What best practices should be followed when handling file operations in PHP, especially when dealing with remote files?

When handling file operations in PHP, especially when dealing with remote files, it is important to handle errors gracefully, validate user input to prevent security vulnerabilities, and close file handles properly to free up resources. Additionally, it is recommended to use secure protocols like HTTPS when dealing with remote files to protect sensitive data. 

<?php

// Example of handling file operations with remote files in PHP

$remoteFile = 'https://www.example.com/remote-file.txt';

// Check if the remote file exists before trying to access it
if (file_exists($remoteFile)) {
    // Open the remote file for reading
    $fileHandle = fopen($remoteFile, 'r');

    // Read the contents of the file
    $fileContents = fread($fileHandle, filesize($remoteFile));

    // Close the file handle
    fclose($fileHandle);

    // Display the contents of the remote file
    echo $fileContents;
} else {
    echo 'Remote file does not exist.';
}

?>

Keywords

file operations PHP remote files error handling security

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