PHP - simple download script

Question

I'm making a simple download script, where my users can download their own images etc.

But I'm having some weird problem.

When I've downloaded the file, it's having the contents from my index.php file no matter what filetype I've downloaded.. My code is like so:

$fullPath = $r['snptFilepath'] . $r['snptFilename'];

if (file_exists($fullPath)) {

    #echo $fullPath;

    // setting headers
    header('Content-Description: File Transfer');
    header('Cache-Control: public'); # needed for IE
    header('Content-Type: '.$r['snptFiletype'].'');
    header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename='. $filename . '.' . $r['snptExtension']);
    header('Content-Length: '.$r['snptSize'].'');
    readfile($fullPath)or die('error!');
} else {
    die('File does not exist');
}

$r is the result from my database, where I've stored size, type, path etc. when the file is uploaded.

UPDATE

When I'm uploading and downloading *.pdf files it's working with success. But when I'm trying to download *.zip and text/rtf, text/plain it's acting weird.

By weird I mean: It downloads the full index.php file, with the downloaded file contents inside of it.

ANSWER

I copied this from http://php.net/manual/en/function.readfile.php and it's working now. It seems that : ob_clean(); did the trick! Thanks for the help everyone.

#setting headers
    header('Content-Description: File Transfer');
    header('Content-Type: '.$type);
    header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename='.basename($file));
    header('Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary');
    header('Expires: 0');
    header('Cache-Control: must-revalidate');
    header('Pragma: public');
    header('Content-Length: ' . filesize($file));
    ob_clean();
    flush();
    readfile($file);
    exit;

`readfile("$fullPath")` no need to use `"` here. Try to replace `header` and `readfile` with `echo` and see what you actually send to user's browser. — Alexander Larikov, Sep 06 '12 at 08:09
@AlexanderLarikov When I echo headers, it looks fine. And when echoing readfile I get alot of content, with "?"-sign.. — skolind, Sep 06 '12 at 08:12
@Kolind then check part of code where you get `$fullPath` variable. Its empty for some reason — Alexander Larikov, Sep 06 '12 at 08:14
@AlexanderLarikov Well, when I echo the $fullPath it's not empty :s — skolind, Sep 06 '12 at 08:16
@AlexanderLarikov Does it have anything to do with, that I'm running localhost? — skolind, Sep 06 '12 at 08:32
Stupid question, but as far as I see it you download files from the DOCUMENT_ROOT. Why not just redirect the users browser using `header('HTTP/1.1 302 Redirect'); header("Location: $r['snptFilepath'] . $r['snptFilename']")`? Everything else is then left to the WebServer. — heiglandreas, Sep 06 '12 at 09:01
@heiglandreas Hmm, no idea why that would be better. Well, I'm not downloading from DOCUMENT_ROOT anymore. Just the path. — skolind, Sep 06 '12 at 09:04
@Kolind You would leave out the index.php from downloading. But when you don't do it from the DOCUMENT_ROOT thats not an option. — heiglandreas, Sep 06 '12 at 09:24

score 11 · Answer 1 · edited Jul 25 '14 at 11:13

Try this function , or implement these headers to your code

    function force_download($filename) {
    $filedata = @file_get_contents($filename);

    // SUCCESS
    if ($filedata)
    {
        // GET A NAME FOR THE FILE
        $basename = basename($filename);

        // THESE HEADERS ARE USED ON ALL BROWSERS
        header("Content-Type: application-x/force-download");
        header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=$basename");
        header("Content-length: " . (string)(strlen($filedata)));
        header("Expires: ".gmdate("D, d M Y H:i:s", mktime(date("H")+2, date("i"), date("s"), date("m"), date("d"), date("Y")))." GMT");
        header("Last-Modified: ".gmdate("D, d M Y H:i:s")." GMT");

        // THIS HEADER MUST BE OMITTED FOR IE 6+
        if (FALSE === strpos($_SERVER["HTTP_USER_AGENT"], 'MSIE '))
        {
            header("Cache-Control: no-cache, must-revalidate");
        }

        // THIS IS THE LAST HEADER
        header("Pragma: no-cache");

        // FLUSH THE HEADERS TO THE BROWSER
        flush();

        // CAPTURE THE FILE IN THE OUTPUT BUFFERS - WILL BE FLUSHED AT SCRIPT END
        ob_start();
        echo $filedata;
    }

    // FAILURE
    else
    {
        die("ERROR: UNABLE TO OPEN $filename");
    }
}

for me it didnt download it just outputed :ERROR: UNABLE TO OPEN but used this link http://www.infosearchshop.com/59-php-script-for-downloading-files — kinsley kajiva, Oct 08 '17 at 07:22
@kinsleykajiva as you can see in the code if ($filedata) returned false in your case. Download is not possible if your script cant get access to file. Possibly @file_get_contents($filename); couldn't get file. Remove @ to see error. Better check file path. — Erdinç Çorbacı, Mar 22 '18 at 09:31

score 8 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 06 '12 at 09:18

I copied this from http://php.net/manual/en/function.readfile.php and it works now. ob_clean(); did the trick..

    #setting headers
    header('Content-Description: File Transfer');
    header('Cache-Control: public');
    header('Content-Type: '.$type);
    header("Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary");
    header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename='. basename($file));
    header('Content-Length: '.filesize($file));
    ob_clean(); #THIS!
    flush();
    readfile($file);

PHP - simple download script

2 Answers2

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