Written by Admin on 2025-05-06

WordPress Post PHP File Download - A Comprehensive Guide

Many WordPress bloggers sometimes need to offer a downloadable file to their readers. A common solution is to create a post/page and attach the file for the readers to download. Some sites might need an added layer of security that won't allow unwanted users to download the file. In such cases, instead of providing the direct link to the file, a PHP script can be used that will validate the user's request before sending the file. This guide will show you how to create a PHP script that can be used with WordPress posts or pages.

WordPress Post PHP File Download - Step by Step Guide

1. Create a new page or post on your WordPress site where you want to offer the file for download.
2. Upload the file to your web server and take note of the file location. For this tutorial, we will assume that the file is located at "https://your-example-blog.com/files/mydownload.zip".
3. Create a new file on your web server called download.php with the following code:

```php

// 2. set the path to the download file $filepath = "../files/" . $filename;

// 3. set the content-type header header('Content-Type: application/octet-stream');

// 4. set the content-disposition header header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="' . $filename . '"');

// 5. send the file readfile($filepath); ?> ``` This script sets the necessary headers for web browsers to understand that the file is a download. The filename is also set and is the same as the name of the file uploaded earlier. In our case, it's "mydownload.zip". Make sure that the filename is the same as the file in the upload location. Otherwise, the script will download the wrong file.

4. Save the file into your WordPress installation folder. For example, if your WordPress installation is in "/var/www/html", save the file as "/var/www/html/download.php". (Note: this path may vary depending on your hosting provider, so check your documentation).
5. Go back to your WordPress page or post editor and then insert a link to the "download.php" script. For example, you can add a sentence such as "Download My File." Highlight the text "My File" and then click the "Link" button on the toolbar. In the URL field, enter the URL to the "download.php" script, which will be "https://your-example-blog.com/download.php". (If your WordPress folder is located at a subfolder like /blog, then include that in the URL as well: "https://your-example-blog.com/blog/download.php".) Save and publish your post or page.

Conclusion

This guide has shown you a simple way to offer downloadable files to your WordPress readers by using a PHP script. This script adds a layer of security to your files by preventing unwanted users from downloading the files directly. Additionally, this technique gives you more control over how the file is downloaded and presented to the user. Hopefully, this guide has been helpful and you can now implement this solution on your WordPress sites.