How do I properly send a PDF file through PHP?

Question

I am trying to send a PDF file. Here is the code that is executing:

$file_path = '/path/to/file/filename.pdf'
$file_name = 'filename.pdf'

header("X-Sendfile: $file_path");
header("Content-type: application/octet-stream");
header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename='$filename'");
readfile($file_path):

whenever I download the file directly, it is fine. however when I try to download the file via this script, a file downloads that cannot be opened. my pdf reader tells me it cannot open a file of type 'text/plain'. I also tried setting the Content-type to application/pdf , but I get the same errors. What am I doing wrong here?

Answer 1

Have you tried this?

$file = '/path/to/file/filename.pdf';
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="'. basename($file) . '"');
header('Content-Length: ' . filesize($file));
readfile($file);

Using readfile() also eliminates any memory issues you might encounter.

Answer 2

try the code below.

header("Content-Type: application/octet-stream");

$file = "filename.pdf";
header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=" . urlencode($file));   
header("Content-Type: application/force-download");
header("Content-Type: application/octet-stream");
header("Content-Type: application/download");
header("Content-Description: File Transfer");            
header("Content-Length: " . filesize($file));
flush(); // this doesn't really matter.
$fp = fopen($file, "r");
while (!feof($fp))
{
    echo fread($fp, 65536);
    flush(); // this is essential for large downloads
} 
fclose($fp)

If the above one does not help you try the below

header('Content-Description: File Transfer');
header('Content-Type: application/octet-stream');
header("Content-Type: application/force-download");
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=' . urlencode(basename($file)));
// header('Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary');
header('Expires: 0');
header('Cache-Control: must-revalidate, post-check=0, pre-check=0');
header('Pragma: public');
header('Content-Length: ' . filesize($file));
ob_clean();
flush();
readfile($file);
exit;

Don't for get to set the file path $file_path as required.