PHP data://

The data:// wrapper in PHP allows you to embed data directly into your code using the data URI scheme defined in RFC 2397. This is useful for including inline data without external files.

Syntax

data:[media type][;base64],data

Parameters

media type − MIME type of the data (default: text/plain)

base64 − Optional encoding indicator for binary data

data − The actual data content, separated by a comma

Example 1: Basic String Encoding

This example encodes a string to base64 format and reads it using the data:// wrapper −

<?php
$string = "TutorialsPoint India (p) Ltd";
$b64 = base64_encode($string);
echo file_get_contents('data://text/plain;base64,' . $b64);
?>

TutorialsPoint India (p) Ltd

Example 2: Reading File Content

You can read content from a file and encode it using the data:// wrapper −

<?php
$string = file_get_contents("test.txt");
$b64 = base64_encode($string);
echo file_get_contents('data://text/plain;base64,' . $b64);
?>

Note: This example requires a file named "test.txt" to exist in the same directory.

Example 3: HTML Content

Using text/html as media type for HTML content −

<?php
$string = file_get_contents("test.html");
$b64 = base64_encode($string);
echo file_get_contents('data://text/html;base64,' . $b64);
?>

Example 4: Plain Text Without Encoding

You can use data:// without base64 encoding for simple text −

<?php
$data = "Hello World!";
echo file_get_contents('data://text/plain,' . urlencode($data));
?>

Hello World!

Conclusion

The data:// wrapper provides a convenient way to embed data directly in PHP code without external files. Use base64 encoding for binary data and URL encoding for plain text containing special characters.