How can headers in PHP be effectively utilized to prompt a download dialog for a file?

To prompt a download dialog for a file in PHP, you can utilize the header() function to set the necessary HTTP headers. Specifically, you need to set the Content-Type header to the appropriate MIME type for the file you are serving, and the Content-Disposition header to "attachment; filename=yourfilename.extension". This will force the browser to download the file instead of displaying it. 

<?php
$file = 'path/to/yourfile.extension';

header('Content-Description: File Transfer');
header('Content-Type: application/octet-stream');
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="'.basename($file).'"');
header('Content-Length: ' . filesize($file));

readfile($file);
exit;
?>

Keywords

PHP headers download dialog file prompt

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