grabbing files from ftp site

[hinchdog]

can a php script grab and download files from an outsite ftp site and store them on the server? if so, could you show me some code to do this? thanks

 

[AnakinPt]

yes it can. A piece of code, just go to

http://www.php.net

and look for the documentation of ftp functions. It's the best thing to do. Anikin
Hugo Alexandre Dias
Web-Programmer
anikin_jedi@hotmail.com

 

[hinchdog]

i don't think ftp has been enabled on my host. i get a "function not defined" when trying to use the ftp_connect method. is there a way around this?

 

[AnakinPt]

well, you must enable ftp support

If you are using windows, you must edit php.ini and uncomment the extension=php_ftp.dll (i think is this name)

if you are using linux you must recompile php with ftp support (--with-ftp) i think Anikin
Hugo Alexandre Dias
Web-Programmer
anikin_jedi@hotmail.com

 

[hinchdog]

i don't think my webhost will allow that. but thanks anyway

 

[sleipnir214]

It is still possible to do get the file using an external ftp command.

Here's what works from my Linux box:

I've created a file called ftpcommands that reads like this:
[tt]open <IP-address or ftp site name>
user <mylogin> <my password>
lcd <directory where the web server can write>
cd <directory where the file sits on foreign FTP server>
bin
get <file I need to get>
quit
[/tt]

The run the following PHP script:

[tt]<?php
exec (&quot;cat ftpcommands | ftp -n&quot;, $foo);
?>
[/tt]

[Notice the command on Linux is &quot;ftp -n&quot;. That suppresses autologin, which allows the USER line of the ftpcommands file to work.]

If you're on Win32, the similar thing can work, with the following changes:

ftpcommands:
[tt]open <ftp server>
<mylogin>
<mypassword>
lcd <writeable local directory>
cd <directory for file>
bin
get <filename>
quit[/tt]

And the exec() statement should read:

[tt]exec (&quot;ftp -s:<full path and name to ftpcommands>&quot;[/tt] ______________________________________________________________________
My God! It's full of stars!
______________________________________________________________________

 

[lokii]

sleipnir214,

That's a very imaginative solution. I'm wondering if there might be a similar approach when it comes to hosts with disabled socket connections? Some free PHP hosts prevent users from &quot;initiating&quot; any kind of outgoing socket connection. Thanks for your reply.

 

[BB101]

fopen? --BB

 

[sleipnir214]

He didn't specify the size of the file. fopen(), etc, won't be the best solution if the file were sufficiently large. ______________________________________________________________________
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