Which PHP Tailing Method Reigns Supreme?

Optimal Approach for Tailing Files in PHP

Determining the most effective method for reading the last several lines of a file (tail command equivalent) in PHP involves evaluating various approaches.

Overview of Approaches

After researching available solutions, they can be classified into three categories:

• Naive: Utilize PHP's file() function
• Cheating: Employ the Unix tail command
• Mighty: Use fseek() for precise file navigation

Solutions Evaluated

Five solutions were chosen for evaluation:

1. Concise naive solution
2. Cheating solution using tail (may not be universally available)
3. Iterative single-byte search for newlines
4. Multi-byte buffered solution optimized for large files
5. Modified version of #4 with dynamic buffer size

Performance Benchmarking

To determine optimal performance, tests were conducted on sample files of various sizes (100 KB, 10 MB, and 10 KB). Each solution was used to retrieve 1-1000 lines from the end of each file, with each test repeated ten times.

Results

For the 100 KB file, solutions #4 and #5 exhibited the best performance for most scenarios. Solution #1 performed poorly for larger file sizes, while solutions #2 and #3 performed well only when fetching a small number of lines.

For the 10 MB file, solution #5 remained the top performer, while solution #1 proved to be inadequate due to its heavy memory usage.

Recommended Solution

For general use cases, solution #5 is highly recommended. It displays consistent performance for all file sizes, particularly when retrieving a small number of lines.

Avoidance of Solutions

Solution #1 should be avoided for reading files larger than 10 KB. Solutions #2 and #3 are not optimal for most purposes.

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