Re: searching and replacing in a file

Richard Kurth wrote:

How can I read through a file and find a string and then replace it with a new string and then save the whole file. Below is a peace of what I need to search through. I need to find the string subscribe_policy = open and replace it with subscribe_policy = open+confirm. Then save the whole file. I have tried str_replace but it just wipes out the original file. <snip>

Have php... 1) Make a copy of the original: if ( ! copy ( $old_file, $backup_file . ".bak" ) ) { // Uh-oh, there's an error } 2) Read the original and open a temp file: $file_contents = file ( $old_file ); if ( ! $fp = fopen ( $temp_file, "w+" ) ) { // Oh my, can't open the file } 3) Parse and write: for ( $i = 0; $i < sizeof ( $file_contents ); $i++ ) { $write_this = preg_replace ( $pattern, $replacement, $file_contents[$i] ); if ( ! fwrite ( $fp, $write_this ) ) { // Darn, can't write to the temp file } } 4) Cleanup and copy temp file: fclose ( $fp ); if ( ! copy ( $temp_file, $old_file ) ) { // Zoinks, there seems to be a problem } It's 5:00 am for me, and I'm typing all this from memory, so there may be bugs :) You can remove the temp file if you so desire if the above runs without error. -- By-Tor.com It's all about the Rush http://www.by-tor.com