Question

I am trying to open a file but for some reason I cannot even though the file is there and even has 777 permission. The code is the following:

$fileatt = "/opt/lampp/htdocs/a.pdf";
echo "File size is ".filesize($fileatt)."<br>";
if (file_exists($fileatt)) {
    echo "The file ".$fileatt." exist <br>";

    $file = fopen($fileatt, ‘rb’);
    if ($file == false) {
        echo "Could not open the file !";
    }
} else {
    echo "The file ".$fileatt." does NOT exist <br>";
}

The result is:

File size is 1252121
The file /opt/lampp/htdocs/a.pdf exist 
Could not open the file !

Why can’t I open the file ? Where is my mistake ?

Thanks

Answer 1

Where is my mistake ?

You don’t have error reporting properly set. there are 2 things to remember.

1. error reporting level. set by error_reporting ini directive or error_reporting() function. should ALWAYS be at E_ALL or higher.

2. error messages destination.

   • on a development server it should be display
   • on a live server it should be a log file

Thus, for a quick solution, put these 2 lines at the top of your script

error_reporting(E_ALL);
ini_set('display_errors',1);

but later set up these settings as a permanent ones for the whole site (according to the server state)

once you done it, you will have an answer to your question.
Note that you will have not a mere guess from the fellow stackoverflowers, but exact explanation of the matter from the system itself.