What are best practices for handling output buffering in PHP when downloading files?

When downloading files in PHP, it is important to properly handle output buffering to ensure that the file is downloaded correctly without any corruption. One common best practice is to disable output buffering before sending the file contents to the browser using the `ob_end_clean()` function. This will clear any previously buffered output and prevent interference with the file download process. 

// Disable output buffering
ob_end_clean();

// Set appropriate headers for file download
header('Content-Description: File Transfer');
header('Content-Type: application/octet-stream');
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="example.pdf"');
header('Expires: 0');
header('Cache-Control: must-revalidate');
header('Pragma: public');
header('Content-Length: ' . filesize($file_path));

// Read and output the file contents
readfile($file_path);
exit;

Keywords

output buffering PHP download file handling headers

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