File provides an easy interface to PHP's builtin file and directory functions, plus some functions to deal with paths.
Using File
<?php
require_once 'File.php';
$file = "/home/tal/example.txt";
//Echo the whole file
echo File::readAll($file);
//Now use a different approach
$fp = new File();
//Write a single line to the file, using a Macintosh EOL character and
//truncating the file before writing to it
$fp->writeLine($file, "This is a single line", FILE_MODE_WRITE, "\r");
//strip leading and trailing separators from the file path
echo $fp->stripLeadingSeparators($file);
echo $fp->stripTrailingSeparators($file);
?>