php FILE POST upload without save

Question

I am using a plain text file in a PhP script. Is there any way to process the file in the PhP script without saving it locally? Everywhere I see simply uploading a file and sav

Answer 1

When the form is submitted, check the $_FILES['input_name']['tmp_name'] property. This is the path to your file saved in a temporary /tmp system path. You can proceed reading the name using, say, file_get_contents() and then simply forget the file. System will take care of removing it.

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Just to stand out of the other answers, you could theoretically read the file without even uploading it using JavaScript, see http://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/file/dndfiles/. Then submit only the data you need as part of AJAX request.