How to find folders/Files in a directory Using scandir() in PHP
This PHP tutorial helps to read folders/files from a directory. I will provide a simple PHP script that read all files and lists them down into HTML table.
The functions is_dir() and is_file() can be used to determine whether a folder or a file.
I am using Bootstrap 3 CSS framework for HTML table listing, PHP provides scandir() method to read files from a directory location.
You can use this method for Linux as well as with windows, You just need to pass the correct source directory path.
Let’s read all folder of /htdocs folders using scandir() method.
$dir = '/phpflow'; $files = array_slice(scandir($dir), 2);
scandir() method all list with two extra entry ‘.’ and ‘..’ , I am escaping that entry using array_slice() method.
$files variable will have all folders and files of /htdocs directory in the array. They don’t read inner folder files since it does not follow the recursive method to read files.
Now we will iterate on $files variables and bind data with the table.
Output:
PHP using scandir() to find folders in a directory
You can also print all folders and files of a directory if you don’t want to list in a table.
$scan = scandir('htdocs'); foreach($scan as $file) < if (!is_dir("htdocs/$file")) < echo $file.'\n'; >> scandir
Returns an array of files and directories from the directory .
Parameters
The directory that will be scanned.
By default, the sorted order is alphabetical in ascending order. If the optional sorting_order is set to SCANDIR_SORT_DESCENDING , then the sort order is alphabetical in descending order. If it is set to SCANDIR_SORT_NONE then the result is unsorted.
For a description of the context parameter, refer to the streams section of the manual.
Return Values
Returns an array of filenames on success, or false on failure. If directory is not a directory, then boolean false is returned, and an error of level E_WARNING is generated.
Changelog
Examples
Example #1 A simple scandir() example
$dir = ‘/tmp’ ;
$files1 = scandir ( $dir );
$files2 = scandir ( $dir , SCANDIR_SORT_DESCENDING );
print_r ( $files1 );
print_r ( $files2 );
?>
The above example will output something similar to:
Array ( [0] => . [1] => .. [2] => bar.php [3] => foo.txt [4] => somedir ) Array ( [0] => somedir [1] => foo.txt [2] => bar.php [3] => .. [4] => . )
Notes
A URL can be used as a filename with this function if the fopen wrappers have been enabled. See fopen() for more details on how to specify the filename. See the Supported Protocols and Wrappers for links to information about what abilities the various wrappers have, notes on their usage, and information on any predefined variables they may provide.
See Also
- opendir() — Open directory handle
- readdir() — Read entry from directory handle
- glob() — Find pathnames matching a pattern
- is_dir() — Tells whether the filename is a directory
- sort() — Sort an array in ascending order
User Contributed Notes 38 notes
Easy way to get rid of the dots that scandir() picks up in Linux environments:
$directory = ‘/path/to/my/directory’ ;
$scanned_directory = array_diff ( scandir ( $directory ), array( ‘..’ , ‘.’ ));
?>
Here is my 2 cents. I wanted to create an array of my directory structure recursively. I wanted to easely access data in a certain directory using foreach. I came up with the following:
$cdir = scandir ( $dir );
foreach ( $cdir as $key => $value )
<
if (! in_array ( $value ,array( «.» , «..» )))
<
if ( is_dir ( $dir . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $value ))
<
$result [ $value ] = dirToArray ( $dir . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $value );
>
else
<
$result [] = $value ;
>
>
>
return $result ;
>
?>
Output
Array
(
[subdir1] => Array
(
[0] => file1.txt
[subsubdir] => Array
(
[0] => file2.txt
[1] => file3.txt
)
)
[subdir2] => Array
(
[0] => file4.txt
>
)
Someone wrote that array_slice could be used to quickly remove directory entries «.» and «..». However, «-» is a valid entry that would come before those, so array_slice would remove the wrong entries.
I needed to find a way to get the full path of all files in the directory and all subdirectories of a directory.
Here’s my solution: Recursive functions!
function find_all_files ( $dir )
<
$root = scandir ( $dir );
foreach( $root as $value )
<
if( $value === ‘.’ || $value === ‘..’ )
if( is_file ( » $dir / $value » )) < $result []= " $dir / $value " ;continue;>
foreach( find_all_files ( » $dir / $value » ) as $value )
<
$result []= $value ;
>
>
return $result ;
>
?>
For directory containing files like (for example) -.jpg the results of scandir are a little «weird» 😉
$dir = ‘/somedir’ ;
$files = scandir ( $dir );
print_r ( $files );
?>
Array
(
[0] => -.jpg
[1] => .
[2] => ..
[3] => foo.txt
[4] => somedir
)
Beware — sorting is in ASCII order 🙂
A simple recursive function to list all files and subdirectories in a directory:
function listAllFiles ( $dir ) $array = array_diff ( scandir ( $dir ), array( ‘.’ , ‘..’ ));
foreach ( $array as & $item ) $item = $dir . $item ;
>
unset( $item );
foreach ( $array as $item ) if ( is_dir ( $item )) $array = array_merge ( $array , listAllFiles ( $item . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR ));
>
>
return $array ;
>
?>
Fastest way to get a list of files without dots.
$files = array_slice ( scandir ( ‘/path/to/directory/’ ), 2 );
Needed something that could return the contents of single or multiple directories, recursively or non-recursively,
for all files or specified file extensions that would be
accessible easily from any scope or script.
And I wanted to allow overloading cause sometimes I’m too lazy to pass all params.
class scanDir static private $directories , $files , $ext_filter , $recursive ;
// ———————————————————————————————-
// scan(dirpath::string|array, extensions::string|array, recursive::true|false)
static public function scan () // Initialize defaults
self :: $recursive = false ;
self :: $directories = array();
self :: $files = array();
self :: $ext_filter = false ;
// Check we have minimum parameters
if(! $args = func_get_args ()) die( «Must provide a path string or array of path strings» );
>
if( gettype ( $args [ 0 ]) != «string» && gettype ( $args [ 0 ]) != «array» ) die( «Must provide a path string or array of path strings» );
>
// Check if recursive scan | default action: no sub-directories
if(isset( $args [ 2 ]) && $args [ 2 ] == true )
// Was a filter on file extensions included? | default action: return all file types
if(isset( $args [ 1 ])) if( gettype ( $args [ 1 ]) == «array» )< self :: $ext_filter = array_map ( 'strtolower' , $args [ 1 ]);>
else
if( gettype ( $args [ 1 ]) == «string» )< self :: $ext_filter [] = strtolower ( $args [ 1 ]);>
>
// Grab path(s)
self :: verifyPaths ( $args [ 0 ]);
return self :: $files ;
>
static private function verifyPaths ( $paths ) $path_errors = array();
if( gettype ( $paths ) == «string» )
foreach( $paths as $path ) if( is_dir ( $path )) self :: $directories [] = $path ;
$dirContents = self :: find_contents ( $path );
> else $path_errors [] = $path ;
>
>
// This is how we scan directories
static private function find_contents ( $dir ) $result = array();
$root = scandir ( $dir );
foreach( $root as $value ) if( $value === ‘.’ || $value === ‘..’ )
if( is_file ( $dir . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $value )) if(! self :: $ext_filter || in_array ( strtolower ( pathinfo ( $dir . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $value , PATHINFO_EXTENSION )), self :: $ext_filter )) self :: $files [] = $result [] = $dir . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $value ;
>
continue;
>
if( self :: $recursive ) foreach( self :: find_contents ( $dir . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $value ) as $value ) self :: $files [] = $result [] = $value ;
>
>
>
// Return required for recursive search
return $result ;
>
>
?>
Usage:
scanDir::scan(path(s):string|array, [file_extensions:string|array], [subfolders?:true|false]);
//Scan a single directory for all files, no sub-directories
$files = scanDir :: scan ( ‘D:\Websites\temp’ );
//Scan multiple directories for all files, no sub-dirs
$dirs = array(
‘D:\folder’ ;
‘D:\folder2’ ;
‘C:\Other’ ;
);
$files = scanDir :: scan ( $dirs );
// Scan multiple directories for files with provided file extension,
// no sub-dirs
$files = scanDir :: scan ( $dirs , «jpg» );
//or with an array of extensions
$file_ext = array(
«jpg» ,
«bmp» ,
«png»
);
$files = scanDir :: scan ( $dirs , $file_ext );
// Scan multiple directories for files with any extension,
// include files in recursive sub-folders
$files = scanDir :: scan ( $dirs , false , true );
// Multiple dirs, with specified extensions, include sub-dir files
$files = scanDir :: scan ( $dirs , $file_ext , true );
?>
Scandir on steroids:
For when you want to filter your file list, or only want to list so many levels of subdirectories.
function dirList ( $path = «» , $types = 2 , $levels = 1 , $aFilter =array()) <
// returns an array of the specified files/directories
// start search in $path (defaults to current working directory)
// return $types: 2 => files; 1 => directories; 3 => both;
// $levels: 1 => look in the $path only; 2 => $path and all children;
// 3 => $path, children, grandchildren; 0 => $path and all subdirectories;
// less than 0 => complement of -$levels, OR everything starting -$levels down
// e.g. -1 => everthing except $path; -2 => all descendants except $path + children
// Remaining argument(s) is(are) a filter array(list) of regular expressions which operate on the full path.
// First character (before the ‘/’ of the regExp) ‘-‘ => NOT.
// First character (after a possible ‘-‘) ‘d’ => apply to directory name
// The filters may be passed in as an array of strings or as a list of strings
// Note that output directories are prefixed with a ‘*’ (done in the line above the return)
$dS = DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR ;
if (!( $path = realpath ( $path ? $path : getcwd ()))) return array(); // bad path
// next line rids terminating \ on drives (works since c: == c:\ on PHP). OK in *nix?
if ( substr ( $path ,- 1 )== $dS ) $path = substr ( $path , 0 ,- 1 );
if ( is_null ( $types )) $types = 2 ;
if ( is_null ( $levels )) $levels = 1 ;
if ( is_null ( $aFilter )) $aFilter =array();
// last argument may be passed as a list or as an array
$aFilter = array_slice ( func_get_args (), 3 );
if ( $aFilter && gettype ( $aFilter [ 0 ])== «array» ) $aFilter = $aFilter [ 0 ];
$adFilter = array();
// now move directory filters to separate array:
foreach ( $aFilter as $i => $filter ) // for each directory filter.
if (( $pos = stripos ( » $filter » , «d» )) && $pos < 3 ) < // next line eliminates the 'd'
$adFilter [] = substr ( $filter , 0 , $pos — 1 ) . substr ( $filter , $pos );
unset( $aFilter [ $i ]); >
$aFilter = array_merge ( $aFilter ); // reset indeces
$aRes = array(); // results, $aAcc is an Accumulator
$aDir = array( $path ); // dirs to check
for ( $i = $levels > 0 ? $levels ++:- 1 ;( $aAcc =array())|| $i —&& $aDir ; $aDir = $aAcc )
while ( $dir = array_shift ( $aDir ))
foreach ( scandir ( $dir ) as $fileOrDir )
if ( $fileOrDir != «.» && $fileOrDir != «..» ) <
if ( $dirP = is_dir ( $rp = » $dir$dS$fileOrDir » ))
if ( pathFilter ( » $rp$dS » , $adFilter ))
$aAcc [] = $rp ;
if ( $i < $levels - 1 && ( $types & ( 2 - $dirP )))
if ( pathFilter ( $rp , $aFilter ))
$aRes [] = ( $dirP ? «*» : «» ) . $rp ; >
return $aRes ;
>
?>
example usage:
define ( «_» , NULL );
// this will find all non .jpg, non .Thumbs.db files under c:\Photo
$aFiles = dirList ( ‘c:\Photo’ , _ , 0 , ‘-/\.jpg$/i’ , ‘-/\\\\Thumbs.db$/’ );
$aFiles = dirList (); // find the files in the current directory
// next lines will find .jpg files in non Photo(s) subdirectories, excluding Temporary Internet Files
set_time_limit ( 60 ); // iterating from the top level can take a while
$aFiles = dirList ( «c:\\» , _ , 0 , ‘/\.jpg$/i’ , ‘-d/\\\\Photos?$/i’ , ‘-d/Temporary Internet/i’ );
?>
Note that this function will consume a lot of time if scanning large
directory structures (which is the reason for the ‘[-]d/. /’ filters).