Are there any best practices for handling file downloads in PHP?

When handling file downloads in PHP, it is important to set the appropriate headers to ensure the file is downloaded correctly by the browser. This includes setting the Content-Type header to the appropriate MIME type of the file, Content-Disposition header to specify the filename, and Content-Length header to specify the size of the file. Additionally, it is recommended to use readfile() function to efficiently output the file contents. 

// Set the appropriate headers for file download
header('Content-Type: application/pdf');
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="example.pdf"');
header('Content-Length: ' . filesize('example.pdf'));

// Output the file contents
readfile('example.pdf');
exit;

Keywords

file downloads PHP headers content-disposition download manager

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