Decompressing a .gz file via PHP

Question

I need to be able to decompress through PHP some data that I have in a string which uses the gzip format. I need to do this via PHP, not by calling - through system for example - an external program.

I go to the documentation and I find gzdecode. Too bad it doesn't exist. Digging further through google it appears this function was implemented in PHP6, which I cannot use. (Interestingly enough gzencode exists and is working).

I believe - but I'm not sure - that the gzip format simply has some extra header data. Is there a way to uncompress it by manipulating this extra data and then using gzuncompress, or some other way?

Thanks

Answer 1

gzdecode() is not yet in PHP. But you can use the implementation from upgradephp. It really is just a few extra header bytes.

Another option would be to use gzopen. Maybe just like gzopen("data:app/bin,....") even.

Answer 2

Well I found my answer by reading the comments on the gzdecode page I linked in my original post. One of the users, Aaron G, provided an implementation of it and it works:

<?php

function gzdecode($data) {
  $len = strlen($data);
  if ($len < 18 || strcmp(substr($data,0,2),"\x1f\x8b")) {
    return null;  // Not GZIP format (See RFC 1952)
  }
  $method = ord(substr($data,2,1));  // Compression method
  $flags  = ord(substr($data,3,1));  // Flags
  if ($flags & 31 != $flags) {
    // Reserved bits are set -- NOT ALLOWED by RFC 1952
    return null;
  }
  // NOTE: $mtime may be negative (PHP integer limitations)
  $mtime = unpack("V", substr($data,4,4));
  $mtime = $mtime[1];
  $xfl   = substr($data,8,1);
  $os    = substr($data,8,1);
  $headerlen = 10;
  $extralen  = 0;
  $extra     = "";
  if ($flags & 4) {
    // 2-byte length prefixed EXTRA data in header
    if ($len - $headerlen - 2 < 8) {
      return false;    // Invalid format
    }
    $extralen = unpack("v",substr($data,8,2));
    $extralen = $extralen[1];
    if ($len - $headerlen - 2 - $extralen < 8) {
      return false;    // Invalid format
    }
    $extra = substr($data,10,$extralen);
    $headerlen += 2 + $extralen;
  }

  $filenamelen = 0;
  $filename = "";
  if ($flags & 8) {
    // C-style string file NAME data in header
    if ($len - $headerlen - 1 < 8) {
      return false;    // Invalid format
    }
    $filenamelen = strpos(substr($data,8+$extralen),chr(0));
    if ($filenamelen === false || $len - $headerlen - $filenamelen - 1 < 8) {
      return false;    // Invalid format
    }
    $filename = substr($data,$headerlen,$filenamelen);
    $headerlen += $filenamelen + 1;
  }

  $commentlen = 0;
  $comment = "";
  if ($flags & 16) {
    // C-style string COMMENT data in header
    if ($len - $headerlen - 1 < 8) {
      return false;    // Invalid format
    }
    $commentlen = strpos(substr($data,8+$extralen+$filenamelen),chr(0));
    if ($commentlen === false || $len - $headerlen - $commentlen - 1 < 8) {
      return false;    // Invalid header format
    }
    $comment = substr($data,$headerlen,$commentlen);
    $headerlen += $commentlen + 1;
  }

  $headercrc = "";
  if ($flags & 1) {
    // 2-bytes (lowest order) of CRC32 on header present
    if ($len - $headerlen - 2 < 8) {
      return false;    // Invalid format
    }
    $calccrc = crc32(substr($data,0,$headerlen)) & 0xffff;
    $headercrc = unpack("v", substr($data,$headerlen,2));
    $headercrc = $headercrc[1];
    if ($headercrc != $calccrc) {
      return false;    // Bad header CRC
    }
    $headerlen += 2;
  }

  // GZIP FOOTER - These be negative due to PHP's limitations
  $datacrc = unpack("V",substr($data,-8,4));
  $datacrc = $datacrc[1];
  $isize = unpack("V",substr($data,-4));
  $isize = $isize[1];

  // Perform the decompression:
  $bodylen = $len-$headerlen-8;
  if ($bodylen < 1) {
    // This should never happen - IMPLEMENTATION BUG!
    return null;
  }
  $body = substr($data,$headerlen,$bodylen);
  $data = "";
  if ($bodylen > 0) {
    switch ($method) {
      case 8:
        // Currently the only supported compression method:
        $data = gzinflate($body);
        break;
      default:
        // Unknown compression method
        return false;
    }
  } else {
    // I'm not sure if zero-byte body content is allowed.
    // Allow it for now...  Do nothing...
  }

  // Verifiy decompressed size and CRC32:
  // NOTE: This may fail with large data sizes depending on how
  //       PHP's integer limitations affect strlen() since $isize
  //       may be negative for large sizes.
  if ($isize != strlen($data) || crc32($data) != $datacrc) {
    // Bad format!  Length or CRC doesn't match!
    return false;
  }
  return $data;
}

?>