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PHP | ftell( ) Function

Last Updated : 21 Feb, 2022
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The ftell() function in PHP is an inbuilt function which is used to return the current position in an open file. The file is sent as a parameter to the ftell() function and it returns the current file pointer position on success, or FALSE on failure.
Syntax: 
 

ftell( $file )

Parameters Used: The ftell() function in PHP accepts only one parameter $file. It is a mandatory parameter which specifies the file.
Return Value: It returns the current file pointer position on success, or FALSE on failure.
Exceptions
 

  1. Some filesystem functions may return unexpected results for files which are larger than 2GB since PHP’s integer type is signed and many platforms use 32bit integers.
  2. When opening a file for reading and writing via fopen(‘file’, ‘a+’) the file pointer should be at the end of the file.

Examples: 
 

Input : $myfile = fopen("gfg.txt", "r");
        echo ftell($myfile);
Output : 0

Input : $myfile = fopen("gfg.txt", "r");
        echo ftell($myfile);
        fseek($myfile, "36");
        echo ftell($myfile);
Output : 0
         36

Below programs illustrate the ftell() function:
Program 1: In the below program the file named gfg.txt contains the following content. 
 

Geeksforgeeks is a portal for geeks! 
 

 

php




<?php
// Opening a file in read. mode
$myfile = fopen("gfg.txt", "r");
 
// displaying the current position of the pointer in the opened file
echo ftell($myfile);
 
// closing the file
fclose($myfile);
?>


Output: 
 

0

Program 2: In the below program the file named gfg.txt contains the following content. 
 

Geeksforgeeks is a portal for geeks! 
 

 

php




<?php
// Opening a file in read. mode
$myfile = fopen("gfg.txt", "r");
 
// displaying the current position of the pointer in the opened file
echo ftell($myfile);
 
// changing current position
fseek($myfile, "36");
 
//displaying current position
echo "<br />" . ftell($myfile);
 
// closing the file
fclose($myfile);
?>


Output: 
 

0
36

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



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