Hey,

I created this multi-user PHP login script but I'm not sure what PHP to use to compare the POST(ed) password to a text file that has one password on each line.

For example, the text file would store the passwords like so:

password1
password2
password3
password4
etc...

When a user types in a password and then submits it, I want the script to check if the user typed in ANY of the password in the text file.

How would I go about this?

Thanks a lot,
Moatist

The best way to do this, would be to store the passwords in an array in a file. For example:
Password File (passwords.php):

PHP Code:

<?php
$passwords['username'] = "password";// with a md5 encryption
$passwords['username2'] = "password2";
?>

Check file:

PHP Code:

<?php
include('passwords.php');
if(md5($_POST['password']) !== $passwords[$_POST['username']]){
// It's ok
}
?>

However, this is very insecure (any flat file bases can be easily stolen and reversed). I suggest you look into a MySQL & PHP based solution.

rogem002,

With what my purposes for this script are, I'm not really worried about security. Can you or someone else tell me how to accomplish what I described above?

Thanks anyway rogem002, I'll keep what you said in mind for future PHP endeavors.



Moatist

PHP Code:

$filePath = 'path to your file';
$password = $_POST['password'];

$data = file_get_contents($filePath);
$dataArray = explode('\n', $data);

if(in_array($password, $dataArray))
{
     //found the password
}
else
{
     //didn't find the password
} 


NullPointer,

I'm not sure why but your code is not working. Could you check to see if it works for you and then let me know if you fix any bugs?

Thanks a ton!

Moatist

Run the following code and post the output:

PHP Code:

$filePath = 'path to your file'; 
echo 'File: ' $filePath . '<br />';
$password = $_POST['password'];
echo 'Password: ' . $_POST['password'] . '<br />';

$data = file_get_contents($filePath); 
echo 'Data: ' . $data . '<br />';
$dataArray = explode('\n', $data);
echo 'Data Array: ';
print_r($dataArray);

if(in_array($password, $dataArray)) 
{ 
     //found the password 
} 
else 
{ 
     //didn't find the password 
} 


From there it shouldn't be too hard to figure out what is wrong.

I'm getting the following parse error message while attempting to run the code you posted above:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_VARIABLE, expecting ',' or ';' in path_to_folder on line 11

Line 11 code: [PHPecho 'File: ' $filePath . '<br />';][/php]

Thanks a lot for helping!

My mistake. I left out a .

PHP Code:

$filePath = 'path to your file';  
echo 'File: ' . $filePath . '<br />'; 
$password = $_POST['password']; 
echo 'Password: ' . $_POST['password'] . '<br />'; 

$data = file_get_contents($filePath);  
echo 'Data: ' . $data . '<br />'; 
$dataArray = explode('\n', $data); 
echo 'Data Array: '; 
print_r($dataArray); 

if(in_array($password, $dataArray))  
{  
     //found the password  
}  
else  
{  
     //didn't find the password  
} 


Here is the output from the code that you supplied:

File: ../test.txt
Password:
Data: password1 password2 password3 password4
Data Array: Array ( [0] => password1 password2 password3 password4 )

Was your text file line seperated or space seperated?
ie

password1 password2 password 3

OR

password1
password2
password3

If it is space seperated you'll have to change the delimiter from '\n' to ' '.
Otherwise try replacing '\n' with '\r\n'

The code is still not working.

When I store the passwords on the same line seperated by a space evrything works fine (if I change the delimiter to ' ')

Thanks a lot NullPointer. You totaly rock!

Sorry my mistake once again. I forgot that PHP has to parse the contents of a string to check for newlines. '\n' literally means \n "\n" means new line. This is not the case in other languages. Working version:

PHP Code:

$filePath = 'path to your file'; 
$password = $_POST['password']; 

$data = file_get_contents($filePath); 
$dataArray = explode("\n", $data); 

if(in_array($password, $dataArray)) 
{ 
     //found the password 
} 
else 
{ 
     //didn't find the password 
} 


EDIT:
I didn't see your last response before I posted. Glad you got it working. In my defence I had a final today and didn't sleep last night

You know that the file() function will read the file into an array

this is a great post , i thinks i could use this too

Hi,
I think with this script, the file with passwords is not encrypted, this mean that all passwords are readable, so make sur that any one will just download it !
for example someone type 'youraddress.com/passwords.txt' and then can see everything.
You may add a apache config file to not allow extern reading.

I hope this will save you and your data

Hey guys, I'm not a complete noobie (even though profile may call me a novice ).

Yes, in some situations its a completely terrible thing to use text files to store passwords. My case is an exception because I really don't care whether or not people know the passwords that aren't supposed to. Go figure.