Reading files in PHP can be a tricky business if not handled correctly. Most often when confronted with reading a line from, the nearest tool to hand is the file() function. The problem with using the file() function is that it reads the whole file into an array, and thus, into memory [...] A better, and more efficient way is to loop through the file stream using the stream_get_line() function. Care still needs to be taken to clear the buffer on each iteration, or the same problem could potentially arise as with the file() method.

The code calls fopen on the file and, while it's not the end of the file, uses the stream_get_line function to grab things a line at a time. This saves you from having to read in the entire file (like with a file_get_contents or file - especially good for large files.

This entry is a continuation of the Solar CLI series--a series that aims to detail Solar CLI commands, available options, parameters, and usage examples. In this entry we take a look at make-model, a command that can generate models based on a SQL table.

The post goes through the available options and parameters that you can give the command to make things easier and includes an example of running the "make-model" on a table in a MySQL database (with the code to add to your Solar configuration file to match).

The Xdebug extension comes equipped with many other functions, however, that allow you to debug PHP applications more deeply. Therefore, in this second article of the series, I'll be discussing how to use another useful function included with the extension, called "xdebug_call_function()," which as its name suggests, can be utilized for keeping track of the functions called by a PHP script.

They start with a look back at two of the other xdebug functions - xdebug_call_file and xdebug_call_line - before showing how to use this new function (xdebug_call_function) to get the function that called your custom handler.

After reading something on the php-general list I decided that a) I'm bored, and b) I'll write something which handles it. So here it is.

His code is simple - looping through the lines of the file until it locates your desired target (with some error checking along the way). Plus, if it's already fetched, it keeps it in a cached array for future retrieval.

One thing, I missed with either of the two [other solutions mentioned], was the ability to see the entire manual entry. It's quite often, that the manual actually holds useful information (Who'd known that!), so I find myself using www.php.net a lot. Or I did, until I decided to do something about it. Now, shell-scripting isn't what I spent most of my time on, so it's not with out a bit of pride, that I present to you phpm two-oh.

Most of the rest of the post is his bash script ready top cut and paste as well as some simple instructions on getting it working. (An emacs bonus is also included - a method for binding the script to a key to act on the current word.)

This example demonstrates how Imagick can be used to create graphs. This graphing class itself is mostly a demonstrative example. There are also some hardcoded values in the graph (like the steps in the values on the left hand side) but it should not be hard to refine it into a more elegant graphing solution.

The graph is made using the Imagick drawing functions that extends the standard "draw" class. The code produces a graph with a (straight) line drawn from point to point - code and output examples are both included.

phpa is an interactive command line shell for PHP by David Phillips. Stefan Fischerlander, usually known as a SEO expert and Perl admirer, has patched phpa for Mac OS X and Windows (the default builds theredo not seem to support a feature required by phpa). The result: phpa-norl. Stefan successfully ran this on OS X, and I could confirm that it runs on Windows, as well

He also mentions some features of the client including a history feature that makes looking back through previous commands simple.

The "bake" utility is included with the CakePHP distribution and helps a developer scaffold out an application with minimal effort. Things have been changed in the recent distributions, though:

Unlike the old bake.php, which was only used to auto-generate code for you, this one follows a much cooler concept. The main idea is to have an interface to a wide variety Tasks.

The new and improved "bake" program takes the tasks created and builds out a bit more functionality than just the scaffolding as the version before did. Felix includes an example of a task (a simple echo) just to show how it's formatted.

PHP is traditionally only used on the internet to power our websites, but it's also capable of doing more. Since version 4.3 PHP ships with a special version which can be used to execute scripts on the command line, and do certain system tasks. If you're a Linux user, you probably know what the command line is, but if you're a Windows user you might not.

They show the code/commands in the examples they give in the context of it running on a Windows machine, but it's not a far leap to work with it on a unix-based system as well. They start with the basics - how to get to it, how to use it - before moving on to other features, like taking in arguments. They wrap it up with a sample application, a calculator, that can do the four basic operations on the two numbers entered.]]> Mon, 13 Mar 2006 07:26:42 -0600