"ifelse" command in the "include" - php

Question

where in error?
<?
if($_GET['data'])
{
print 'atmam';
include ('http://downloads.website.com/download/3725f5eea93437e9de52f9b15854f5c1');
}
else {
print 'fail to download'; }
?>
Written on the screen error:
Warning: Unexpected character in input: '' (ASCII=1) state=1 in http://downloads.website.com/download/3725f5eea93437e9de52f9b15854f5c1 on line 515
Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_STRING in http://downloads.website.com/download/3725f5eea93437e9de52f9b15854f5c1 on line 515
PS: http://downloads.website.com/download/3725f5eea93437e9de52f9b15854f5c1 = direct file download link
Can you help?
Best regards

Answer 1

See if this does something like what you want:
<?php
if ($_GET['data']) {
// Some headers that indicate a generic download
header('Content-Type: application/octet-stream');
header('Content-Disposition: attachment');
// Try and read the file directly to the client
if (!#readfile('http://downloads.website.com/download/3725f5eea93437e9de52f9b15854f5c1')) {
// Try and clear the header and print a message. This may not work depending on the result of the readfile() attempt.
#header('Content-Disposition:');
print 'fail to download';
}
exit;
}
?>
An alternative (and many would argue better) approach is this:
<?php
if ($_GET['data']) {
// Redirect the client to the actual location
header('HTTP/1.1 302 Found');
header('Location: http://downloads.website.com/download/3725f5eea93437e9de52f9b15854f5c1');
exit;
}
?>

Answer 2

PHP provides a function called file_exists for this purpose. $_GET['data'] is for getting information out of the html element with name="data" attached to it. If you do not have this in your document the script will NEVER run as its looking for something that doesn't exist. Even if the element does exist, this is not a necessary nor recommended use of $_GET.
To find out more about what you're trying to do check this link, and look at my examples.
http://php.net/manual/en/function.file-exists.php
To use it you simply do this:
$filename = 'http://downloads.website.com/download/3725f5eea93437e9de52f9b15854f5c1';
if (file_exists($filename)) {
echo 'atmam';
include ('$filename');
}
else
echo 'Failed to download file';
I'm assuming you are going to use this for any files your site has to access, to save you time you can use it in a function.
function testfile(filename) {
if (file_exists(filename)) {
echo 'atmam';
include ('filename');
}
else
echo 'Failed to download file';
}
Call the function like this:
$filename1 = 'http://downloads.website.com/download/3725f5eea93437e9de52f9b15854f5c1';
$filename2 = 'something.txt';
function testfile($filename1);
Using the function you can check as many file names as you want using variables for each file name.
Edit: To solve the syntax error that is coming up, you must make sure the file being included has no errors. Please post it here for us to look at. Removing echos and prints will change nothing, in fact you want those in there in order to debug. First try using the small bit of code I've put here, this is the correct method to check if a file exists, and if it does, do something. Once you are using the correct code to check the file and include it, then you will be sure that once you fix any issues in the include file you are going to have the functionality you want.
Hope this helps you out!
-Sean