Question

in my public_html folder, I have some code like this:

echo file_get_contents('files/123.txt');

Users can view text files from a subfolder. But, is it possible using apache to block incoming requests to the files folder via browser?

Answer 1

In your Apache configuration, you can add:

<Directory /path/to/files/>
    Order Deny,Allow
    Deny from All
</Directory>

http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/mod/core.html#directory

I believe allowing file_get_contents is a PHP concern, not an Apache concern.

But once you do this, make sure to remember to restart Apache!