PHP code to write to a CSV file from MySQL query

By: Jamie in PHP Tutorials on 2014-10-06

Utility function to output a mysql query to csv with the option to write to file or send back to the browser as a csv attachment.

<?php
    function query_to_csv($db_conn, $query, $filename, $attachment = false, $headers = true) {
        
        if($attachment) {
            // send response headers to the browser
            header( 'Content-Type: text/csv' );
            header( 'Content-Disposition: attachment;filename='.$filename);
            $fp = fopen('php://output', 'w');
        } else {
            $fp = fopen($filename, 'w');
        }
        
        $result = mysql_query($query, $db_conn) or die( mysql_error( $db_conn ) );
        
        if($headers) {
            // output header row (if at least one row exists)
            $row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result);
            if($row) {
                fputcsv($fp, array_keys($row));
                // reset pointer back to beginning
                mysql_data_seek($result, 0);
            }
        }
        
        while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
            fputcsv($fp, $row);
        }
        
        fclose($fp);
    }

    // Using the function
    $sql = "SELECT * FROM table";
    // $db_conn should be a valid db handle

    // output as an attachment
    query_to_csv($db_conn, $sql, "test.csv", true);

    // output to file system
    query_to_csv($db_conn, $sql, "test.csv", false);
?>

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