A Simple Way to Use the FTP Module in PHP

A Simple Way to Use the FTP Module in PHP

PHP is a widely used scripting language for web development.

With PHP, you can create dynamic web pages or interact with databases.

However, to write and execute PHP code, you need to upload PHP files to the web server. 

You can easily transfer PHP code to the remote server using the FTP (File Transfer Protocol) module.

The FTP module is provided as a built-in function in PHP and offers various features for connecting and transferring files to the FTP server.

To use the FTP module, you need information such as the address, ID, password of the FTP server.

Then you can call the functions of the FTP module to create a connection with the FTP server and upload or download files.
In this post, we will briefly look at how to use the FTP module in PHP.

Creating a connection with the FTP server.

To use the FTP module, you need to create a connection with the FTP server first.

To do this, use the ftp_connect() and ftp_login() functions.
The ftp_connect() function takes the address and port number of the FTP server as arguments and creates a connection with the FTP server and returns a connection identifier. 

If the connection fails, it returns false.
The ftp_login() function takes a connection identifier, ID, and password as arguments to log in to the FTP server. If the login succeeds, it returns true; otherwise, it returns false.
The following is an example code for creating a connection with the FTP server.

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<?php // The address and port number of the FTP server $server = "ftp.example.com"; $port = 21; // The ID and password to log in to the FTP server $user = "username"; $pass = "password"; // Creating a connection with the FTP server $conn = ftp_connect($server, $port); // Checking the connection if ($conn) {   echo "Connected to $server:$port<br>"; } else {   echo "Connection failed<br>";   exit; } // Logging in to the FTP server $login = ftp_login($conn, $user, $pass); // Checking the login if ($login) {   echo "Logged in as $user<br>"; } else {   echo "Login failed<br>";   exit; } ?> Colored by Color Scripter

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File upload

Once you have created a connection and logged in to the FTP server, you can upload files. 

To do this, use the ftp_put() function.
The ftp_put() function takes a connection identifier, remote file path, local file path, and transfer mode as arguments to upload a file to the remote server. If the upload succeeds, it returns true; otherwise, it returns false.
There are two transfer modes: ASCII mode and binary mode. ASCII mode is used when transferring text files, and binary mode is used when transferring binary files such as images or videos.

To specify the transfer mode, use constants FTP_ASCII and FTP_BINARY.
The following is an example code for uploading a local test.php file to the public_html folder on the remote server.

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<?php // Creating a connection with and logging in to the FTP server code omitted // Remote file path $remote_file = "public_html/test.php"; // Local file path $local_file = "test.php"; // File upload $upload = ftp_put($conn, $remote_file, $local_file, FTP_ASCII); // Checking the upload if ($upload) {   echo "Uploaded $local_file to $remote_file<br>"; } else {   echo "Upload failed<br>"; } ?>   Colored by Color Scripter

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File download

Once you have created a connection and logged in to the FTP server, you can download files.

To do this, use the ftp_get() function.
The ftp_get() function takes a connection identifier, local file path, remote file path, and transfer mode as arguments to download a file from the remote server. If the download succeeds, it returns true; otherwise, it returns false.
The transfer mode is similar to that of ftp_put(), with ASCII mode and binary mode available. Use constants FTP_ASCII and FTP_BINARY.
The following is an example code for downloading an image.jpg file from the public_html folder on the remote server to local.

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<?php // Creating a connection with and logging in to the FTP server code omitted // Local file path $local_file = "image.jpg"; // Remote file path $remote_file = "public_html/image.jpg"; // File download $download = ftp_get($conn, $local_file, $remote_file, FTP_BINARY); // Checking the download if ($download) {   echo "Downloaded $remote_file to $local_file<br>"; } else {   echo "Download failed<br>"; } ?> Colored by Color Scripter

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Closing the connection with the FTP server

To close the connection with the FTP server, use the ftp_close() function.
The ftp_close() function takes a connection identifier as an argument and closes the connection with the FTP server and returns true. If the connection is already closed or fails, it returns false.
The following is an example code for closing the connection with the FTP server.

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<?php // Creating a connection with and logging in to the FTP server code omitted // Closing the connection with the FTP server $close = ftp_close($conn); // Checking the closure if ($close) {   echo "Connection closed<br>"; } else {   echo "Connection not closed<br>"; } ?> Colored by Color Scripter

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Conclusion

In this post, we briefly looked at how to use the FTP module in PHP. 

The FTP module is a useful feature that allows you to easily upload or download PHP code to or from the remote server.

You can manage your PHP projects efficiently by using the FTP module.
I personally think that using the FTP module in PHP is very convenient. 

When I was working on a PHP project using a web hosting service, I was able to easily update my PHP code using the FTP module.

Also, the FTP module is compatible with other languages and platforms, so it has the advantage of being usable in various environments.
If you want to know more about how to use the FTP module in PHP, please refer to the following links:

• https://www.php.net/manual/en/book.ftp.php
• https://www.w3schools.com/php/php_ref_ftp.asp

This concludes the post. Thank you.