fopen in php doesn't work

What are you trying to do?

The “w” in fopen(“hello.txt”,“w”) means to write to a file, not read. It would be best to read the PHP documentation on fopen().

http://php.net/manual/en/function.fopen.php

Lots of examples! Hope that helps, let me know if I can help more.

1. Check open_basedir Restriction:

If open_basedir is set in php.ini, it restricts PHP from accessing files outside of specified directories. Check if it’s enabled:

php -i | grep open_basedir

If it’s set, either disable it by removing or commenting the open_basedir directive in php.ini, or add the path to your directory:

open_basedir = /path/to/your/allowed/directories

2. Verify Write Permissions for PHP’s User:

Make sure the user under which your web server (likely www-data or apache) runs has write permissions to the directory where hello.txt is being created.

To check the current user running the web server:

ps aux | grep apache  # or httpd on CentOS

Then, ensure that the directory where you’re trying to create the file has the correct ownership and permissions:

sudo chown www-data:www-data /path/to/your/directory
sudo chmod 755 /path/to/your/directory

3. Check for Disk Space and Quotas:

Sometimes, the failure could be caused by a lack of disk space or quota issues. Check the available disk space:

df -h

4. Check SELinux (if applicable):

If you’re running a system like CentOS with SELinux enabled, SELinux could be preventing PHP from writing to certain directories. Temporarily disable SELinux to check if it’s causing the issue:

sudo setenforce 0

If this fixes the problem, you can either adjust the SELinux policies or leave it in permissive mode.

5. Check Error Logs:

Check the PHP or Apache error logs for more detailed information about the failure. You can find logs in the following locations:

tail -f /var/log/apache2/error.log  # For Apache on Ubuntu/Debian
tail -f /var/log/httpd/error_log    # For Apache on CentOS/RedHat

Look for any relevant errors related to file permissions or fopen.

6. Check disable_functions in php.ini:

Ensure that fopen is not disabled in the php.ini file under the disable_functions directive. Check if it’s listed:

php -i | grep disable_functions

If fopen is listed, remove it from the disable_functions directive and restart your web server:

sudo systemctl restart apache2  # Or php-fpm depending on your setup