PHP | fgetss( ) Function

The fgetss() function in PHP is an inbuilt function which is used to return a line from an open file after removing HTML and PHP tags from the respective file. 

The fegtss() function stops returning at a specified length, on end of file(EOF) or on a new line, whichever comes first. 
The file to be read and the number of bytes to be read are sent as parameters to the fgetss() function and it returns a string of length -1 bytes from the file pointed by the user. It returns False on failure.

Syntax:

fgetss(file, length, tags)

Parameters Used:
The fgetss() function in PHP accepts three parameter. 

1. file: It specifies the file from which characters have to be extracted.
2. length: It specifies the number of bytes to be read by the fgetss() function. The default value is 1024 bytes.
3. tags: It is an optional parameter which is used to specify tags which should not be striped.

Return Value:
It returns a string of length -1 bytes from the file pointed by the user after removing all the HTML and PHP tags.

Errors And Exception: 

1. The function is not optimised for large files since it reads a single line at a time, and it may take a lot of time to completely read a long file.
2. The buffer must be cleared if the fgetss() function is used multiple times.
3. The fgetss() function returns Boolean False but many times it happens that it returns a non-Boolean value which evaluates to False. 

Below programs illustrate the fgetss() function.

Suppose there is a file named “gfg.txt” which consists of : 

Program 1

PHP

<?php
// PHP program to illustrate the fgetss() function

//file is opened using fopen() function
$my_file = fopen("gfg.txt", "rw");

// Prints a single line from the opened file pointer
// after removing HTML and PHP tags
echo fgetss($my_file);

// file is closed using fclose() function
fclose($my_file);
?>

Output: 

This is the first line.

Program 2

PHP

<?php
// PHP program to illustrate the fgetss() function

// file is opened using fopen() function
$my_file = fopen("gfg.txt", "rw");

// Prints 1024 bytes from the opened file pointer
// without striping "p" and "strong" tags
echo fgetss($my_file, 1024, "
<p>, <strong>");

// file is closed using fclose() function
fclose($my_file);
?>

Output: 

Reference:
http://php.net/manual/en/function.fgetss.php