SplFileObject vs fopen in PHP

Question

What are the pros and cons of using fopen as opposed to SplFileObject in PHP?

From what I see, SplFileObject throws exceptions where applicable which makes this convenient when using try...catch for error handling. Apart from this, are there any other reasons to recommend one over the other?

(Bonus: Why is it called SplFileObject? What does Spl stand for? Why not simply FileObject?)

Update: One limitation of the SplFileObject is that it does not (yet) have a close member function. In some scenarios this can be a problem (Example: Unlink and SplFileObject).

Answer 1

SPL stands for Standard PHP Library.

SplFileObject uses internally the stream resource created with fopen. So your question should be when is it interesting to uses SplFileObject or to directly work with a stream resource ?

SplFileObject pros:

• SplFileObject provide an OOP approach to file manipulation (fread was added in PHP 5.5.11, fputcsv was added in PHP 5.4).

• SplFileObject implements several useful PHP Interfaces to enable the use of other SPL Iterator to better manipulate your file.

SplFileObject main disadvantage is that it does not give access to its internal stream resource. PHP functions were originally build to directly work with a stream resource. The fact that the SplFileObject does not give access to its own internal stream resource make it unusable with many PHP built in functions:

• php stream filters usage is poor with SplFileObject. You need to relies on the php://filter meta wrapper, which limits their usefulness.

• using SplFileObject with cURL is not possible

To sum it up SplFileObject and a stream resource are not interchangeable. Anything done using SplFileObject could be achieved using a stream resource and a SplFileObject userland implementation but the reverse is not true.

So depending on the use case using a stream resource created by fopen can be a better choice than relying on SplFileObject.

As for the close method, you don't need one... you just need to set the handler to null to release/close the internal stream resource.

$file = new SplFileObject('/path/to/my/file'); //the file handler is created
$file = null; //the file handler is closed