What is the rewind() function in PHP?

The rewind() function in PHP is a built-in function used to rewind the position of the file pointer. This means that the position of the file pointer is set to the start of the file.

Syntax

rewind(resource $stream): bool

Parameters

stream: A file stream that points to an already opened file.

If a file is opened in “append” mode, i.e., "a" or "a+", the position of the pointer continues from where the file was last written, regardless of the position set.

Return value

rewind() returns true if it is successfully executed. Otherwise, in case of any error, it returns false.

Code

The following code shows how the rewind() function works.

main.php
q1.txt
<?php
$temp = fopen("q1.txt","r+");
// display the contents of the file
echo readfile("q1.txt");
//reset the file pointer
rewind($temp);
//add content at the start of the file, overwriting it
fwrite($temp, "\nHello world! ");
//read the file again
echo readfile("q1.txt");
fclose($temp);
?>

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