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Asked: 2026-06-13T09:08:57+00:00

I am trying to build a CSV file in PHP, then call the PHP

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I am trying to build a CSV file in PHP, then call the PHP file from an AJAX call, which will then initiate a download of the CSV file upon success of the AJAX call. This works fine if I save a physical copy of the .csv on the server, but I would like to use php://ouput so I do not have to worry about physical files clogging up the server. Is it possible to initiate a download from returning php://output to AJAX? Here is my code:

HTML/jquery:

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html lang="en">
    <head>
        <meta charset="utf-8" />
        <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript" src="jquery.js"></script>
        <script type="text/javascript">
             $("#download").live("click", function() {
                var request = $.ajax({
                    dataType: 'html',
                    url: 'php.php',
                    success: function(response) {
                        alert('Finished');
                    }
                })
            })
        </script>
    </head>
    <body>
        <h1 id="download">DOWNLOAD</h1>
    </body>
</html>

PHP:

<?php 
    header('Content-type: application/vnd.ms-excel');
    header('Content-disposition: attachment; filename="test.csv"');
    $f = fopen('php://output', 'w');
    fwrite($f,'this,is,a,test');
    fclose($f);
    readfile('php://output');
    return;
?>

I am not sure how to get this to return a File Save dialog from my AJAX call.

This has to be simple, but I can’t seem to find any examples that combines these two issues.

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    The following works, but is highly inneficient as it calls the php.php file twice. Does anybody have any better ideas?

    <!DOCTYPE html>

<html lang="en">
    <head>
        <meta charset="utf-8" />
        <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript" src="jquery.js"></script>
        <script type="text/javascript">
             $("#download").live("click", function() {
                var request = $.ajax({
                    dataType: 'html',
                    url: 'php.php',
                    success: function(response) {
                        window.open('php.php');
                    }
                })
            })
        </script>
    </head>
    <body>
        <h1 id="download">DOWNLOAD</h1>
    </body>
</html>

    Is there anyway to cache ‘php.php’ for just this instance so that it loads instantly under window.open('php.php'), but will reload contents when I click download next?

    Why does window.open(response) not work the same?

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