Insert line on the fly in a file with PHP - php

Question

I want to make a .php file downloadable by my users.
Every file is different from an user to another:
at the line #20 I define a variable equal to the user ID.
To do so I tried this: Copy the original file. Read it until line 19 (fgets) then fputs a PHP line, and then offer the file to download.
Problem is, the line is not inserted after line 19 but at the end of the .php file. Here is the code:
if (is_writable($filename)) {
if (!$handle = fopen($filename, 'a+')) {
echo "Cannot open file ($filename)";
exit;
}
for ($i = 1; $i <= 19; $i++) {
$offset = fgets($handle);
}
if (fwrite($handle, $somecontent) === FALSE) {
exit;
}
fclose($handle);
}
What would you do ?

Answer 1

append mode +a in fopen() places the handle's pointer at the end of the file. Your fgets() loop will fail as there's nothing left to read at the end of the file. You're basically doing 19 no-ops. Your fwrite will then output your new value at the end of the file, as expected.
To do your insert, you'd need to rewind() the handle to the beginning, then do your fgets() loop.
However, if you're just wanting people to get this modified file, why bother doing the "open file, scan through, write change, serve up file"? This'd leave a multitude of near-duplicates on your system. A better method would be to split your file into two parts, and then you could do a simple:
readfile('first_part.txt');
echo "The value you want to insert";
readfile('last_part.txt');
which saves you having to save the 'new' file each time. This would also allow arbitrary length inserts. Your fwrite method could potentially trash later parts of the file. e.g. You scan to offset "10" and write out 4 bytes, which replaces the original 4 bytes at that location in the original file. At some point, maybe it turns into 5 bytes of output, and now you've trashed a byte in the original and maybe have a corrupted file.

Answer 2

The a+ mode means:
'a+' Open for reading and writing; place the file pointer at the end of the file. If the file does not exist, attempt to create it.
You probably want r+
'r+' Open for reading and writing; place the file pointer at the beginning of the file.

Answer 3

Put your desired code in one string variable. Where you will have %s at point where you want to customize your code. After that just respond with php MIME type.
eg;
$phpCode = "if (foo == blah) { lala lala + 4; %s = 5; }", $user_specific_variable;
header('Content-type: text/php');
echo $phpCode;
Voila.
NB: Maybe mime type is not correct, I am talking out of my ass here.

Answer 4

I think instead of opening the file in "a+" mode, you should open the file in "r+" mode, because "a" always appends to the file. But I think the write will anyways overwrite your current data. So, the idea is that you'll need to buffer the file, from the point where you intend to write to the EOF. Then add your line followed by what you had buffered.
Another approach might be to keep some pattern in your PHP file, like ######. You can then:
1. copy the original PHP script
2. read the complete PHP script into a single variable, say $fileContent, using file_get_contents()
3. use str_replace() function to replace ###### in $fileContent with desired User ID
4. open the copied PHP script in "a" mode and rewrite $fileContent to it.