AeriesIII

Ok, great! Thanks a lot for pointing out on how to properly store the data tab delimiters. You say #2 makes more sense but #1 seems like it will be easier to figure out. Does method #1 change if I need the data to be over written instead of just adding the new records at the bottom of the txt file?

I currently am working on a project where I code a "simple" telephone directory. There are three main tasks that it needs to do: 1. Directory.php(index page) has a "First Name" and "Last Name" field and a search button. When a name is searched from the directory.txt file, it displays First Name, Last Name, Address, City, State, Zip and phone in findinfo.php in designated text boxes...first name, last name, etc. 2. From the findinfo.php, like previously stated, the users information is listed in the appropriate text boxes. From there, there is an update button that will overwrite the user's information to directory.txt if that button is selected. It will then say the write was sucessful. 3. (completed this step) From the index page, there is a link that will take you to addnew.php where you enter First Name, Last Name, Address, City, State, Zip and phone in a web form and write it to directory.txt. This is the php code for the third step: <?php $newentryfile = fopen("directory.txt", "a+"); $firstname = $_POST['fname']; $lastname = $_POST['lname']; $address = $_POST['address']; $city = $_POST['city']; $state = $_POST['state']; $zip = $_POST['zip']; $phone = $_POST['phone']; $newentry = "$firstname $lastname\n\r $address\n\r $city, $state $zip\n\r $phone\n\r"; if (flock($newentryfile, LOCK_EX)) { if (fwrite($newentryfile, $newentry) > 0) echo "<p>" . stripslashes($firstname) . " " . stripslashes($lastname) . " has been added to the directory.</p>"; else echo "<p>Registration error!</p>"; flock($newentryfile, LOCK_UN); } else echo "<p>Cannot write to the file. Please try again later</p>"; fclose($newentryfile); if(empty($firstname) || empty($lastname) || empty($address) || empty($city) || empty ($state) || empty($zip) || empty($phone)) { echo "<p>Please go back and fill out all fields.</p>"; } ?> So to sum it all up, what would be my best approach? I am totally stumped and not sure which function to use. Should I work my way from step 1 to step 2? I see it as when I do the search for the name from directory.php, it takes me to findinfo.php, listing the users information in the text boxes. From there, if I needed to, having the user's information already listed I could hit the update button to overwrite the new information to directory.txt. Doing the update when then tell me that the write was successful. I have literally been scouring the internet for hours. What would be the best function to do this? I hope I was clear enough. Please help me out and thank you for your time.