php man page for fpassthru

FPASSTHRU(3)								 1							      FPASSTHRU(3)

fpassthru - Output all remaining data on a file pointer

SYNOPSIS
       int fpassthru (resource	$handle)

DESCRIPTION
	Reads to EOF on the given file pointer from the current position and writes the results to the output buffer.

	You may need to call rewind(3) to reset the file pointer to the beginning of the file if you have already written data to the file.

	If  you  just  want to dump the contents of a file to the output buffer, without first modifying it or seeking to a particular offset, you
       may want to use the readfile(3), which saves you the fopen(3) call.

PARAMETERS
	      o $handle
		-The file pointer must be valid, and must point to a file successfully opened by fopen(3) or fsockopen(3) (and not yet	closed	by
		fclose(3)).

RETURN VALUES
	If  an	error  occurs,	fpassthru(3)  returns FALSE. Otherwise, fpassthru(3) returns the number of characters read from $handle and passed
       through to the output.

EXAMPLES
       Example #1

	      Using fpassthru(3) with binary files

	      <?php

	      // open the file in a binary mode
	      $name = './img/ok.png';
	      $fp = fopen($name, 'rb');

	      // send the right headers
	      header("Content-Type: image/png");
	      header("Content-Length: " . filesize($name));

	      // dump the picture and stop the script
	      fpassthru($fp);
	      exit;

	      ?>

NOTES
       Note

	       When using fpassthru(3) on a binary file on Windows systems, you should make sure to open the file in binary mode by appending a  b
	      to the mode used in the call to fopen(3).

	       You  are encouraged to use the b flag when dealing with binary files, even if your system does not require it, so that your scripts
	      will be more portable.

SEE ALSO
       readfile(3), fopen(3), popen(3), fsockopen(3).

PHP Documentation Group 													      FPASSTHRU(3)