John Davidson

Message:

I am currently using this code which works fine

$messageFile="{$username}/new_messages.txt";



if( is_file($messageFile)){

    $results=@file_get_contents($messageFile);

  

    if(!empty($results) &&  unlink( $messageFile ) ){

        //manipulate

    }

}

I'm building a chat application in which messages are meant to be deleted upon delivery. $messageFile is only being accessed by two sets of people- The receiver and his/her friends.

Friends messages are appended to the file and the receiver checks for new messages ( through checking if is_file() or comparing last modified time--polling 3s) and once the messages are delivered, the file is deleted then keeps checking if the $messageFile has been created or modified again and has messages.

My question is based on your experience, has there been any side effect in creating, deleting frequently same file?

I don't consider using db since the flat file is only been accessed by a user and his/her friends and the messages are not meant to be stored forever and also querying and updating/deleting messages in mysqli database frequently (esp when there are lots of users) can be much work i guess.

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My Answer:
"message.txt";

// Create the file
$file = fopen($messageFile, "w");
fclose($file);

// Delete the file
unlink($messageFile);

echo "File created and deleted successfully.";

This code will create a file named "message.txt" and then delete it. There should not be any side effects to creating and deleting the same file in this manner. However, it is always a good practice to handle file operations carefully to avoid any unexpected issues.