Download functionality in PHP

The common usable component in any of the website is to provide the user with the download option. when providing the download option we cannot restrict the user with one the specific type like doc or ppt or pdf... We need to provide the most convenient way to the user so that the user can easily download the files.

Below is such script where we can have the multiple options provided.

$filename is the file name which we want to download

$file_extension = strtolower(substr(strrchr($filename,"."),1));

$folderpath="foldername/".$filename;

if( $filename == "" )
{
echo "No File Found";
exit;
} elseif ( ! file_exists( $folderpath ) )
{
echo "File Not Found";
exit;
};

// If file exits then it is ready for download.

switch( $file_extension )
{
case "pdf": $ctype="application/pdf"; break;
case "exe": $ctype="application/octet-stream"; break;
case "zip": $ctype="application/zip"; break;
case "doc": $ctype="application/msword"; break;
case "xls": $ctype="application/vnd.ms-excel"; break;
case "ppt": $ctype="application/vnd.ms-powerpoint"; break;
case "gif": $ctype="image/gif"; break;
case "png": $ctype="image/png"; break;
case "jpeg":
case "jpg": $ctype="image/jpg"; break;
default: $ctype="application/force-download";
}

// Decides the header... which type if download you are providing to the user.

header("Pragma: public"); // required
header("Expires: 0");
header("Cache-Control: must-revalidate, post-check=0, pre-check=0");
header("Cache-Control: private",false); // required for certain browsers
header("Content-Type: $ctype");
// change, added quotes to allow spaces in filenames, by Rajkumar Singh
header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=\"".basename($filename)."\";" );
header("Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary");
header("Content-Length: ".filesize($filename));
readfile("$folderpath");
exit();


Copy the above code if you want to download any type of the file in the given options