PHP fgetc(): Get a Single Character from a File

The PHP fgetc() function fetches and returns a single character from a file. For example:

<?php
   $fp = fopen("codescracker.txt", "r");
   echo fgetc($fp);
   fclose($fp);
?>

The output produced by the above PHP example on the fgetc() function is:

That is, the output is H, which is the first character of the file codescracker.txt. Here is a snapshot of the opened file codescracker.txt, available in the current directory:

Note: The fopen() function opens a file.

Note: The fclose() function closes a file.

You can use feof() to continue fetching until the end of the file and the fgetc() function to read all the content of the file in a character-by-character manner. Here is an example:

<?php
   $fp = fopen("codescracker.txt", "r");
   if($fp)
   {
      while(!feof($fp))
      {
         $character = fgetc($fp);
         if($character == "\n")
            echo "<br>";
         else
            echo $character;
      }
      fclose($fp);
   }
   else
      echo "<p>Unable to open the file!</p>";
?>

Now the output should be:

Note: The feof() function checks whether the file pointer has been reached at the end of the file.

Recommendation: Since this function fetches data in a character-by-character manner, it makes your application slower for large files. But still, if you need to fetch data character-by-character, you can use the fgets() function to read one line, then fetch that line character-by-character, then do the same for the second line, and so on.

PHP fgetc() Syntax

The syntax of the fgetc() function in PHP is:

fgetc(filePointer)

Advantages of the fgetc() function in PHP

• Memory usage: The script uses less memory thanks to the fgetc() function, which reads each character one at a time. When reading large files, this is particularly helpful.
• More control over the file reading process is available with the fgetc() function than with the file() function. You can, for instance, read only certain parts of the file or skip over specific characters or lines.
• Flexibility: The fgetc() function works with a wide range of file types, including binary files, network streams, and text files.
• Error handling: If the file cannot be read, the fgetc() function provides thorough error messages, making it simpler to troubleshoot problems with the file reading procedure.

Disadvantages of the fgetc() function in PHP

• Efficiency: Because it takes multiple calls to read an entire file, the fgetc() function can be less effective than the file() function when reading large files.
• Code complexity: When compared to using the file() function, the fgetc() function can produce more complex code because it reads one character at a time.
• Performance degradation: When reading multiple characters at once or large files, the fgetc() function may perform more slowly than other file reading functions.

PHP Online Test