{"id":128,"date":"2021-03-08T00:25:30","date_gmt":"2021-03-08T00:25:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phptutorial.net\/?page_id=128"},"modified":"2021-06-03T02:12:25","modified_gmt":"2021-06-03T02:12:25","slug":"php-directory","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.phptutorial.net\/php-tutorial\/php-directory\/","title":{"rendered":"PHP Directory"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Summary<\/strong>: in this tutorial, you will learn how to work with directories using various built-in functions in PHP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Basic directory operations #<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

PHP provides a set of handy functions that allow you to work with directories effectively. To manage a directory, you need to get a directory handle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To get the directory handle of a directory, you pass the directory path to the opendir()<\/code> function as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n

<?php<\/span>\n\n$dh = opendir('.\/public'<\/span>);<\/span><\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> HTML, XML<\/span> (<\/span>xml<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
If an error occurs while opening the directory, the opendir()<\/code> function returns false<\/code>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When you’re done with the directory, you need to close the directory handle by using the closedir()<\/code> function:<\/p>\n\n\n
<?php<\/span>\n\nclosedir($dh);<\/span><\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> HTML, XML<\/span> (<\/span>xml<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
Each directory may contain a list of files or sub-directories. It may also contain the dot entry (.)<\/code> that represents the current directory and the entry (..<\/code>) that represents the parent directory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To get the next entry (a file or a directory) in a directory, you pass the directory handle to the readdir()<\/code> function. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Suppose the public<\/code> directory is as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n
.\n\u251c\u2500\u2500 css<\/span>\n\u2502   \u2514\u2500\u2500 style<\/span>.css<\/span>\n\u2514\u2500\u2500 js<\/span>\n    \u2514\u2500\u2500 app<\/span>.js<\/span><\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> CSS<\/span> (<\/span>css<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
The following example lists all subdirectories in the public<\/code> directory:<\/p>\n\n\n
<?php<\/span>\n\n$dh = opendir('.\/public'<\/span>);\n\nif<\/span> ($dh) {\n\twhile<\/span> ($e = readdir($dh)) {\n\t\tif<\/span> ($e !== '.'<\/span> && $e !== '..'<\/span>) {\n\t\t\techo<\/span> $e , PHP_EOL;\n\t\t}\n\t}\n}\n\nclosedir($dh);<\/span><\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> HTML, XML<\/span> (<\/span>xml<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
Output:<\/p>\n\n\n
css\njs<\/code><\/span><\/pre>\n\n\n
Note that the readdir()<\/code> function returns the directories and files of the current directory specified by the directory handle. It doesn’t recursively returns the files and directories of the subdirectories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The following code is functionally equivalent to the above example except that it uses the try...catch...finally<\/a><\/code>  statement to handle the error:<\/p>\n\n\n
try<\/span> {\r\n\t$dh = opendir('.\/public'<\/span>);\r\n\tif<\/span> (!$dh) {\r\n\t\tthrow<\/span> new<\/span> Exception<\/span>('Error openning the directory'<\/span>);\r\n\t}\r\n\twhile<\/span> ($e = readdir($dh)) {\r\n\t\tif<\/span> ($e !== '.'<\/span> && $e !== '..'<\/span>) {\r\n\t\t\techo<\/span> $e . '<br>'<\/span>;\r\n\t\t}\r\n\t}\r\n} catch<\/span> (\\Throwable $e) {\r\n\techo<\/span> $e->getMessage();\r\n} finally<\/span> {\r\n\tif<\/span> ($dh) {\r\n\t\tclosedir($dir);\r\n\t}\r\n}<\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> PHP<\/span> (<\/span>php<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
Get the current directory #<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
By default, the current directory is the directory that contains the currently running script file. The current directory is important because it is used as the base directory for relative file paths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To get the current directory, you use the getcwd()<\/code> function:<\/p>\n\n\n
<?php<\/span>\n\necho<\/span> getcwd();<\/span><\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> HTML, XML<\/span> (<\/span>xml<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
To change the current directory to a new one, you use the chdir()<\/code> function:<\/p>\n\n\n
<?php<\/span>\n\nchdir('.\/dev'<\/span>);\necho<\/span> getcwd();<\/span><\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> HTML, XML<\/span> (<\/span>xml<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
After calling the chdir()<\/code> function, the current directory changes to ‘.\/dev’.  And you can verify it by calling the getcwd()<\/code> function.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Create a new directory #<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
To create a directory, you use the mkdir()<\/code> function by passing the directory path. The mkdir()<\/code> function returns true<\/code> if it created the directory\u00a0successfully of false<\/code> otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n
<?php<\/span>\n\n$dir = '.\/public\/img'<\/span>;\n\nif<\/span> (mkdir($dir)) {\n\techo<\/span> ' The dir '<\/span>, $dir, 'created successfully!'<\/span>;\n}<\/span><\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> HTML, XML<\/span> (<\/span>xml<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
Notice that the parent directory public<\/code> must exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<?php<\/span>\n\n$dir = '.\/public\/assets'<\/span>;\nmkdir($dir, 0644<\/span>);<\/span><\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> HTML, XML<\/span> (<\/span>xml<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
Delete a directory #<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
To delete a directory, you use the rmdir()<\/code> function. And you need to have sufficient permissions to remove the directory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also, the directory needs to be empty. In other words, it doesn’t contain any files or sub-directories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The following example deletes the directory assets<\/code> under the public<\/code> directory:<\/p>\n\n\n
<?php<\/span>\n\nrmdir('.\/public\/assets'<\/span>);<\/span><\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> HTML, XML<\/span> (<\/span>xml<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
Check if a path is a directory #<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
To check if a path is a directory, you use the is_dir()<\/code> function:<\/p>\n\n\n
is_dir ( string $filename ) : bool<\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> PHP<\/span> (<\/span>php<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
The is_dir()<\/code> function returns true<\/code> if the $filename<\/code> exists and is a directory. For example:<\/p>\n\n\n
<?php<\/span>\n\n$path = '.\/public'<\/span>;\n\nif<\/span> (is_dir($path)) {\n\techo<\/span> $path, ' is a directory.'<\/span>;\n}<\/span><\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> HTML, XML<\/span> (<\/span>xml<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
Summary #<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
  • Use the opendir()<\/code> function to open a directory and get the directory handle and the closedir()<\/code> function once you are done with the directory.<\/li>
  • Use the readdir()<\/code> function to read the entries in a directory specified by a directory handle.<\/li>
  • Use the mkdir()<\/code> function to create a new directory.<\/li>
  • Use the rmdir()<\/code> function to remove a directory.<\/li>
  • Use the is_dir()<\/code> function to check if a path is a directory and that directory exists in the file system.<\/li><\/ul>\n
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    Did you find this tutorial useful?<\/div>\n\t\t
    \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/path>\n\t\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t\t\t Yes <\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/button>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/path>\n\t\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t\t\t No <\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/button>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/header>\n\n\t
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For more information on setting permissions on the file or directory, check it out the file permissions<\/a> tutorial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By default the mkdir()<\/code> function sets 0777<\/code> to the new directory. If you want to set different a permission, you can pass it to the mkdir()<\/code> function or use the chmod()<\/a><\/code>\u00a0function. For example:<\/p>\n\n\n