What are the implications of using file_get_contents for downloading large files in the context of the provided PHP script?

Using file_get_contents to download large files can lead to memory exhaustion issues as the entire contents of the file are loaded into memory. To avoid this problem, it's recommended to use a stream-based approach like fopen and fread to read the file in smaller chunks. 

<?php
$fileUrl = 'http://example.com/largefile.zip';
$destination = 'downloaded_file.zip';

$remoteFile = fopen($fileUrl, 'rb');
$localFile = fopen($destination, 'wb');

if ($remoteFile && $localFile) {
    while (!feof($remoteFile)) {
        fwrite($localFile, fread($remoteFile, 1024));
    }
    fclose($remoteFile);
    fclose($localFile);
    echo 'File downloaded successfully.';
} else {
    echo 'Error downloading file.';
}
?>

Keywords

file_get_contents large files PHP script implications downloading

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