How do I display the last entry of a .txt file

glenvern posted this at 15:26 — 17th July 2006.

Joined: Apr 2002

How do I display the last entry of a .txt file in a textarea..?

Everytime I try I get the 'beginning of file' not 'end of file' displaying which means you have to scroll down to read the last entry.

Greg K posted this at 19:01 — 17th July 2006.

He has: 2,145 posts

Joined: Nov 2003

which method are you using to read the file?

try

<?php
    $data = file('filename.txt');
    
    // $data is an array with each line of filename.txt
    // as a separate element. Now just show last one
    
    echo $data[count($data)];
    
?>

-Greg

glenvern posted this at 19:21 — 17th July 2006.

They have: 16 posts

Joined: Apr 2002

Thanx Greg - I am hoping to show all the txt file or at least the last few lines - I am using 'echo' to read to screen at the moment but have tried the 'include' which made no difference, still started showing at the top which meant I had to scroll down to the bottom..

Greg K posted this at 20:02 — 17th July 2006.

He has: 2,145 posts

Joined: Nov 2003

another example:

<?php
    $data = file('filename.txt');
    
    // Set a variable to the size of the array. This 
    // is more efficient and faster than calling the
    // function over and over in the loop below.
    $maxlines = count($data);
    
    // This is how many lines to show
    // To show them all, do $lines2show = $maxlines
    $lines2show = 5; 
    
    // This will loop through until the number you specified
    // (or until all data is display; ie. you say show 5,
    //                          but there is only 3 items)
    for($t=0; ($t<$lines2show && $t<$maxlines); $t++)
    {
        echo $data[$maxlines-$t];
    }
    
?>

glenvern posted this at 08:23 — 18th July 2006.

They have: 16 posts

Joined: Apr 2002

I run your piece above and got this -

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_VARIABLE

<?php
       $data = file('comments.txt');         
       $maxlines = count($data);          
       do $lines2show = $maxlines     
       $lines2show = 5;   //--------------------------- ths is the offending line    
       for($t=0; ($t<$lines2show && $t<$maxlines); $t++)
       { 
       echo $data[$maxlines-$t];
       }
?>

what would cause this error?

Greg K posted this at 09:57 — 18th July 2006.

He has: 2,145 posts

Joined: Nov 2003

Right above the offending line you have the last half of a comment line that I had.

<?php
do $lines2show = $maxlines 
?>

Remove that line.

-Greg

glenvern posted this at 14:01 — 18th July 2006.

They have: 16 posts

Joined: Apr 2002

It would appear I didn't submit the apology here, or i did it wrong..
I'm having a bad hairday I'm afraid..

As mentioned earlier in the HTML forum both your above suggestions failed to work..
Perhaps if I show you what I got so far you might be able to advise something..

<?php
if(array_key_exists('name', $_POST)){
$fh = fopen('comments.txt', 'a+');
$fcontent = fread($fh, filesize("comments.txt")); 
$towrite = "\n".$name; 
fwrite($fh, $towrite);
fclose($fh);
}
?>

Comments

<?php
     echo $fcontent . $towrite
?>

Add your 'Name & comment' here then click 'Enter'

I thought the 'a' in the fopen would have put the pointer to the bottom of the file but obviously not for what I want..
This works fine except for the displaying, I still have to scroll down to read the latest entries..

Greg K posted this at 23:41 — 18th July 2006.

He has: 2,145 posts

Joined: Nov 2003

Well here is a working example, using the method I gave that will display a set # of lines:

http://www.wtvgames.com/filetest/displines.php
The code for it can be seen here: http://www.wtvgames.com/filetest/displines.txt
The contents of the data file is: http://www.wtvgames.com/filetest/comments.txt

I even took the example, and gae two options, it will either display the last XX lines of the comments file, either with the oldest first, or newest first. Just use the section of code for whichever style you wanted.

-Greg