can i overwrite an excel file using php? - php

Question

I created the file using PHPExcel at say C:\path\goes\here\filename.xls
When I try to access it using header(), it creates a file filename(1) , filename(2) and so on.
(PS : When i say overwrite, I mean to erase previous content and add new data).
<?php
include 'PHPExcel.php';
require_once ("C:\\xampp\\htdocs\\excel_mailer_2\\PHPMailer-master\\class.phpmailer.php");
$path = "C:\\Users\\Manish\\Downloads";
$file_name = $_GET['file_name'];
$DB_server = "localhost";
$DB_username = "root";
$DB_password = "";
$DB_dbname = "timetracker";
$DB_tablename = "tt_users";
$conn = mysqli_connect ($DB_server, $DB_username, $DB_password, $DB_dbname);
if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
die ("Connection Failed!");
}
$sql = "SELECT *";
$sql .= " FROM $DB_tablename";
if ($result = mysqli_query($conn,$sql));
else die("Couldn't execute query:<br />" . mysqli_error(). "<br />" . mysqli_errno());
$file_ending = ".xls";
$filename = $file_name.$file_ending;
//header("Content-Type: application/vnd.ms-excel");
header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=$filename");
/*******Start of Formatting for Excel*******/
$sep = "\t";
$flag = true;
$col_names = "";
while($row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result)) {
$data_insert = "";
foreach($row as $field=>$data) {
if ($flag)
$col_names .= $field.$sep;
if(!isset($data))
$data_insert .= "NULL".$sep;
elseif ($data != "")
$data_insert .= $data.$sep;
else
$data_insert .= "".$sep;
}
if ($flag) {
$flag = !$flag;
$col_names .= "\t";
echo (trim($col_names));
echo "\n";
}
$data_insert .= "\t";
echo (trim($data_insert));
echo "\n";
}
?>

Answer 1

Hi write your filename in header function using this
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="filename.xls"');

Answer 2

you can use php basename() function to get the file names at that specific path and then check if the file you are creating already exists.
if it already exists then delete the old file and create the new file.
https://www.w3schools.com/php/func_filesystem_basename.asp
and this should be done before you call header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=$filename");