What are best practices for ensuring that CSV/XLS files are downloaded instead of displayed in the browser?

When serving CSV/XLS files from a PHP script, it's important to set the appropriate headers to ensure that the file is downloaded instead of displayed in the browser. This can be achieved by setting the Content-Type header to 'application/octet-stream' and Content-Disposition header to 'attachment'. Additionally, it's recommended to include the file name in the Content-Disposition header to prompt the user to save the file with the correct name. 

<?php
// Set the CSV/XLS file path
$file = 'path/to/your/file.csv';

// Set the appropriate headers for file download
header('Content-Type: application/octet-stream');
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="' . basename($file) . '"');

// Output the file to the browser
readfile($file);

Keywords

PHP header Content-Disposition attachment MIME-Type

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