New lines in CSV - very odd

[Drongo_III]

Hi Guys

 

I'm getting something really strange.

 

Basically I have two files, one contains a link (to the other) and the other contains php that generates a simple csv.

 

Link php

<?php
echo "download your file <a href='http://localhost/creatingcsv/download.php'>HERE</a>";
?>

 

CSV php

<?php 

		//sample array
		$test = array(

			array('name', 'address'),
			array('bilbo', 'bagins')
		);


		//Generate headers for csv
		$implosion = implode(',',$test[0]);

		//Add new line
		$implosion .= "\n";

		//Generate csv row of data
		$implosion.= implode(',', $test[1]);

		//call function to output data
		download($implosion);			


		function download($implosion){

		header("Content-type: text/csv");
		header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=file.csv");
		header("Pragma: no-cache");
		header("Expires: 0");

		echo $implosion;

		}

		?>

 

Nothing radical there.

 

But in the csv php file if the <?php tag isn't on line one then the csv generates with new lines above the header data - in the actual csv file that is output.

 

So if I go into csv php file and hit return five times, above the <?php tag, I end up with five empty rows before the data in the csv.

 

Can anyone tell me why this is happening?

 

Dongo

[PFMaBiSmAd]

Output_buffering is turned on in your php.ini.

 

You either need to turn it off, or insure you don't output anything before the actual data, or you can use ob_end_clean right before you output your actual data.

 

[Drongo_III]

You're a genius. That worked perfectly.

 

I'd like to understand why that happens though. How do new lines outside of the php tags end up affecting my output?  Is it a quirk of using headers to output data?

 

 

[scootstah]

Because with output buffering, PHP basically "holds on to" any output until the end of script execution (or until the output buffering is otherwise ended).

 

It is common practice to omit the closing PHP tag (?>) to prevent any accidental white-space. The closing tag is not required.