HTML Form data to CSV file using PHP

NickWrenLab · October 12, 2015

I need help with a php code that can take the information from a filled out html form and send the info to a csv file in the background (or on the host site). Taking a basic form as provided and the function $_POST how can I write code that will take the input data and export it to a file. If you can provide just a basic example of how a csv file is filled out or called upon using other scripts would really be appreciated.

I saw this posted however didnt really help me out, however I am looking at one of the links posted at the bottom for PHP codeacdemy help.

http://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/298539-how-to-create-a-actionphp-page-for-html-form/

Also found that I could use this code to start the php, I just dont know how to apply it:

<?php header("content-type: text/csv"); ?>

HTML Form code:

<html>
<head>
</head>
<body>
<form action="basicform.php">
First name:<br>
<input type="text" name="firstname">
<br>
Last name:<br>
<input type="text" name="lastname"> <br><br>
<input type="radio" name="sex" value="male" checked> Male
<br>
<input type="radio" name="sex" value="female"> Female
<br><br>
<input type="checkbox" name="box1" value="1"> #1 option
<br>
<input type="checkbox" name="box2" value="2"> #2 option
<br><br>
<input type="submit" value="Submit">
</form>
</body>
</html>

Edited October 12, 2015 by NickWrenLab

NickWrenLab · October 12, 2015

I added in some php code that I have been trying to get to write to a csv file. However I still cannot get it to write to a file, I have tried the code

file_put_contents('test.csv', $fields, FILE_APPEND);

I've tried the normal fwrite and fputcsv but netiher worked

fwrite($fp, $csvData)
foreach($csvData as $fields){
	 fputcsv($fp, $fields);
 }

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<?php
if (isset($_POST['Sumbit'])) {
$filename = "/test.csv";
 header('Content-Type: text/csv; charset=utf-8');
 header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=test.csv');
 //read data from form

 $del = "\	";
 $lastname = $_POST['lastname'];
 $firstname = $_POST['firstname'];
 $sex = $_POST['sex'];
 $box1 = $_POST['box1'];
 $box2 = $_POST['box2'];
 //generate output for text file
 $csvData = $lastname . "\t" . $firstname . "\t" . $sex . "\t" . $box1 . "\t" . $box2 . "\n" ;
 
 //open file for output
 $fp = fopen("/test.csv", "a");
 $csvData = "\\r\
 ".implode ($del, $csvData);
 //write to the file
 foreach($csvData as $fields){
	 file_put_contents('test.csv', $fields, FILE_APPEND);
 }
 fclose($fp);
}
 ?>
</head>
<body>
<form name="PatientForm" action="addContactCSV.php" method="post">
First name:<br>
<input type="text" name="firstname">
<br>
Last name:<br>
<input type="text" name="lastname"> <br><br>
<input type="radio" name="sex" value="male" checked> Male
<br>
<input type="radio" name="sex" value="female"> Female
<br><br>
<input type="checkbox" name="box1" value="1"> #1 option
<br>
<input type="checkbox" name="box2" value="2"> #2 option 
<br><br>
<input type="submit" name="Submit" id="Submit" value="Submit" />
<input type="reset" name="Reset" id="button" value="Reset" />
</form> 
</body>
</html>

Edited October 12, 2015 by NickWrenLab

benanamen · October 12, 2015

This should do it for you http://bfy.tw/2FJa

Ch0cu3r · October 12, 2015

If you are writing csv data then use fputcsv.

Minimum arguments this function takes is two.

The first argument takes a (file)
resource handler

, not a filename. You get a file resouce using fopen. You will want to set fopen's mode to a (which will write contents to and append to the end to the file)

// open the file named myfile.csv in append mode
$handler = fopen('myfile.csv'. 'a');

The second argument is an array of values. You will want to get the values from your form and add each value to an array

The other (optional) arguments allows you to specify the following (you should not need to modify these)

delimiter - the character which seperates each value
enclosure - the character which delimits the start and end of each value
escape character - the character to use for escaping special values in csv.

NickWrenLab · October 12, 2015

I changed the 'fputcsv' code for the 'file_put_contents' however nothing is writing to my test.csv file.

the part I changed looks like this:

 //generate output for text file
 $csvData = $lastname . "\t" . $firstname . "\t" . $sex . "\t" . $box1 . "\t" . $box2 . "\n" ;
 
 //open file for output
 $handle = fopen('test.csv', 'a');
 $csvData = "\\r\
 ".implode ($del, $csvData);
 //write to the file
 foreach($csvData as $fields){
	 fputcsv($handle, $fields);
 }
 fclose($handler);
}
 ?>

This should do it for you http://bfy.tw/2FJa

And... Uh yea thats how I got the code that I have, aka googled it. Most of the sites I have looked up, downloaded or copied their code; tried to make changes or just took it as is and most dont work; or use and SQL database, which I am trying to prevent.

benanamen · October 12, 2015

Run this. If it doesn't work you may have a file permission issue.

$_POST['fname'] = 'Sam';
$_POST['lname'] = 'Smith';
$_POST['sex']   = 'M';

$list = array(
    array(
        $_POST['fname'],
        $_POST['lname'],
        $_POST['sex']
    )
);

$fp = fopen('test.csv', 'a');

foreach ($list as $fields)
    {
    fputcsv($fp, $fields);
    }
fclose($fp);

NickWrenLab · October 12, 2015

I changed used the code:

<html>
<head>
</head>
<body>
<form name="form" method="post" action="<?=$_SERVER['PHP_SELF'];?>">
      Name: <input type="text" name="fname" /> <br />
      Surname: <input type="text" name="lname" /> <br />
      Home: <input type="text" name="sex" /> <br /> 
      <input type="submit" name="submit" />
    </form>
</body>
 <?php
$_POST['fname'] = 'Sam';
$_POST['lname'] = 'Smith';
$_POST['sex']   = 'M';

$list = array(
    array(
        $_POST['fname'],
        $_POST['lname'],
        $_POST['sex']
    )
);

$fp = fopen('test.csv', 'a');

foreach ($list as $fields)
    {
    fputcsv($fp, $fields);
    }
fclose($fp);
?> 
</html>

Hopefully all the code is working correctly, but as you said I might not have permission, which is something that I didnt think would be a problem. Would you know how to give access to let the fields be populated

benanamen · October 12, 2015

Close. You need to remove the hardcoded $_POST values for your form to work. Also dont use $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'], it is vulnerable to SQL Injection. Use $_SERVER['script_name']

hansford · October 13, 2015

<html>
<head>
</head>
<body>
<form action="basicform.php" method="post">
First name:<br>
<input type="text" name="firstname">
<br>
Last name:<br>
<input type="text" name="lastname"> <br><br>
<input type="radio" name="sex" value="male" checked> Male
<br>
<input type="radio" name="sex" value="female"> Female
<br><br>
<input type="checkbox" name="box1" value="1"> #1 option
<br>
<input type="checkbox" name="box2" value="2"> #2 option
<br><br>
<input type="submit" value="Submit">
</form>
</body>
</html>

basicform.php

<?php
error_reporting(E_ALL);
ini_set('display_errors',1);

// set path to file
$path = __DIR__ . '\file.csv';

// open the file if it exists, if not create it
if(($fp = fopen($path, 'wb')) === false)
{
	exit('failed to open file');
}

$posts = array();

if( ! empty($_POST['firstname']))
{
	$posts['firstname'] = $_POST['firstname'];
}
if( ! empty($_POST['lastname']))
{
	$posts['lastname'] = $_POST['lastname'];
}
if( ! empty($_POST['sex']))
{
	$posts['sex'] = $_POST['sex'];	
}
if( ! empty($_POST['box1']))
{
	$posts['box1'] = $_POST['box1'];
}
if( ! empty($_POST['box2']))
{
	$posts['box2'] = $_POST['box2'];
}

// write the header row
fputcsv($fp,array_keys($posts),',');

// write a data row
fputcsv($fp, array_values($posts));

fclose($fp);

benanamen · October 13, 2015

@hansford

Nice job with array_keys & array_values but its not going to work with multiple rows. When appending you are going to repeatedly insert the header row.

Also the b parameter is no longer an option in newer PHP. Per the Manual:

As of PHP 4.3.2, the default mode is set to binary for all platforms that distinguish between binary and text mode. If you are having problems with your scripts after upgrading, try using the 't' flag as a workaround until you have made your script more portable as mentioned before

Edited October 13, 2015 by benanamen

benanamen · October 13, 2015

Scratch the last paragraph. b mode is still an option. Further down..

For portability, it is strongly recommended that you always use the 'b' flag when opening files withfopen().

I ALWAYS use Mysql so I dont use these functions.

Edited October 13, 2015 by benanamen

hansford · October 13, 2015

Nice job with array_keys & array_values but its not going to work with multiple rows. When appending you are going to repeatedly insert the header row.

Well, the code is based on their form so no need for multiple rows. Also, If they expect multiple form submissions then they need to change the "wb" flag to "a" or "ab" or else the file is going to be overwritten each time. They will also create the file along with the headers and simply open the file and append a new data row each time.

benanamen · October 13, 2015

The OP never mentioned if it was a one time write or not. One time all good, but JUST changing the flag to 'a' is going to add the headers over and over. If the OP is doing multiple writes (appending) there would need to be a file exists check so the header is not continuously added.

benanamen · October 13, 2015

@hansford,

Another problem with your version on appending, if a user submits empty fields it will throw off the column order of the data since you are only appending data that is not empty. I would like to see what you would do for appending with header row.

Edited October 13, 2015 by benanamen

hansford · October 13, 2015

That is why if the code is going to be used over and over...they need to create the file with the headers and then just simply append each row of new data to the file. At some point they are going to have to think for themselves and figure out these trivial things.

benanamen · October 13, 2015

Yeah, that is the simplest way, just create the file with the header, pretty redundant to keep checking if the file exists since after the first run, it will always exist.

NickWrenLab · October 13, 2015

So if I made the file with headers how can I get the data to keep appending? is that how hansford wrote the code?

hansford · October 13, 2015

If you already created the file with the headers then all you need to do is append a row each time the form is submitted.

You can force users to fill in all values before writing data to the file or simply enter blank data for that column.

<?php
error_reporting(E_ALL);
ini_set('display_errors',1);

// set path to file
$path = __DIR__ . '\file.csv';

// open the file for appending
if(($fp = fopen($path, 'ab')) === false)
{
	exit('failed to open file');
}

$posts = array();

if( ! empty($_POST['firstname']))
{
	$posts['firstname'] = $_POST['firstname'];
}
else
{
        $posts['firstname']  = '';
}
if( ! empty($_POST['lastname']))
{
	$posts['lastname'] = $_POST['lastname'];
}
else
{
        $posts['lastname']  = '';
}
if( ! empty($_POST['sex']))
{
	$posts['sex'] = $_POST['sex'];	
}
else
{
        $posts['sex']  = '';
}
if( ! empty($_POST['box1']))
{
	$posts['box1'] = $_POST['box1'];
}
else
{
        $posts['box1']  = '';
}
if( ! empty($_POST['box2']))
{
	$posts['box2'] = $_POST['box2'];
}
else
{
        $posts['box2']  = '';
}

// write a data row
fputcsv($fp, array_values($posts));

// close the file
fclose($fp);

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HTML Form data to CSV file using PHP

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