How to make PHP generate Chunked response

Question

I googled for this problem but there is no answer for it.

I want my PHP script to generate HTTP response in chunked( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chunked_transfer_en

Answer 1

A PHP response will always be chunked if you don't specify a content-length header, and a flush occurs. (which will happen automatically after x bytes, just don't know exactly how much).

This is a weird thing to care about. Is this some kind of academic/learning exercise or is there a real world problem you're trying to solve?

Answer 2

If the size is big enough, Apache do it for you. If you work with ob_gzhandler, I think it makes no sense. Better you let the buffer out as fast as possible. If PHP really does not send automatically the content-length header or the content-length is from the uncompressed content:

ob_start();
ob_start("ob_gzhandler");
...
ob_end_flush();  
header('Content-Length: '.ob_get_length()); 
ob_end_flush();

You could reduce buffer size with apache's mod_buffer (may be with PHP's ini_set).

PS: If the size is big enough and the content-length is unknown, the content will be send in chunks as a makeshift.

Answer 3

A simpler way (without creating your own data chunks) is to only use flush():

<?php 
$fp = fopen('data.bin', "rb");
flush();
fpassthru($fp);
?>

This worked for me as shown in the following HTTP request and response.

Request:

00000000  47 45 54 20 2f 67 65 74  2d 63 68 75 6e 6b 2e 70 GET /get -chunk.p
00000010  68 70 20 48 54 54 50 2f  31 2e 31 0d 0a 55 73 65 hp HTTP/ 1.1..Use
00000020  72 2d 41 67 65 6e 74 3a  20 63 75 72 6c 2f 37 2e r-Agent:  curl/7.
00000030  32 31 2e 37 20 28 69 36  38 36 2d 70 63 2d 6c 69 21.7 (i6 86-pc-li
00000040  6e 75 78 2d 67 6e 75 29  20 6c 69 62 63 75 72 6c nux-gnu)  libcurl
00000050  2f 37 2e 32 31 2e 37 20  4f 70 65 6e 53 53 4c 2f /7.21.7  OpenSSL/
00000060  31 2e 30 2e 30 64 20 7a  6c 69 62 2f 31 2e 32 2e 1.0.0d z lib/1.2.
00000070  35 20 6c 69 62 73 73 68  32 2f 31 2e 32 2e 37 0d 5 libssh 2/1.2.7.
00000080  0a 48 6f 73 74 3a 20 67  61 69 61 0d 0a 41 63 63 .Host: g aia..Acc
00000090  65 70 74 3a 20 2a 2f 2a  0d 0a 0d 0a             ept: */* ....

Response:

00000000  48 54 54 50 2f 31 2e 31  20 32 30 30 20 4f 4b 0d HTTP/1.1  200 OK.
00000010  0a 44 61 74 65 3a 20 54  68 75 2c 20 32 32 20 53 .Date: T hu, 22 S
00000020  65 70 20 32 30 31 31 20  32 33 3a 35 33 3a 30 32 ep 2011  23:53:02
00000030  20 47 4d 54 0d 0a 53 65  72 76 65 72 3a 20 41 70  GMT..Se rver: Ap
00000040  61 63 68 65 2f 32 2e 32  2e 38 20 28 46 65 64 6f ache/2.2 .8 (Fedo
00000050  72 61 29 0d 0a 58 2d 50  6f 77 65 72 65 64 2d 42 ra)..X-P owered-B
00000060  79 3a 20 50 48 50 2f 35  2e 32 2e 36 0d 0a 54 72 y: PHP/5 .2.6..Tr
00000070  61 6e 73 66 65 72 2d 45  6e 63 6f 64 69 6e 67 3a ansfer-E ncoding:
00000080  20 63 68 75 6e 6b 65 64  0d 0a 43 6f 6e 74 65 6e  chunked ..Conten
00000090  74 2d 54 79 70 65 3a 20  74 65 78 74 2f 68 74 6d t-Type:  text/htm
000000A0  6c 3b 20 63 68 61 72 73  65 74 3d 55 54 46 2d 38 l; chars et=UTF-8
000000B0  0d 0a 0d 0a                                      ....
000000B4  61 0d 0a 54 45 53 54 20  44 41 54 41 0a 0d 0a 30 a..TEST  DATA...0
000000C4  0d 0a 0d 0a                                      ....