how do I store a binary file in a MySql database, as a string?

[lawrence k]

I'm a little weak on my basic I/O. Help me out please.

Is it right to say that I can just open any file with file(), get it as
a string, and then store in a MySql database, in, say, a MediumText
field? I realize that MySql supports binary fields, but my current
MySql schema does not have any binary fields, and I'm wondering if I
can store the file without changing my current schema.

Can I recreate the file later, if I wish, just be grabbing the string
out of the database and writing it to disk? (on a Linux system)

[Jerry Stuckle]

lawrence k wrote:

I'm a little weak on my basic I/O. Help me out please.

Is it right to say that I can just open any file with file(), get it as
a string, and then store in a MySql database, in, say, a MediumText
field? I realize that MySql supports binary fields, but my current
MySql schema does not have any binary fields, and I'm wondering if I
can store the file without changing my current schema.

Can I recreate the file later, if I wish, just be grabbing the string
out of the database and writing it to disk? (on a Linux system)

Yes.

--
==================
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
js*******@attglobal.net
==================

[Henrik Hansen]

"lawrence k" <lk******@geocities.com> writes:

I'm a little weak on my basic I/O. Help me out please.

Is it right to say that I can just open any file with file(), get it as
a string, and then store in a MySql database, in, say, a MediumText
field? I realize that MySql supports binary fields, but my current
MySql schema does not have any binary fields, and I'm wondering if I
can store the file without changing my current schema.

Can I recreate the file later, if I wish, just be grabbing the string
out of the database and writing it to disk? (on a Linux system)

AFAIK you need to use blob fields as your data is binary (or is it,
what kind of files do you want to open?), if you store
it in a normal text field it can be corrupted. But else you are right,
you just take the ourput from the field and put in a file or output to
the browser with a header infront.
--
Henrik Hansen

[Alan Little]

Carved in mystic runes upon the very living rock, the last words of
Henrik Hansen of comp.lang.php make plain:

"lawrence k" <lk******@geocities.com> writes:

Is it right to say that I can just open any file with file(), get it
as a string, and then store in a MySql database, in, say, a
MediumText field? I realize that MySql supports binary fields, but my
current MySql schema does not have any binary fields, and I'm
wondering if I can store the file without changing my current schema.

AFAIK you need to use blob fields as your data is binary (or is it,
what kind of files do you want to open?), if you store
it in a normal text field it can be corrupted. But else you are right,
you just take the ourput from the field and put in a file or output to
the browser with a header infront.

You could base64_encode() it first.

--
Alan Little
Phorm PHP Form Processor
http://www.phorm.com/

[Henrik Hansen]

Alan Little <al**@n-o-s-p-a-m-phorm.com> writes:

Carved in mystic runes upon the very living rock, the last words of
Henrik Hansen of comp.lang.php make plain:

"lawrence k" <lk******@geocities.com> writes:

Is it right to say that I can just open any file with file(), get it
as a string, and then store in a MySql database, in, say, a
MediumText field? I realize that MySql supports binary fields, but my
current MySql schema does not have any binary fields, and I'm
wondering if I can store the file without changing my current schema.

AFAIK you need to use blob fields as your data is binary (or is it,
what kind of files do you want to open?), if you store
it in a normal text field it can be corrupted. But else you are right,
you just take the ourput from the field and put in a file or output to
the browser with a header infront.

You could base64_encode() it first.

But then you have to keep in mind the content will take up much more
space.

Just tested, a 91959 bytes files will become 122612 bytes, that will end up
being alot if you have lots of files..

But it's a working solution if you cant convert to a BLOB (can't see
why not though).

--
Henrik Hansen

[lawrence k]

Alan Little wrote:

Carved in mystic runes upon the very living rock, the last words of
Henrik Hansen of comp.lang.php make plain:

"lawrence k" <lk******@geocities.com> writes:

Is it right to say that I can just open any file with file(), get it
as a string, and then store in a MySql database, in, say, a
MediumText field? I realize that MySql supports binary fields, but my
current MySql schema does not have any binary fields, and I'm
wondering if I can store the file without changing my current schema.

AFAIK you need to use blob fields as your data is binary (or is it,
what kind of files do you want to open?), if you store
it in a normal text field it can be corrupted. But else you are right,
you just take the ourput from the field and put in a file or output to
the browser with a header infront.

You could base64_encode() it first.

Thanks much to the both of you. I've MP3s to store. I will encode them
with base64_encode() and store them in a mediumtext field. We will see
how this goes.