how to do this: to get data from a .csv file

[rcajht]

hi, I am new to PHP, I want following functions, do I need use mySQL database, xml or not, I read several tutorials, still do not have any idea, anybody can give me a help.

I need to get the data from a .csv or .txt file.
for example:
1. web visitor use a form input "name".
2. to get that name's data from a .csv or .txt file.
3. return those data to the web page.

dgdf 3 5 6
dddd 5 6 7

visit input "dddd", then show "5 6 7" to the page.

[jestep]

You can use the function fgetcsv() to get a csv and parse it into an array.

http://us2.php.net/fget_csv

One thing you should be careful of, is that you need to make sure that you clean the users input before you do anything with it. Do not take a user's input from the form field and try to execute anything with it. This would be a big security hole.

here's a simple script that should be able to get you started.


$file = $userfilename; //make sure to validate and clean this before doing anything with it

$fp = fopen("$file","r");
// do not do this -- $fp = fopen($_POST['file'],"r");


while (($line =fgetcsv($fp, 4000, ",")) !== false){

//data is put into an array
// $line[0] = first value
// $line[1] = second value, etc...


}

fclose($fp);

[rcajht]

thanks a lot. I will try it.

[technoguy]

I generally use fopen and fread to read csv f iles line by line and use explode to store comma seperated values in variable.