PHP Directories: scandir(), mkdir() and glob()

Folders are files too, and PHP has functions to create, list and remove them.

Create a folder: mkdir()

index.php

PHP

<?php
if (!is_dir("uploads")) {
    mkdir("uploads", 0755, true);
}

var_dump(is_dir("uploads"));

Output

OUTPUT

bool(true)

The third argument true creates parent folders as needed (mkdir("a/b/c", 0755, true)). 0755 is the permission: the owner can do everything, others can read and enter. Do not use 0777 on a real server.

List the contents: scandir()

index.php

PHP

<?php
mkdir("docs");
file_put_contents("docs/a.txt", "1");
file_put_contents("docs/b.txt", "2");

print_r(scandir("docs"));

Output

OUTPUT

Array
(
    [0] => .
    [1] => ..
    [2] => a.txt
    [3] => b.txt
)

. is the folder itself and .. is its parent. You almost always want to remove them.

index.php

PHP

<?php
if (!is_dir("docs")) {
    mkdir("docs");
}
file_put_contents("docs/a.txt", "1");
file_put_contents("docs/b.txt", "2");

$files = array_values(array_diff(scandir("docs"), [".", ".."]));

echo implode(", ", $files);

Output

OUTPUT

a.txt, b.txt

Find files by pattern: glob()

index.php

PHP

<?php
mkdir("pics");
file_put_contents("pics/a.jpg", "");
file_put_contents("pics/b.png", "");
file_put_contents("pics/c.jpg", "");

foreach (glob("pics/*.jpg") as $file) {
    echo basename($file) . "\n";
}

Output

OUTPUT

1
2

a.jpg
c.jpg

glob() returns full paths that match a pattern with * and ?. It does not include . and ...

Delete an empty folder: rmdir()

index.php

PHP

<?php
mkdir("empty-folder");
rmdir("empty-folder");

var_dump(is_dir("empty-folder"));

Output

OUTPUT

bool(false)

rmdir() works only on empty folders. To remove a folder with content, delete the files first.

Walk through subfolders

RecursiveDirectoryIterator visits every file in every subfolder.

index.php

PHP

<?php
mkdir("site/css", 0755, true);
file_put_contents("site/index.html", "");
file_put_contents("site/css/style.css", "");

$iterator = new RecursiveIteratorIterator(
    new RecursiveDirectoryIterator("site", FilesystemIterator::SKIP_DOTS)
);

$names = [];
foreach ($iterator as $file) {
    $names[] = str_replace("\\", "/", $file->getPathname());
}

sort($names);
echo implode("\n", $names);

Output

OUTPUT

1
2

site/css/style.css
site/index.html

The current folder

index.php

PHP

1
2
3

<?php
echo getcwd();   // the current working directory
echo __DIR__;    // the folder of this file

Use paths you control

A path that comes from the visitor can contain ../ to climb out of the folder you meant. Use basename() to keep only the file name, and check the result against your own list. See File Paths.

dangerous

Careful with recursive delete

A function that deletes a folder tree with a path from outside can wipe your server if the path is wrong. Never pass user input to it.