How can I prevent a ZIP archive from being automatically offered for download when using the ZIPlib class in PHP?

When using the ZIPlib class in PHP to create a ZIP archive, the archive may be automatically offered for download by the browser. To prevent this behavior, you can save the ZIP archive to a file on the server instead of outputting it directly to the browser. Then, you can provide a link for the user to download the file. 

<?php
// Create a ZIP archive using ZIPlib
$zip = new ZipArchive();
$zipFileName = 'example.zip';
if ($zip->open($zipFileName, ZipArchive::CREATE) === TRUE) {
    $zip->addFile('file1.txt');
    $zip->addFile('file2.txt');
    $zip->close();
}

// Provide a download link for the user
echo '<a href="' . $zipFileName . '">Download ZIP archive</a>';
?>

Keywords

PHP ZIPlib class ZIP archive download prevention headers

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