Writing files (fwrite, file_put_contents) in PHP - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Writing files with fwrite and file_put_contents in PHP

📖 Scenario: You are creating a simple PHP script to save user notes into a text file on the server. This is like writing a diary entry or saving a shopping list.

🎯 Goal: Build a PHP script that writes a string into a file using two methods: fwrite and file_put_contents.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a variable with the filename 'notes.txt'.

Create a variable with the text content to save.

Use fwrite to write the content into the file.

Use file_put_contents to write the content into the file.

Print a confirmation message after writing.

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Writing files is common when saving user data, logs, or configuration settings on a server.

💼 Career

Many web developers need to handle file operations safely and efficiently to store and retrieve data.

1

Create filename and content variables

Create a variable called $filename and set it to the string 'notes.txt'. Then create a variable called $content and set it to the string 'Today I learned how to write files in PHP.'.

PHP

<?php

// Create $filename and $content variables
// Your code here

Need a hint?

Use = to assign the string values to the variables.

2

Open file and write content using fwrite

Add code to open the file $filename for writing using fopen with mode 'w'. Then use fwrite to write the $content into the file. Finally, close the file with fclose.

PHP

<?php
$filename = 'notes.txt';
$content = 'Today I learned how to write files in PHP.';

// Open file and write content using fwrite
// Your code here

Need a hint?

Use fopen to open the file, then fwrite to write, and fclose to close it.

3

Write content using file_put_contents

Add code to write the $content into the file $filename using the function file_put_contents. This function writes the entire string to the file in one step.

PHP

<?php
$filename = 'notes.txt';
$content = 'Today I learned how to write files in PHP.';
$file = fopen($filename, 'w');
fwrite($file, $content);
fclose($file);

// Write content using file_put_contents
// Your code here

Need a hint?

Use file_put_contents with the filename and content as arguments.

4

Print confirmation message

Add a print statement to display the message 'File written successfully.' after writing the content.

PHP

<?php
$filename = 'notes.txt';
$content = 'Today I learned how to write files in PHP.';
$file = fopen($filename, 'w');
fwrite($file, $content);
fclose($file);
file_put_contents($filename, $content);

// Print confirmation message
// Your code here

Need a hint?

Use print('File written successfully.'); to show the message.