Creating a Zip Archive Without Writing to Disk in PHP

Zip archives are a popular way to compress and store multiple files into a single file. They are commonly used for file sharing, backup purposes, and reducing file size. While creating zip archives in PHP is a straightforward process, it usually involves writing the compressed data to disk. However, in some cases, you may want to create a zip archive without writing it to disk. In this article, we will explore how to achieve this in PHP.

First, let's understand the traditional process of creating a zip archive in PHP. The most commonly used library for zip operations in PHP is the ZipArchive class. It provides methods for creating, opening, and manipulating zip archives. The typical approach to create a zip archive using this class is to first create an instance of the ZipArchive class and then add files to it using the addFile() method. Finally, the archive is saved to disk using the close() method.

Now, let's look at how to create a zip archive without writing it to disk. To achieve this, we will use the ZipStream library. It is an open-source library that allows creating zip archives on-the-fly without saving them to disk. This approach is beneficial when dealing with large files or when disk space is limited.

To get started, we need to install the ZipStream library using Composer. Open your terminal and run the following command:

composer require jeroendesloovere/zipstream-php

Once the library is installed, we can start creating our zip archive. First, we need to create an instance of the ZipStream class. This class accepts two parameters: the output stream and the options array. The output stream defines where the zip archive will be sent, and the options array allows us to configure the archive.

Next, we can add files to the archive using the addFile() method. This method accepts two parameters: the file name and the file content. The file name is the name of the file inside the zip archive, and the file content is the actual content of the file. We can also add directories to the archive using the addDirectory() method.

Once we have added all the necessary files and directories, we can finalize the archive by calling the finish() method. This will send the zip archive to the output stream defined earlier.

Let's see an example of creating a zip archive without writing it to disk:

<?php

// Include the ZipStream library

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

// Create an instance of the ZipStream class

$zip = new ZipStream('my_archive.zip', [

'content_type' => 'application/zip',

'send_http_headers' => true,

'archive_comment' => 'This is a sample zip archive created without writing to disk'

]);

// Add a file to the archive

$zip->addFile('my_file.txt', 'This is the content of my file');

// Add a directory to the archive

$zip->addDirectory('my_directory');

// Finalize the archive

$zip->finish();

?>

In this example, we created a zip archive named "my_archive.zip" that contains a file named "my_file.txt" and a directory named "my_directory". The archive is then sent to the output stream, which can be a file, a web browser, or any other stream that can handle zip archives.

In conclusion, creating a zip archive without writing it to disk in PHP is possible with the help of the ZipStream library. This approach is useful when dealing with large files or limited disk space. We hope this article has helped you understand how to achieve this in your PHP projects. Happy coding!