PHP Manual . ... Next . PHP 3 <= 3.0.18, PHP 4 >= 4.0.0) gzread -- Binary-safe gz-file read . string gzread ( int zp, int length) . gzread() reads up to length bytes from the gz-file pointer referenced by zp . Reading stops when length (uncompressed) bytes have been read or EOF is reached, whichever comes first. // get contents of a gz-file into a string $filename = "/usr/local/something.txt.gz"; $zd = gzopen ($filename, "r"); $contents = gzread ($zd, 10000); gzclose ($zd); . ...