PHP file_get_contents Function: Description, Parameters, Return Value, and Usage Examples

The file_get_contents() function reads an entire file into a string and is the preferred method for file content retrieval in PHP, optionally using memory‑mapped I/O for better performance.

Parameters :

filename : the path to the file to read.

use_include_path : (bool) whether to search the include_path (available since PHP 5).

context : a stream context resource; use NULL if not needed.

offset : the starting position for reading (not supported for remote files).

maxlen : the maximum number of bytes to read; defaults to reading until EOF.

Return value : on success, the function returns the file’s contents as a string; on failure it returns FALSE .

Examples :

<?php
$homepage = file_get_contents('http://www.example.com/');
echo $homepage;
?>

Read a local file using the include path flag (PHP 5 and later):

<?php
// PHP 5 and later
$file = file_get_contents('./people.txt', FILE_USE_INCLUDE_PATH);
?>

Read a specific portion of a file (starting at byte 20, reading 14 bytes):

<?php
$section = file_get_contents('./people.txt', NULL, NULL, 20, 14);
var_dump($section);
?>

Use a custom stream context to set HTTP headers before fetching a remote file:

<?php
$opts = array(
    'http' => array(
        'method'  => "GET",
        'header'  => "Accept-language: en\r\n".
                    "Cookie: foo=bar\r\n"
    )
);
$context = stream_context_create($opts);
$file = file_get_contents('http://www.example.com/', false, $context);
?>