Another ftp_get_contents approach, using a temperary stream handler. Returns file contents as string.
<?php
function ftp_get_contents ($conn_id, $filename,
//Create temp handler:
$tempHandle = fopen('php://temp', 'r+');
//Get file from FTP assuming that it exists:
ftp_fget($conn_id, $tempHandle, $filename, FTP_ASCII, 0));
//Getting detailed stats to check filesize:
$fstats = fstat($tempHandle);
return fread($tempHandle, $fstats['size']);
}
?>