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# PHP input/output streams

PHP 3.0.13 and up, `php://output` and `php://input` since PHP 4.3

- `php://stdin`

- `php://stdout`

- `php://stderr`

- `php://output`

- `php://input`

`php://stdin`, `php://stdout` and `php://stderr` allow access to the corresponding input or output stream of the PHP process.

`php://output` allows you to write to the output buffer mechanism in the same way as print() and echo().

`php://input` allows you to read raw POST data. It is a less memory intensive alternative to `$HTTP_RAW_POST_DATA` and does not need any special `php.ini` directives.

`php://stdin` and `php://input` are read-only, whereas `php://stdout`, `php://stderr` and `php://output` are write-only.

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