Cannot echo php value inside javascript

Question

var countDownDate = new Date("<?php echo file_get_contents('wipetime.txt');?>").getTime();

I'm trying to make a countdown timer. The file "wipetime.txt" changes every few days so I'm trying to make it so I can grab the file when the page loads and countdown to that date.

The problem is that if I echo that php value somewhere on the page, it works. It displays the file contents. However, if I were to echo it inside countDownDate or even an alert, I get nothing. No error, just completely nothing.

I can't see anything wrong at all.

Edit: Heres the entire thing in case you wanna know

<!--Whitelist timer-->
<script>
var countDownDate = new Date("<?php echo file_get_contents('wipetime.txt');?>").getTime();
var x = setInterval(function() {
  var now = new Date().getTime();
  var distance = countDownDate - now;
  var days = Math.floor(distance / (1000 * 60 * 60 * 24));
  var hours = Math.floor((distance % (1000 * 60 * 60 * 24)) / (1000 * 60 * 60));
  var minutes = Math.floor((distance % (1000 * 60 * 60)) / (1000 * 60));
  var seconds = Math.floor((distance % (1000 * 60)) / 1000);
  document.getElementById("countdown").innerHTML = "Whitelist expires in " + days + "d " + hours + "h "
  + minutes + "m " + seconds + "s ";
  if (distance < 0) {
    clearInterval(x);
    document.getElementById("countdown").innerHTML = "EXPIRED";
  }
}, 1000);
</script>

Can you show the generated html? Show us what appears under page-source/view-source. Also is this a .js file? — Ibu
– Ibu, Commented Sep 30, 2018 at 22:38
And I'm sorry if the info i've given is kind of vague. I don't really know what else to say, this is really basic and /should/ work, but for some reason I just get nothing. Am I overlooking something stupid? — Syllith
– Syllith, Commented Sep 30, 2018 at 22:39
The problem is that we can't tell what is the generated code on the page. We can't tell if you are doing this in a php file or a js file. — Ibu
– Ibu, Commented Sep 30, 2018 at 22:42
var countDownDate = new Date("Oct 05, 2018 06:39:03 ").getTime(); Thats what chrome console is saying it outputted. The entire page is in php but the specific javascript is at the end of the page — Syllith
– Syllith, Commented Sep 30, 2018 at 22:43
If I paste Oct 05, 2018 06:39:03 into the quotes rather than the php, it works, but that means I can't get the date dynamically, which is what I'm trying to do. If I use the script I posted above, it doesn't display anything at all — Syllith
– Syllith, Commented Sep 30, 2018 at 22:45

Ibu · Accepted Answer · 2018-09-30 23:19:03Z

3

There is a possibility that the file wipetime.txt contains some special characters (maybe a carriage return). Two things you can do:

Manually check the file for any artifacts and remove them.
You should trim the content.

The code:

<?php
$content = file_get_contents('wipetime.txt');
$timeStr = trim($content); // should remove trailing characters like new lines. 
?>

var countDownDate = new Date("<?php echo $timeStr;?>").getTime();

edited Sep 30, 2018 at 23:19

answered Sep 30, 2018 at 22:56

Ibu

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2 Comments

Syllith Over a year ago

I'm generating wipetime.txt with the command line in linux and for some reason its outputting an extra line, so this answer works perfectly.

miken32 Over a year ago

They're going to be out of luck if the value contains a " for some reason. json_encode() is a handy way to escape things for insertion into JavaScript.

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