Why there isn't an "ftp_get_contents" function, I don't know. It takes a little work to emulate one, but it's doable.
<?php
function ftp_get_contents($ftp_stream, $remote_file, $mode, $resume_pos=null){
$pipes=stream_socket_pair(STREAM_PF_UNIX, STREAM_SOCK_STREAM, STREAM_IPPROTO_IP);
if($pipes===false) return false;
if(!stream_set_blocking($pipes[1], 0)){
fclose($pipes[0]); fclose($pipes[1]);
return false;
}
$fail=false;
$data='';
if(is_null($resume_pos)){
$ret=ftp_nb_fget($ftp_stream, $pipes[0], $remote_file, $mode);
} else {
$ret=ftp_nb_fget($ftp_stream, $pipes[0], $remote_file, $mode, $resume_pos);
}
while($ret==FTP_MOREDATA){
while(!$fail && !feof($pipes[1])){
$r=fread($pipes[1], 8192);
if($r==='') break;
if($r===false){ $fail=true; break; }
$data.=$r;
}
$ret=ftp_nb_continue($ftp_stream);
}
while(!$fail && !feof($pipes[1])){
$r=fread($pipes[1], 8192);
if($r==='') break;
if($r===false){ $fail=true; break; }
$data.=$r;
}
fclose($pipes[0]); fclose($pipes[1]);
if($fail || $ret!=FTP_FINISHED) return false;
return $data;
}
?>
Something similar would work to write a ftp_put_contents function, too.