--- title: PHP zip:// and parse_url... | daily.dev description: Using PHP's fopen with the zip:// wrapper to open a file inside an archive (e.g. an Excel sheet) can fail because parse_url mis-parses the resulting URL,... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/php-zip-and-parse-url--oifehmefl twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: PHP zip:// and parse_url... | daily.dev og:description: Using PHP's fopen with the zip:// wrapper to open a file inside an archive (e.g. an Excel sheet) can fail because parse_url mis-parses the resulting URL,... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/php-zip-and-parse-url--oifehmefl og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/OIFEhmefl.png og:image:alt: PHP zip:// and parse_url... og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # PHP zip:// and parse_url... **[Maarten Balliauw](https://daily.dev/sources/maartenballiauw)** · 1 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Using PHP's fopen with the zip:// wrapper to open a file inside an archive (e.g. an Excel sheet) can fail because parse_url mis-parses the resulting URL, incorrectly splitting the host and path around the '#' character. This causes fopen('zip://something.xlsx#xl/worksheets/sheet1.xml', 'r') to break on some machines, since the parsed scheme, host, and path don't match what's expected. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Why does fopen with zip://something.xlsx#xl/worksheets/sheet1.xml fail in PHP? It fails because parse_url misinterprets the URL, treating everything after the '#' as part of the host instead of correctly separating it into the file path and internal archive path. For example, parsing zip://something.xlsx#xl/worksheets/sheet1.xml yields host 'something.xlsx#xl' and path '/worksheets/sheet1.xml', which is not the correct breakdown expected for accessing a file within a zip archive. _Developers debugging zip:// stream wrapper quirks in PHP can find similar gotchas curated on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Critical PhpSpreadsheet RCE Patch Bypass Puts Millions at Risk](https://daily.dev/posts/critical-phpspreadsheet-rce-patch-bypass-puts-millions-at-risk-00mi2esoj) · Orca Security Blog · 6 upvotes · 0 comments - [ZipTransformer uses file\_name header to build workDirectory path without sanitization](https://daily.dev/posts/ziptransformer-uses-file-name-header-to-build-workdirectory-path-without-sanitization-xyzzmdefx) · Spring · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [\[RFC\] Pure-code source files via the .phpc extension](https://daily.dev/posts/rfc-pure-code-source-files-via-the-phpc-extension-vab1etgtt) · externals.io · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [GootLoader Malware Uses 500–1,000 Concatenated ZIP Archives to Evade Detection](https://daily.dev/posts/gootloader-malware-uses-500-1-000-concatenated-zip-archives-to-evade-detection-gtlhymqcn) · The Hacker News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#php](https://daily.dev/tags/php) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/php-zip-and-parse-url--oifehmefl) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"PHP zip:// and parse_url...","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/php-zip-and-parse-url--oifehmefl","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/php-zip-and-parse-url--oifehmefl"},"datePublished":"2026-10-04T13:06:16.892Z","dateModified":"2026-10-04T13:18:13.626Z","description":"Using PHP's fopen with the zip:// wrapper to open a file inside an archive (e.g. an Excel sheet) can fail because parse_url mis-parses the resulting URL,...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/12ca4457cf1bfa36629a5b2341c6e7ae?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/12ca4457cf1bfa36629a5b2341c6e7ae?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Maarten Balliauw","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Maarten Balliauw","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--rOTg3VYO--/f_auto,q_auto/v1791119043/logos/maartenballiauw?_a=BAMAMicg0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/maartenballiauw"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/php-zip-and-parse-url--oifehmefl","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"php","timeRequired":"PT1M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Maarten Balliauw","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/maartenballiauw"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"PHP zip:// and parse_url..."}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/php-zip-and-parse-url--oifehmefl#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Why does fopen with zip://something.xlsx#xl/worksheets/sheet1.xml fail in PHP?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"It fails because parse_url misinterprets the URL, treating everything after the '#' as part of the host instead of correctly separating it into the file path and internal archive path. For example, parsing zip://something.xlsx#xl/worksheets/sheet1.xml yields host 'something.xlsx#xl' and path '/worksheets/sheet1.xml', which is not the correct breakdown expected for accessing a file within a zip archive. Developers debugging zip:// stream wrapper quirks in PHP can find similar gotchas curated on daily.dev."}}]} ```