PHP fgetc() Function: Reading Characters from Files and Standard Input

In PHP, the fgetc() function reads a single character from an open file and advances the file pointer.

Before using fgetc() , a file must be opened with fopen() . Example:

$file = fopen("example.txt", "r");
if ($file) {
    // file opened successfully
    // perform other file operations
} else {
    echo "Unable to open file!";
}

After opening the file, fgetc($file) reads one character. Its syntax is:

fgetc($file)

The variable $file is a resource pointer to the opened file. The following example reads the entire file character by character and outputs each character:

$file = fopen("example.txt", "r");
if ($file) {
    while (($char = fgetc($file)) !== false) {
        echo $char;
    }
    fclose($file);
} else {
    echo "Unable to open file!";
}

The loop uses while to read each character until fgetc() returns false, indicating end of file.

Besides file reading, fgetc() can read a character from user input via STDIN . Example:

echo "Please enter a character: ";
$input = fgetc(STDIN);

switch ($input) {
    case 'a':
        echo "You entered the letter a";
        break;
    case 'b':
        echo "You entered the letter b";
        break;
    case 'c':
        echo "You entered the letter c";
        break;
    default:
        echo "Invalid character entered";
}

This script prompts the user, captures a single character, and uses a switch statement to respond accordingly.

In summary, the fgetc() function is a PHP built‑in for reading a single character from a file or from standard input, and the examples above demonstrate its correct usage for file operations and interactive input.