Need help resetting a php counter - php

Question

I'm really new to php. I decided to make a counter based off a script I've seen. I've made changes to it. I'm trying to figure out how to reset the counter.
$userCount = file_get_contents("count.txt");
$userCount = trim($userCount);
$userCount = $userCount + 1;
$countReset = $userCount - $userCount;
$file = fopen("count.txt","w+");
fwrite($file,$userCount);
fclose($file);
print "The number of visitors is: $userCount";
if ($userCount < 20){
echo 'not yet';
}
else {
echo 'done!';
}
if ($userCount > 40){
fwrite($file,$countReset);
fclose($file);
}
I tried subtracting the counter from itself to get it back to 0.
$countReset = $userCount - $userCount;
However, it doesn't seem to work. the counter itself works, but I am unable to get it to reset back to 0.
This is just an impression like script I'm doing as a way to learn php. Also, sorry about the format, struggling with this post editor.
Any help with the script?

Answer 1

You've closed the file before trying to write to it again. Before your second fwrite, add:
$file = fopen("count.txt","w+");

Answer 2

Try to simply set value 0 to the var:
$countReset = 0;

Answer 3

Couldn't you just edit the count.txt file?
Doing it in PHP, you could do
fwrite($file,'0');
EDIT: Like CanSpice said, you shouldn't close the file before you're done with it. Remove the first fclose, and it should work.

Answer 4

I wouldn't mix fopen() and file_get_content() functions in this context, either use fopen(), fread() and fwrite() or use file_get_contents() and file_put_contents().
If you need just reset counter and you don't need previous value, than use:
file_put_contents('count.txt', '0');
If you need update value you may use either:
$count = file_get_contents( 'count.txt');
$count++;
// Reset?
if( $reset){
$count = 0;
}
file_put_contents( 'count.txt', "$count");
Or rather:
$fp = fopen( 'count.txt', 'r+') or die( 'Cannot use counter');
$count = trim( fread( $fp, 1024));
$count++;
// Reset?
if( $reset){
$count = 0;
}
ftruncate( $fp, 0);
fseek( 0, SEEK_SET)
fwrite( $fp, "$count");
fclose( $fp);
Here are the manual pages for ftruncate() and fseek() + you should probably study flock() so two scripts wouldn't overwrite the content at the same time.

Answer 5

/****************************************************************************
* read the current count from the counter file, increment
* it by 1, and re-save the new value off to the file
***************************************************************************/
function getAndIncrementCount(){
// attempt to open the file
// a+ means keep the contents so we can read it at least once,
// but allow us to overwrite the value once we increment it
if (($fHandle = fopen('count.txt','a+')) !== FALSE){
// read in the count (also cast to an int so if there is
// an invalid (or absent) value it will default to a 0
$count = (int) fread($fHandle, 100);
// increase the counter
$count++;
// go back to the beginning of the file
fseek($fHandle, 0);
// re-write the new count back to the file
fwrite($fHandle, $count);
// cose the file now that we're done with it
fclose($fHandle);
// return back the count
return $count;
}
// we couldn't get to the file, so return an error flag
return FALSE;
}
/****************************************************************************
* write the specified value to the counter file
***************************************************************************/
function setCount($count = 0){
// attempt to open the file with over-write permissions
// w+ will open the file and clear it
if (($fHandle = fopen('count.txt','w+')){
// write the counter to the file
fwrite($fHandle, $count);
// close the file now that we're done
fclose($fHandle);
// return the newly saved count
return $count;
}
// we couldn't get to the file, so return an error flag
return FALSE;
}
And applied in practice:
$userCount = getAndIncrementCount();
echo "The number of visitors is: {$userCount}";
if ($userCount < 20){
echo "Not Yet";
}else{
echo "Done!";
}
if ($userCount > 40){
setCount(0);
}

Answer 6

It's because you are not rewriting the file contents but adding to them when you use the fwrite second time, so $countReset gets appended to the content already in the file. Try this:
$userCount = file_get_contents("count.txt");
$userCount = $userCount + 1;
$countReset = $userCount - $userCount;
file_put_contents("count.txt", $userCount);
print "The number of visitors is: $userCount\n";
if ($userCount < 20){
echo 'not yet';
}
else {
echo 'done!';
}
if ($userCount > 40){
file_put_contents("count.txt", $countReset);
}