What best practices should be followed to separate HTML output from file downloads in PHP scripts?

When generating file downloads in PHP scripts, it's important to separate the HTML output from the file download to prevent any unwanted content from being included in the downloaded file. One common practice is to use output buffering to capture the file contents before sending any HTML output. This ensures that only the file content is included in the download. 

<?php
ob_start(); // Start output buffering

// Code to generate file content
$fileContent = "This is the content of the file";

ob_end_clean(); // Clean (erase) the output buffer

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

// Output the file content
echo $fileContent;

exit; // Stop further execution
?>

Keywords

HTML output file downloads PHP scripts separation best practices

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