What is the best practice for allowing users to edit a text file in a browser using PHP?

When allowing users to edit a text file in a browser using PHP, it is important to first check if the file exists and is writable before allowing any edits to be made. This can be done by using the `is_writable()` function in PHP. Once you have verified that the file is writable, you can then allow the user to make edits to the file using a textarea input field in a form. After the user submits the form, you can use the `file_put_contents()` function to save the changes back to the text file. 

<?php
$filename = 'example.txt';

if (file_exists($filename) && is_writable($filename)) {
    if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] == 'POST') {
        $new_content = $_POST['content'];
        
        file_put_contents($filename, $new_content);
        echo 'File successfully updated.';
    }

    $content = file_get_contents($filename);
?>

<form method="post">
    <textarea name="content" rows="10" cols="50"><?php echo $content; ?></textarea>
    <br>
    <input type="submit" value="Save">
</form>

<?php
} else {
    echo 'Cannot edit file. Please check file permissions.';
}
?>

Keywords

file editing browser PHP text file user input

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