save content of a textarea to .txt file using PHP

Question

I have a code which should save content from a text area as a text file using PHP, File is getting created if I click the button, but no data is written inside that.

Code:

           <form  method="POST" action="">
              <div data-label="Index.php" class="demo-code-preview" contentEditable="true">
                          <pre><code class="language-html">
                              <textarea name="content">
                            <?php
                              $file = "index.php";
                              echo(htmlspecialchars(file_get_contents($file)));
                              ?>
                            </textarea>
                          </code></pre>
              </div>
            </a>
              <a href="?SubmitFile=true" class="bar-anchor" name="SaveFile">
               <span>Save</span>
            <div class="transition-bar"></div>
            </a>
          </form>



<?php
if (isset($_GET['SubmitFile'])){
    $content = $_POST['content'];
    echo "<script>console.log('" . $content . "' );</script>";
    $file = "myfile.txt"; // cannot be an online resource
    $Saved_File = fopen($file, 'a+');
    fwrite($Saved_File, $content);
    fclose($Saved_File);
  }
?>

Use if (isset($_POST['SubmitFile'])){ – Ken Lee Jul 13 '21 at 12:07 — Ken Lee, Jul 13 '21 at 12:07
tried it , but not working @KenLee – Gowri Lakshmi Jul 13 '21 at 13:55 — Gowri Lakshmi, Jul 13 '21 at 13:55

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 13 '21 at 13:16

You are not actually submitting the form, you are only passing the SubmitFile parameter as a GET parameter when you click the link. The easiest thing to do is replace the link with a submit button, and change your PHP to look for that parameter in the POST.

If you really need to use a link to submit the form, you will need to employ some javascript to cancel the default event on the link and submit the form. In that case, you will need to add the SubmitFile parameter as a hidden field.

<form method="POST" action="">
    <div data-label="Index.php" class="demo-code-preview" contentEditable="true">
          <pre><code class="language-html">
              <textarea name="content">
            <?php
            $file = "index.php";
            echo(htmlspecialchars(file_get_contents($file)));
            ?>
            </textarea>
          </code></pre>
    </div>
    <!-- 
    This does not submit the form, it only makes a get request with the SubmitFile parameter.
    You need ot submit the form and send the SubmitFile in the post, or add the SubmitFile
    parameter to the form action if you really want to see it in the GET params.
       
    <a href="?SubmitFile=true" class="bar-anchor" name="SaveFile"><span>Save</span></a>
    -->
    <button type="submit" name="SubmitFile">Save</button>
</form>


<?php
/*
 * This will be true if the parameter is in the GET, but does not guarantee that
 * the form was posted, so you cannot rely on this as a GET parameter.
 * Change it to POST in the markup and here.
 * 
 * if (isset($_GET['SubmitFile']))
 */
if (isset($_POST['SubmitFile']))
{
    $content = $_POST['content'];
    echo "<script>console.log('" . $content . "' );</script>";
    $file       = "myfile.txt"; // cannot be an online resource
    $Saved_File = fopen($file, 'a+');
    fwrite($Saved_File, $content);
    fclose($Saved_File);
}
?>

but still , data is not getting appended on written into myfile.txt — Gowri Lakshmi, Jul 13 '21 at 13:55
actually ,this is working , when i run it individually , and when i run along with my code , it's not working , think that is because of ***
*** , when removing this tag , it working , but when i include it is not . How can i include this and make this code work — Gowri Lakshmi, Jul 13 '21 at 14:01
It looks like you're trying to use contenteditable as a standard form field, which will not work. Look into how contenteditable works. The accepted answer to this question is a good start: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6247702/using-html5-how-do-i-use-contenteditable-fields-in-a-form-submission — Rob Ruchte, Jul 13 '21 at 14:15

save content of a textarea to .txt file using PHP

1 Answers1