PEAR Manual
Prev |  | Next

# File::read()

File::read() -- read bytes from a file

## Synopsis

    require_once 'File.php';

``mixed File::read` (string $filename [, int $size = `FILE_DEFAULT_READSIZE` [, mixed $lock = `FALSE`]])`

## Description

File::read() reads a specific amount of bytes from a specified file and returns them to the user.

## Parameter

- `string $filename` - the file to read from

- `int $size` - the number of bytes to read from the file (defaults to `FILE_DEFAULT_READSIZE`)

- `mixed $lock` - lock type to use, `FALSE` if none

## Return value

`mixed` - this function returns the requested bytes from the file if there were no errors, `FALSE` if it reached EOF or a PEAR_Error object if an error has occured during reading from file.

## Throws

Table 38-1. Possible PEAR_Error values

Error Code | Error Value | Meaning | Solution
--- | --- | --- | ---
`NULL` | "File does not exist: `$filename`" | The file `$filename` does not exist. | Check if the path that is passed to the function is correct.
`NULL` | "Failed to open file: `$filename`" | There are few possible things that might cause that error, usually it's caused by wrong permissions or bad sectors on the harddisk. | Check the permissions of the file (ls -l {file} on UNIX systems) and change them so the file is readable by PHP, check if the harddisk is working properly and has no bad sectors.

## Note

This function can be called statically.

## See

File::readChar()
File::readLine()
File::readAll()

## Example

Example 38-1. Using File::read()
    <?php
    require_once 'File.php';

    //output 40 bytes of file foo.bar
    echo File::read("/path/to/foo.bar", 40);
    ?>

Prev | Home | Next
File::isAbsolute() | Up | File::readAll()