Download multiple files as a zip-file using php

Question

How can I download multiple files as a zip-file using php?

Answer 1

You can use the ZipArchive class to create a ZIP file and stream it to the client. Something like:

$files = array('readme.txt', 'test.html', 'image.gif');
$zipname = 'file.zip';
$zip = new ZipArchive;
$zip->open($zipname, ZipArchive::CREATE);
foreach ($files as $file) {
  $zip->addFile($file);
}
$zip->close();

and to stream it:

header('Content-Type: application/zip');
header('Content-disposition: attachment; filename='.$zipname);
header('Content-Length: ' . filesize($zipname));
readfile($zipname);

The second line forces the browser to present a download box to the user and prompts the name filename.zip. The third line is optional but certain (mainly older) browsers have issues in certain cases without the content size being specified.