What potential issues can arise with header settings in PHP when downloading files?

Potential issues that can arise with header settings in PHP when downloading files include incorrect content type, missing or incorrect content disposition, and caching problems. To solve these issues, make sure to set the correct content type for the file being downloaded, include the proper content disposition header to prompt the browser to download the file instead of displaying it, and disable caching to ensure the file is downloaded fresh each time. 

// Set the correct content type
header('Content-Type: application/octet-stream');

// Prompt the browser to download the file
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="example.txt"');

// Disable caching
header('Cache-Control: no-cache, no-store, must-revalidate');
header('Pragma: no-cache');
header('Expires: 0');

// Output the file content
readfile('example.txt');

Keywords

HTTP headers Content-Disposition Content-Type file downloads PHP streams

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