php man page for fread

FREAD(3)								 1								  FREAD(3)

fread - Binary-safe file read

SYNOPSIS
       string fread (resource  $handle, int  $length)

DESCRIPTION
       fread(3) reads up to $length bytes from the file pointer referenced by $handle. Reading stops as soon as one of the following conditions is
       met:

	      o$length bytes have been read

	      o EOF (end of file) is reached

	      o a packet becomes available or the  socket timeout occurs (for network streams)

	      o if the stream is read buffered and it does not represent a plain file, at most one read of up to a number of bytes  equal  to  the
	      chunk  size  (usually 8192) is made; depending on the previously buffered data, the size of the returned data may be larger than the
	      chunk size.

PARAMETERS
	      o $handle
		-A file system pointer resource that is typically created using fopen(3).

	      o $length
		- Up to $length number of bytes read.

RETURN VALUES
	Returns the read string or FALSE on failure.

EXAMPLES
       Example #1

	      A simple fread(3) example

	      <?php
	      // get contents of a file into a string
	      $filename = "/usr/local/something.txt";
	      $handle = fopen($filename, "r");
	      $contents = fread($handle, filesize($filename));
	      fclose($handle);
	      ?>

       Example #2

	      Binary fread(3) example

	      Warning

		      On systems which differentiate between binary and text files (i.e. Windows) the file must be opened  with  'b'  included	in
		     fopen(3) mode parameter.

	      <?php
	      $filename = "c:\files\somepic.gif";
	      $handle = fopen($filename, "rb");
	      $contents = fread($handle, filesize($filename));
	      fclose($handle);
	      ?>

       Example #3

	      Remote fread(3) examples

	      Warning

		      When  reading  from  anything  that  is not a regular local file, such as streams returned when reading remote files or from
		     popen(3) and fsockopen(3), reading will stop after a packet is available.	This  means  that  you	should	collect  the  data
		     together in chunks as shown in the examples below.

	      <?php
	      // For PHP 5 and up
	      $handle = fopen("http://www.example.com/", "rb");
	      $contents = stream_get_contents($handle);
	      fclose($handle);
	      ?>

	      <?php
	      $handle = fopen("http://www.example.com/", "rb");
	      if (FALSE === $handle) {
		  exit("Failed to open stream to URL");
	      }

	      $contents = '';

	      while (!feof($handle)) {
		  $contents .= fread($handle, 8192);
	      }
	      fclose($handle);
	      ?>

NOTES
       Note

	       If  you	just want to get the contents of a file into a string, use file_get_contents(3) as it has much better performance than the
	      code above.

       Note

	       Note that fread(3) reads from the current position of the file pointer. Use ftell(3) to find the current position  of  the  pointer
	      and rewind(3) to rewind the pointer position.

SEE ALSO
       fwrite(3), fopen(3), fsockopen(3), popen(3), fgets(3), fgetss(3), fscanf(3), file(3), fpassthru(3), ftell(3), rewind(3).

PHP Documentation Group 														  FREAD(3)