PHP script keeps working when it should fail

Question

I know people complain usually about scripts not working, but here is a case where it keeps working even if I want it to stop.

I have a CSV parser that analyzes lines and inserts entries in a DB table. I am using PDO and Zend Framwork for the project. The code works fine.. too fine in fact.

public function save()
{
    $memory_limit = ini_get('memory_limit');
    ini_set('memory_limit', '512M');

    $sql = "
        INSERT INTO my_table (
            date_start,
            timeframe,
            type,
            country_to,
            country_from,
            code,
            weight,
            value               
        ) VALUES (?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?)
        ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE 
            weight = VALUES(weight),
            value = VALUES(value)
    ";
    if ($this->test_mode) {
        echo $sql;
        return;
    }
    $stmt = new Zend_Db_Statement_Pdo($this->_db, $sql);
    foreach($this->parsed_data as $entry){
        $stmt->execute(array_values($entry));
        $affected_rows = $stmt->rowCount();
        if ($affected_rows){
            $this->_success = true;
        }
    }
    unset($this->parsed_data, $stmt, $sql);
    ini_set('memory_limit', $memory_limit);
}

The script takes various seconds to complete as I am parsing a big file. The problem appears when I am trying to stop the script, with ESC or even by closing the page. The script does not stop until it finishes to insert all entries. Not even an Apache reload is not fixing this, probably a restart will do it.

I am thinking that this is not normal behaviour and maybe I am doing something wrong so I am asking for suggestions.

Thanks.

UPDATE ignore_user_abort is off (default behaviour) so user abort should be considered..

a running thread, is a running thread. Consider this: If I start to copy a big file from one folder to another, and decide it is taking too long and kill the finder/explorer window I started the copy from, will the file transfer stop? I expect you have the same problem here. — DampeS8N
– DampeS8N, Commented Dec 6, 2010 at 16:04
It sounds like you're trying to use PHP as a scripting language. You might want to run this code from the command line interpreter rather than through a browser to get more control. — Dan Grossman
– Dan Grossman, Commented Dec 6, 2010 at 16:05

John Parker · Accepted Answer · 2010-12-06 16:02:50Z

2

I'm pretty sure that's standard PHP behaviour - just because the browser goes away doesn't mean it won't stop processing the script. (Although restarting Apache, etc. will achieve this goal.)

To change this behaviour, you can use ignore_user_abort.

That said, "PHP will not detect that the user has aborted the connection until an attempt is made to send information to the client", which I suspect may be the issue you're experiencing.

See the above link and the PHP runtime configuration information for more info.

answered Dec 6, 2010 at 16:02

John Parker

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3 Comments

Elzo Valugi Over a year ago

can you give me a link or a source for this info? other shorter scripts stop when you click ESC

Elzo Valugi Over a year ago

ignore_user_abort is off (default behaviour) so user abort should be considered...

John Parker Over a year ago

@Elzo - In that case I suspect it's the "PHP will not detect that the user has aborted the connection until an attempt is made to send information to the client" that's causing the issue.

Aurea · Accepted Answer · 2010-12-06 16:06:39Z

0

It is not wrong. Your tries won't work because:

ESCape - because it is totally unrelated to the working of a page - most browsers don't actually react to it
closing (or refreshing) the page - again, not related - the SERVER is doing something, and PHP will NOT stop when the client-side stops - server can't actually know if the client closed or refreshed a page
Apache reload - won't kill the PHP forked process

Restart WOULD do it - this will kill PHP processes and stuff. Although it is kinda troublesome.

Way to do this (if the long execution is undesirable), is to actually set an execution time limit, using PHP function set_time_limit(), or to make the parsing more optimal (if it is not).

answered Dec 6, 2010 at 16:06

Aurea

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