PHP - How to read MS-Word doc

[KiranKumar]

 

Hi,

 

I'm new to PHP, can any one tell me how I can display the content of a MS-Word doc on a webpage ?

 

Thanks in Advance.

 

 

[jitesh]

<?php

// get contents of a file into a string

$filename = "document.doc";

$handle = fopen($filename, "r");

$contents = fread($handle, filesize($filename));

echo $contents;

fclose($handle);

?>

[KiranKumar]

 

Thanks for ur reply,

I tried your solution but it doesn't work. It shows all junk characters when I open my webpage.

How to solve this problem ?

 

[redbullmarky]

the method i use is very similar to what jitesh mentions. without knowing the exact file format's structure, it's very hit and miss - if it's important to keep the formatting in tact, then you're going to struggle a bit unless you're prepared to get down and dirty and do some serious homework.

 

in addition to jitesh's code, put this line:

 

$header = fread($handle, 2560);

 

just before the $contents = fread() line, which will read off the first 2560 bytes (which is essentially the header and useless without knowing what to do with it...)

 

what you're left with then (in $contents) is the plain text with various formatting characters (ie, the 'Junk' you mention). a series of str_replace / preg_replace will deal with these.

 

there are programs such as antiword / catdoc, etc you can google for (both free) which will take the headache out of it, but like i say - if you want it to appear in your browser as it would in MS Word itself, then you'd need a plugin for your browser, rather than anything specifically PHP

[redbullmarky]

as i'm generous:

 

catdoc: http://www.45.free.net/~vitus/software/catdoc/

 

antiword: http://www.winfield.demon.nl/