how to access file from outside root directory in php

Question

I have a code to download zip files:

$dl_path = \'./\';  
$filename = \'favi.zip\';  
$file = $dl_path.$filename; 
if (file_exists($file))  {
  header(\'Cont         


        

Answer 1

First of all check if your script is running under the correct directory by echoing dirname(__FILE__).

If it is running under public_html then you can change the code like this:

$dl = dirname(__FILE__). '/../';

But beware of security issue!

1. Check if you have read/write permission on the file and directory
2. Check the open_basedir restriction in php.ini (see How can I relax PHP's open_basedir restriction?)

Hope this helps

Answer 2

$dl_path = __DIR__.'/..'; // parent folder of this script
$filename = 'favi.zip';
$file = $dl_path . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $filename;

// Does the file exist?
if(!is_file($file)){
    header("{$_SERVER['SERVER_PROTOCOL']} 404 Not Found");
    header("Status: 404 Not Found");
    echo 'File not found!';
    die;
}

// Is it readable?
if(!is_readable($file)){
    header("{$_SERVER['SERVER_PROTOCOL']} 403 Forbidden");
    header("Status: 403 Forbidden");
    echo 'File not accessible!';
    die;
}

// We are good to go!
header('Content-Description: File Transfer');
header('Content-Type: application/zip');
header("Pragma: public");
header("Expires: 0");
header("Cache-Control:must-revalidate, post-check=0, pre-check=0");
header("Content-Type: application/force-download");
header("Content-Type: application/download");
header("Content-Disposition: attachment;filename={$filename}");
header("Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary ");
header('Content-Length: ' . filesize($file));
while(ob_get_level()) ob_end_clean();
flush();
readfile($file);
die;

^ try this code. See if it works. If it doesn't:

• If it 404's means the file is not found.
• If it 403's it means you can't access it (permissions issue).