How can the readfile function in PHP be used effectively for file downloads?

To use the readfile function in PHP effectively for file downloads, you can set the appropriate headers to indicate that the response is a file download. This includes setting the Content-Type header to the appropriate MIME type for the file being downloaded, and the Content-Disposition header to indicate that the file should be downloaded as an attachment. 

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

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

readfile($file);
exit;
?>

Keywords

readfile PHP file downloads web development server-side programming

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