Search code examples
phpfiledelete-row

Delete all lines before a line that included specific word in a file by using php


I need a simple code in php that can delete all lines before a line that included a specific word, for example this is contents of foo.txt:

.

.

eroigjeoj

dvjdofgj

dsfdsft

reytyjkjm

.

.

[DATA]

1,2,4

3,4,5

.

.

.

I want to delete all lines before line that included "[DATA]" and delete that line too. and the result be a foo.txt with this content:

1,2,4

3,4,5

.

.

.

Solution

  • Here is one approach, maybe not the most efficient.

    • Create a new text file (text2).

      $text2 = fopen("text2", "w");
      
    • Initialise a boolean value to false.

      $hitWord = false;
      
    • Read through original text file (text1) line by line until you hit the String '[DATA]', adding the subsequent lines to text2

      $handle = fopen("text1.txt", "r");
      if ($handle) {
         while (($line = fgets($handle)) !== false) {
             if($hitWord){
                 fwrite($text2, $line . "\n");
             }else{
                 if(strpos($line,'[DATA]') !== false){
                     $hitWord = true;
                 }
             }
         }
         fclose($handle);
      } else {
      // error opening the file.
      } 
      
    • Delete text1 using unlink($text1) // you will need path

    • Rename text2 to text1 using rename() function.

    ALTERNATIVELY

    You could use the same approach above. Except instead of editing a new text file, edit a new String and just replace all the lines in text1 with this string at the end of the program.

    This would save you having to create/delete/edit new files. Make sure new line is used correctly