|false
    public getChildren(): null
    public getCsvControl(): array
    public getFlags(): int
    public getMaxLineLen(): int
    public hasChildren(): false
    public key(): int
    public next(): void
    public rewind(): void
    public seek(int $line): void
    public setCsvControl(string $separator = ",", string $enclosure = "\"", string $escape = "\\"): void
    public setFlags(int $flags): void
    public setMaxLineLen(int $maxLength): void
    public __toString(): string
    public valid(): bool
    /* Inherited methods */
    public SplFileInfo::getATime(): int|false
    public SplFileInfo::getBasename(string $suffix = ""): string
    public SplFileInfo::getCTime(): int|false
    public SplFileInfo::getExtension(): string
    public SplFileInfo::getFileInfo(?string $class = null): SplFileInfo
    public SplFileInfo::getFilename(): string
    public SplFileInfo::getGroup(): int|false
    public SplFileInfo::getInode(): int|false
    public SplFileInfo::getLinkTarget(): string|false
    public SplFileInfo::getMTime(): int|false
    public SplFileInfo::getOwner(): int|false
    public SplFileInfo::getPath(): string
    public SplFileInfo::getPathInfo(?string $class = null): ?SplFileInfo
    public SplFileInfo::getPathname(): string
    public SplFileInfo::getPerms(): int|false
    public SplFileInfo::getRealPath(): string|false
    public SplFileInfo::getSize(): int|false
    public SplFileInfo::getType(): string|false
    public SplFileInfo::isDir(): bool
    public SplFileInfo::isExecutable(): bool
    public SplFileInfo::isFile(): bool
    public SplFileInfo::isLink(): bool
    public SplFileInfo::isReadable(): bool
    public SplFileInfo::isWritable(): bool
    public SplFileInfo::openFile(string $mode = "r", bool $useIncludePath = false, ?resource $context = null): SplFileObject
    public SplFileInfo::setFileClass(string $class = SplFileObject::class): void
    public SplFileInfo::setInfoClass(string $class = SplFileInfo::class): void
    public SplFileInfo::__toString(): string
    }

    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.

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    User Contributed Notes 4 notes

    up
    86
    Lars Gyrup Brink Nielsen
    11 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!
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------
    up
    5
    marcus at synchromedia dot co dot uk
    10 years 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);
    up
    0
    contact at trimal dot in
    7 months ago
    with php 8.3, with or without SplFileObject::DROP_NEW_LINE, you get an array with empty values at the end.
    up
    -1
    rlazarotto15+dont+spam+me at gmail dot com
    3 years ago
    Complimenting marcus at synchromedia dot co dot uk comment, you can also do something like this:

    <?php

    // create a SplFileObject for reading - note that there are no flags
    $file = new SplFileObject('/path/to/file', 'r');

    // iterate over its contents
    while (!$file->eof()) {
    // get the current line
    $line = $file->fgets();

    // trim it, and then check if its empty
    if (empty(trim($line))) {
    // skips the current iteration
    continue;
    }
    }

    While     this may seem like a overkill for such thing, it allows you to do some processing with the empty lines that might come (I had to do this mostly because I needed to count empty lines instead of just skipping them). Since it also trims the line before checking if it's empty, you won't get lines composed only of empty spaces (I don't know if the flags also make it trim the content before checking it).
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