meet it

Check a file is there, then read it line by line.

Reading a file that does not exist stops PHP with an ErrorException that says Failed to open stream. So check first: gives true when there is a file at that path.

file($path) reads a file into an array, one item per line. Each item keeps its \n on the end, unless you pass the FILE_IGNORE_NEW_LINES. A flag is a constant that switches on an extra behaviour, like FILE_APPEND did.

Then a foreach can work through the lines, as with any array.

<?php
$path = sys_get_temp_dir() . "/shopping.txt";
file_put_contents($path, "bread\nmilk\neggs\n");
if (file_exists($path)) {
    $items = file($path, FILE_IGNORE_NEW_LINES);
    echo count($items) . " things to buy\n";
    foreach ($items as $number => $item) {
        echo ($number + 1) . ". $item\n";
    }
}

Build the path once at the top and reuse it, so every line talks about the same file.

guess first

Read back the high scores. What will this show?

Guess before you run it. Wrong guesses are how you learn, and nothing is marked.

<?php
$path = sys_get_temp_dir() . "/high-scores.txt";
file_put_contents($path, "Ava:120\nBo:95\n");
$lines = file($path, FILE_IGNORE_NEW_LINES);
[$name, $score] = explode(":", $lines[1]);
echo "$name has $score points\n";

your turn

Your turn. Save a film list.

Type three film titles, one in each blank. Run it to save them and read them back as lines.

Your code

press run to see what happens

fix it

The recipe was saved, but it will not load. Fix it.

Broken code to fix

press run to see what happens

Read the error: Failed to open stream. Which file is line 4 trying to read?
Compare the file name on line 2 with the one on line 4, letter by letter.
Read from $path on line 4, so both lines use the same file, then press run.

nailed it

you can read your files back, line by line. :D

file_exists checks a file is there before you read it.
file gives an array with one item per line.
FILE_IGNORE_NEW_LINES drops the \n from each line.

new words in your collection

file_exists
flag

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