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I am trying to save data using HTML and PHP in localhost in Ubuntu. My HTML & PHP files are working great but when I am using commands to open a file in the localhost using
$myfile = fopen("testfile.txt", "w")
it does not allow it to create it, but the PHP file is working and when set with commands to output variables from PHP it works well.
How to permit PHP to create files in Apache in localhost Ubuntu.
You must allow the Apache user (usually www-data) to create files in that directory. This can be accomplished by making Apache the owner of the directory, for example, if the directory were called my-dir, you would open a terminal and run this:
sudo chown www-data my-dir
as stated on the Apache2 Ubuntu Default Page: By default, Ubuntu does not allow access through the web browser to any file apart of those located in /var/www .... This means that any directory or file you want to write to must be under /var/www. Missed this info myself and got my hair pulling for a while trying to write to /tmp etc.
If you want to change all the folders and files within that directory, and not just the directory, add -R like so
sudo chown -R www-data my-dir
If you are creating the File on the fly and you do not want to save it on the server but instead download it on client computer after an action is triggered from client side e.g. like a button click from a User Web Browser, you can write the PHP code as follows;
<?php
$dataToWriteToFile = "This Text has been saved in this Text File and Downloaded for you to View !";
$fileName = "TxtFilename.txt";
$file = fopen($fileName,"wb");
fwrite($file, $dataToWriteToFile);
fclose($file);
header('Content-Type: charset=utf-8');
header("Content-disposition: attachment; filename=$fileName");
print $dataToWriteToFile;
?>
DISCLAIMER: It will not work for those intending to write a file to server for archiving but for anyone else creating a file on the fly for purpose of making their client users download it to their web browsers it may suffice for that purpose.
I was about to talk to my client to request them to allow the Apache user to add more rights to the Apache user (as is suggested by previous answers here and other related Questions on internet) to allow writing files to the folder where their server web pages are served from. I am almost certain this would have been an uphill task for them to agree to but luckily the above code worked for me.
