[Dean C]

When a file is uploaded via a file upload form a superglobal called $_FILES is created.

Imagine your upload field was: <input type="file" name="image" value="" />

You'd access this files name with $_FILES['image']['name'] for example. A print_r($_FILES); will show you the other information available. Basically you get the file contents like this:

PHP Code:

$file_contents = @file_get_contents($_FILES['image']['tmp_name']); 


Then write $file_contents to the database For the record though it's far easier working with files on the server in the long-run as you don't have the hassle of backing up all that extra storage space when backing up your database