How to download zip file in Codeigniter?

@cali_green 

To download a zip file in CodeIgniter, you can use the built-in force_download function. This function will initiate a download prompt in the user's browser and allow the user to download the file. Here's an example of how to use it:

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$this->load->helper('download');

$data = file_get_contents('path/to/your/zip/file.zip'); // Read the file's contents
$name = 'name_of_your_file.zip';

force_download($name, $data);

This code will read the contents of the zip file and then send it to the user's browser as a download. The user will be prompted to save the file with the specified name.

Alternatively, you can also use the readfile function to read the contents of the file and send it to the browser, like this:

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$this->load->helper('file');

$file = 'path/to/your/zip/file.zip';

header('Content-type: application/zip');
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="'.basename($file).'"');
header('Content-Length: ' . filesize($file));

readfile($file);

This code will send the contents of the zip file to the browser with the appropriate headers, causing the browser to download the file.

@cali_green 

To download a ZIP file in CodeIgniter, you can follow these steps:

1. Create a controller method for handling the download. For example, you can create a function called downloadZip() in your controller.

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public function downloadZip() {
    // Code to create and download the ZIP file
}

1. Inside the downloadZip() function, load the CodeIgniter Zip Library by using the load method.

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$this->load->library('zip');

1. Add the files to the ZIP archive using the add_data() method of the Zip Library. You can pass the file path and file name to the add_data() method for each file you want to include in the ZIP file.

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$this->zip->add_data(file_get_contents('path/to/file1.txt'), 'file1.txt');
$this->zip->add_data(file_get_contents('path/to/file2.txt'), 'file2.txt');
// Add more files as needed

1. Set the ZIP file name using the archive() method of the Zip Library.

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$zipFileName = 'myfiles.zip';
$this->zip->archive($zipFileName);

1. Set the appropriate headers for downloading the ZIP file using the force_download() helper function.

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$this->load->helper('download');
force_download($zipFileName, NULL);

1. The complete method should look like this:

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public function downloadZip() {
    $this->load->library('zip');
    
    $this->zip->add_data(file_get_contents('path/to/file1.txt'), 'file1.txt');
    $this->zip->add_data(file_get_contents('path/to/file2.txt'), 'file2.txt');
    // Add more files as needed

    $zipFileName = 'myfiles.zip';
    $this->zip->archive($zipFileName);
    
    $this->load->helper('download');
    force_download($zipFileName, NULL);
}

You can call this method from your view or route it to a URI to initiate the download.