Why Doesn't My PHP CSV Download Prompt a Download?

Downloading CSV Files in PHP: Troubleshooting and Solutions

Many users encounter an issue when attempting to download CSV files from their server using PHP. Instead of prompting a download, the file opens within the user's browser window. By exploring this problem, we'll provide two effective solutions to ensure proper file downloading.

.htaccess Solution for Brute Force Downloading

If you wish to force all CSV files on your server to download without browser interference, you can modify your .htaccess file by adding the following code:

AddType application/octet-stream csv

PHP Solution for Targeted File Downloading

If you need to download specific CSV files using PHP, you can follow these steps:

1. Set the Content-Type header to application/csv.
2. Set the Content-Disposition header with the attachment option and specify the desired filename.
3. Add a Pragma header with the no-cache value for better cache control.
4. Use the readfile() function to read the CSV file from its server location.

Here's an example code:

header('Content-Type: application/csv');
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=example.csv');
header('Pragma: no-cache');
readfile("/path/to/example.csv");

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