scandir

(PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)

scandirList files and directories inside the specified path

Description

scandir(string $directory, int $sorting_order = SCANDIR_SORT_ASCENDING, ?resource $context = null): array|false

Returns an array of files and directories from the directory.

Parameters

directory

The directory that will be scanned.

sorting_order

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.

context

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

Version Description
8.0.0 context is now nullable.

Examples

Example #1 A simple scandir() example

<?php
$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

Tip

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

add a note add a note

User Contributed Notes 38 notes

up
839
dwieeb at gmail dot com
12 years ago
Easy way to get rid of the dots that scandir() picks up in Linux environments:

<?php
$directory
= '/path/to/my/directory';
$scanned_directory = array_diff(scandir($directory), array('..', '.'));
?>
up
174
mmda dot nl at gmail dot com
12 years ago
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:

<?php
function dirToArray($dir) {
  
  
$result = array();

  
$cdir = scandir($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
   }
)
up
28
info at remark dot no
6 years ago
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.
up
21
kodlee at kodleeshare dot net
12 years ago
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!

<?php
function find_all_files($dir)
{
   
$root = scandir($dir);
    foreach(
$root as $value)
    {
        if(
$value === '.' || $value === '..') {continue;}
        if(
is_file("$dir/$value")) {$result[]="$dir/$value";continue;}
        foreach(
find_all_files("$dir/$value") as $value)
        {
           
$result[]=$value;
        }
    }
    return
$result;
}
?>
up
17
gambit_642 AT hotmailDOTcom
10 years ago
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.
<?php
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]) && $args[2] == true){self::$recursive = 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"){$paths = array($paths);}

        foreach(
$paths as $path){
            if(
is_dir($path)){
               
self::$directories[] = $path;
               
$dirContents = self::find_contents($path);
            } else {
               
$path_errors[] = $path;
            }
        }

        if(
$path_errors){echo "The following directories do not exists<br />";die(var_dump($path_errors));}
    }

   
// This is how we scan directories
   
static private function find_contents($dir){
       
$result = array();
       
$root = scandir($dir);
        foreach(
$root as $value){
            if(
$value === '.' || $value === '..') {continue;}
            if(
is_file($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]);
<?php
//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);
?>
up
49
eep2004 at ukr dot net
10 years ago
Fastest way to get a list of files without dots.
<?php
$files
= array_slice(scandir('/path/to/directory/'), 2);
up
4
artmanniako at gmail dot com
5 years ago
How i solved problem with '.' and '..'

$x = scandir__DIR__; //any directory
foreach ($x as $key => $value) {
        if ('.' !== $value && '..' !== $value){
               echo $value;
   }
}
Simple and working
up
5
coolbikram0 at gmail dot com
2 years ago
A simple recursive function to list all files and subdirectories in a directory:
<?php
function listAllFiles($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;
}
?>
up
5
Stan P. van de Burgt
20 years ago
scandir() with regexp matching on file name and sorting options based on stat().

<?php
function myscandir($dir, $exp, $how='name', $desc=0)
{
   
$r = array();
   
$dh = @opendir($dir);
    if (
$dh) {
        while ((
$fname = readdir($dh)) !== false) {
            if (
preg_match($exp, $fname)) {
               
$stat = stat("$dir/$fname");
               
$r[$fname] = ($how == 'name')? $fname: $stat[$how];
            }
        }
       
closedir($dh);
        if (
$desc) {
           
arsort($r);
        }
        else {
           
asort($r);
        }
    }
    return(
array_keys($r));
}

$r = myscandir('./book/', '/^article[0-9]{4}\.txt$/i', 'ctime', 1);
print_r($r);
?>

files can be sorted on name and stat() attributes, ascending and descending:

name    file name
dev     device number
ino     inode number
mode    inode protection mode
nlink   number of links
uid     userid of owner
gid     groupid of owner
rdev    device type, if inode device *
size    size in bytes
atime   time of last access (Unix timestamp)
mtime   time of last modification (Unix timestamp)
ctime   time of last inode change (Unix timestamp)
blksize blocksize of filesystem IO *
blocks  number of blocks allocated
up
2
csaba at alum dot mit dot edu
19 years ago
Scandir on steroids:
For when you want to filter your file list, or only want to list so many levels of subdirectories...

<?php
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:
<?php
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).

Csaba Gabor from Vienna
up
1
Nerbert
5 years ago
If you use array_diff() to eliminate "." and ".." you must use array_values() on the result because array_diff() will return an associative array, which may cause problems for a for loop beginning at 0.

$files = array_values(array_diff(scandir($directory), array('..', '.')));
up
2
fazle dot elahee at gmail dot com
12 years ago
/**
* This function will scan all files recursively in the sub-folder and folder.
*
* @author Fazle Elahee
*
*/

function scanFileNameRecursivly($path = '', &$name = array() )
{
  $path = $path == ''? dirname(__FILE__) : $path;
  $lists = @scandir($path);
 
  if(!empty($lists))
  {
      foreach($lists as $f)
      {
   
      if(is_dir($path.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.$f) && $f != ".." && $f != ".")
      {
          scanFileNameRecursivly($path.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.$f, &$name);
      }
      else
      {
          $name[] = $path.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.$f;
      }
      }
  }
  return $name;
}

$path = "/var/www/SimplejQueryDropdowns";
$file_names = scanFileNameRecursivly($path);

echo "<pre>";
var_dump($file_names);
echo "</pre>";
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3
Pawel Dlugosz
19 years ago
For directory containing files like (for example) -.jpg the results of scandir are a little "weird" ;)

<?php
  
   $dir
= '/somedir';
  
$files = scandir($dir);
  
print_r($files);
?>

Array
(
    [0] => -.jpg
    [1] => .
    [2] => ..
    [3] => foo.txt
    [4] => somedir
)

Beware - sorting is in ASCII order :)
up
0
arthur dot am dot app at gmail dot com
1 year ago
$path_abs = __DIR__ .'/test/';

if( DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR != substr($path, -1) || (DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR) == substr($path, -2))
{
    throw new Error("A non-standard path is specified. `{$path}`");
}

$scandir_result = scandir( $path, SCANDIR_SORT_DESCENDING );

for( $n = 0, $e = count($scandir_result) - 2; $n < $e; $n++ )
{
    echo ($path  .  $scandir_result[$n])  .'<br/>';
}
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1
fatpratmatt dot at dot gmail dot com
16 years ago
This function generates a list of all files in the chosen directory and all subdirectories, throws them into a NON-multidimentional array and returns them.

Most of the recursive functions on this page only return a multi-dimensional array.

This is actually a modification of some one else's function (thanks mail at bartrail dot de ;])

<?php
function scanDirectories($rootDir, $allData=array()) {
   
// set filenames invisible if you want
   
$invisibleFileNames = array(".", "..", ".htaccess", ".htpasswd");
   
// run through content of root directory
   
$dirContent = scandir($rootDir);
    foreach(
$dirContent as $key => $content) {
       
// filter all files not accessible
       
$path = $rootDir.'/'.$content;
        if(!
in_array($content, $invisibleFileNames)) {
           
// if content is file & readable, add to array
           
if(is_file($path) && is_readable($path)) {
               
// save file name with path
               
$allData[] = $path;
           
// if content is a directory and readable, add path and name
           
}elseif(is_dir($path) && is_readable($path)) {
               
// recursive callback to open new directory
               
$allData = scanDirectories($path, $allData);
            }
        }
    }
    return
$allData;
}
?>

Example output:

print_r(scanDirectories("www"));
---
Array
(
    [0] => www/index.php
    [1] => www/admin.php
    [3] => www/css/css.css
    [4] => www/articles/2007/article1.txt
    [4] => www/articles/2006/article1.txt
    [8] => www/img/img1.png
)
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0
SPekary
7 years ago
Unless you specify no sorting, file names are sorted in ASCII alphabetic order, meaning numbers first, then uppercase, then lowercase letters, even on operating systems whose file system ignores the case of file names when it does its own sorting.

For example, on Mac OS, the following files will appear in this order in the Finder, when your disk is formated using the standard file system:
1file.php
a.inc
B.txt
c.txt

However, scandir will produce an array in the following order:
1file.php
B.txt
a.inc
c.txt
up
1
carneiro at isharelife dot com dot br
12 years ago
<?php
/**
     * Get an array that represents directory tree
     * @param string $directory     Directory path
     * @param bool $recursive         Include sub directories
     * @param bool $listDirs         Include directories on listing
     * @param bool $listFiles         Include files on listing
     * @param regex $exclude         Exclude paths that matches this regex
     */
   
function directoryToArray($directory, $recursive = true, $listDirs = false, $listFiles = true, $exclude = '') {
       
$arrayItems = array();
       
$skipByExclude = false;
       
$handle = opendir($directory);
        if (
$handle) {
            while (
false !== ($file = readdir($handle))) {
           
preg_match("/(^(([\.]){1,2})$|(\.(svn|git|md))|(Thumbs\.db|\.DS_STORE))$/iu", $file, $skip);
            if(
$exclude){
               
preg_match($exclude, $file, $skipByExclude);
            }
            if (!
$skip && !$skipByExclude) {
                if (
is_dir($directory. DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $file)) {
                    if(
$recursive) {
                       
$arrayItems = array_merge($arrayItems, directoryToArray($directory. DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $file, $recursive, $listDirs, $listFiles, $exclude));
                    }
                    if(
$listDirs){
                       
$file = $directory . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $file;
                       
$arrayItems[] = $file;
                    }
                } else {
                    if(
$listFiles){
                       
$file = $directory . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $file;
                       
$arrayItems[] = $file;
                    }
                }
            }
        }
       
closedir($handle);
        }
        return
$arrayItems;
    }
?>
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0
simon dot riget at gmail dot com
8 years ago
This is a simple and versatile function that returns an array tree of files, matching wildcards:

<?php
// List files in tree, matching wildcards * and ?
function tree($path){
  static
$match;

 
// Find the real directory part of the path, and set the match parameter
 
$last=strrpos($path,"/");
  if(!
is_dir($path)){
   
$match=substr($path,$last);
    while(!
is_dir($path=substr($path,0,$last)) && $last!==false)
     
$last=strrpos($path,"/",-1);
  }
  if(empty(
$match)) $match="/*";
  if(!
$path=realpath($path)) return;

 
// List files
 
foreach(glob($path.$match) as $file){
   
$list[]=substr($file,strrpos($file,"/")+1);
  } 

 
// Process sub directories
 
foreach(glob("$path/*", GLOB_ONLYDIR) as $dir){
   
$list[substr($dir,strrpos($dir,"/",-1)+1)]=tree($dir);
  }
 
  return @
$list;
}
?>
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0
Tom
9 years ago
Just was curious to count files and lines in a project

<?php

 
function DirLineCounter( $dir , $result = array('lines_html' => false, 'files_count' => false, 'lines_count' => false ), $complete_table = true )
  {

     
$file_read = array( 'php', 'html', 'js', 'css' );
     
$dir_ignore = array();
     
     
$scan_result = scandir( $dir );
     
      foreach (
$scan_result as $key => $value ) {
       
          if ( !
in_array( $value, array( '.', '..' ) ) ) {
           
              if (
is_dir( $dir . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $value ) ) {
               
                  if (
in_array( $value, $dir_ignore ) ) {
                    continue;
                  }
               
                 
$result = DirLineCounter( $dir . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $value, $result, false );
                 
              }
              else {
               
             
$type = explode( '.', $value );
             
$type = array_reverse( $type );
              if( !
in_array( $type[0], $file_read ) ) {
                continue;
              }
             
             
$lines = 0;
             
$handle = fopen( $dir . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $value, 'r' );

              while ( !
feof( $handle ) ) {

                  if (
is_bool( $handle ) ) {
                      break;
                  }

                 
$line = fgets( $handle );
                 
$lines++;
              }

             
fclose( $handle );

             
$result['lines_html'][] = '<tr><td>' . $dir . '</td><td>' . $value . '</td><td>' . $lines . '</td></tr>';
             
$result['lines_count'] = $result['lines_count'] + $lines;
             
$result['files_count'] = $result['files_count'] + 1;
                            
              }
          }
      }
     
      if (
$complete_table ) {
       
       
$lines_html = implode('', $result['lines_html']) . '<tr><td></td><td style="border: 1px solid #222">Files Total: ' . $result['files_count'] . '</td><td style="border: 1px solid #222">Lines Total: ' . $result['lines_count'] . '</td></tr>';
        return
'<table><tr><td style="width: 60%; background-color:#ddd;">Dir</td><td style="width: 30%; background-color:#ddd;">File</td><td style="width: 10%; background-color:#ddd;">Lines</td></tr>' . $lines_html . '</table>';
       
      }
      else {
        return
$result;
      }
     
  }

  echo
DirLineCounter( '.' );

?>
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0
2bbasic at gmail dot com
12 years ago
<?php
//-- Directory Navigation with SCANDIR
//--
//-- optional placemenet
$exclude_list = array(".", "..", "example.txt");
if (isset(
$_GET["dir"])) {
 
$dir_path = $_SERVER["DOCUMENT_ROOT"]."/".$_GET["dir"];
}
else {
 
$dir_path = $_SERVER["DOCUMENT_ROOT"]."/";
}
//-- until here
function dir_nav() {
  global
$exclude_list, $dir_path;
 
$directories = array_diff(scandir($dir_path), $exclude_list);
  echo
"<ul style='list-style:none;padding:0'>";
  foreach(
$directories as $entry) {
    if(
is_dir($dir_path.$entry)) {
      echo
"<li style='margin-left:1em;'>[`] <a href='?dir=".$_GET["dir"].$entry."/"."'>".$entry."</a></li>";
    }
  }
  echo
"</ul>";
 
//-- separator
 
echo "<ul style='list-style:none;padding:0'>";
  foreach(
$directories as $entry) {
    if(
is_file($dir_path.$entry)) {
      echo
"<li style='margin-left:1em;'>[ ] <a href='?file=".$_GET["dir"].$entry."'>".$entry."</a></li>";
    }
  }
  echo
"</ul>";
}
dir_nav();
//-- optional placement
if (isset($_GET["file"])) {
  echo
"<div style='margin:1em;border:1px solid Silver;'>";
 
highlight_file($dir_path.$_GET['file']);
  echo
"</div>";
}
//-- until here
//--
//-- Because I love php.net
?>
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0
moik78 at gmail dot com
14 years ago
This is a function to count the number of files of a directory

<?php
function countFiles($dir){
   
$files = array();
   
$directory = opendir($dir);
    while(
$item = readdir($directory)){
   
// We filter the elements that we don't want to appear ".", ".." and ".svn"
        
if(($item != ".") && ($item != "..") && ($item != ".svn") ){
             
$files[] = $item;
         }
    }
   
$numFiles = count($files);
    return
$numFiles;
}
?>
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0
phpdotnet at lavavortex dot com
15 years ago
How a ninja may retrieve a list of files, files filtered by extension, or directories:

<?php
//NNNIIIinnnjaaa::
//array of files without directories... optionally filtered by extension
function file_list($d,$x){
       foreach(
array_diff(scandir($d),array('.','..')) as $f)if(is_file($d.'/'.$f)&&(($x)?ereg($x.'$',$f):1))$l[]=$f;
       return
$l;
}

//NNNIIIinnnjaaa::
//array of directories
function dir_list($d){
       foreach(
array_diff(scandir($d),array('.','..')) as $f)if(is_dir($d.'/'.$f))$l[]=$f;
       return
$l;
}

/********************************************************************\
                    PRETTY PRETTY LIGHTS (DOCUMENTATION)
\********************************************************************/

/********************************************************************
Overloaded PHP file listing function:
array file_list ( string $directory [, string $file_extension] )

$directory
  path without backslash, e.g. "/home/public_html/blarg"

$file_extention
  optionally filter specific filename extentions, e.g. ".jpg"

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> TRANSLATION <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
file_list("/home");          //return list of files (no directories)
file_list("/home", ".jpg");  //return only .jpg file list
\********************************************************************/

//(note: one slash (/) below and you enable all your test functions, guess where ;-))
/********************************************************************\
// TEST FUNCTIONS... IF THESE WORK, THIS FUNCTION WORKS ON THIS PLATFORM
echo "<hr><b>File List:</b><br>";
$n = file_list(getcwd());
if($n) foreach($n as $f) echo "$f<br>";             //current files

echo "<hr><b>Files with extension .php:</b><br>";
$n = file_list(getcwd(),".php");
if($n) foreach($n as $f) echo "$f<br>";             //files with .php extensions

echo "<hr><b>Directories:</b><br>";
$d = dir_list(getcwd());
if($d) foreach($d as $f) echo "$f<br>";             //directories
/********************************************************************/

/************\
RUNTIME NOTES:
file_list($arg1); // php issues a warning that there is no second parameter, but we know that, izz ok
\************/

/*******************************\
TESTED AND WORKING ON 2009.04.30:
OS:     Linux 2.6.9-78.0.17.ELsmp
APACHE: 2.2.9
PHP:    5.2.5
\*******************************/
?>
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-1
telefoontoestel59 at hotmail dot com
9 years ago
I was looking for an easy way to get only files from a certain directory. I came up with the following line of code that will result in an array listing only files. the samen can be done for directories ofcourse.

<?php
$files
= array_filter(scandir($directory), function($file) { return is_file($file); })
?>
up
-1
Patrick
10 years ago
Here is my recursive function, placing directories into new array keys and its contents within.

/* find_files( string, &array )
** Recursive function to return a multidimensional array of folders and files
** that are contained within the directory given
*/
function find_files($dir, &$dir_array)
{
    // Create array of current directory
    $files = scandir($dir);
   
    if(is_array($files))
    {
        foreach($files as $val)
        {
            // Skip home and previous listings
            if($val == '.' || $val == '..')
                continue;
           
            // If directory then dive deeper, else add file to directory key
            if(is_dir($dir.'/'.$val))
            {
                // Add value to current array, dir or file
                $dir_array[$dir][] = $val;
               
                find_files($dir.'/'.$val, $dir_array);
            }
            else
            {
                $dir_array[$dir][] = $val;
            }
        }
    }
    ksort($dir_array);
}

// Example
$folder_list = array();
find_files('/path', $folder_list)

var_dump($folder_list);

array(3) {
  ["directory_01"]=>
  array(4) {
    [0]=>
    string(12) "directory_02"
    [1]=>
    string(12) "directory_03"
    [2]=>
    string(11) "file_01.txt"
    [3]=>
    string(11) "file_02.txt"
  }
  ["directory_01/directory_02"]=>
  array(2) {
    [0]=>
    string(11) "file_03.txt"
    [1]=>
    string(11) "file_04.txt"
  }
  ["directory_01/directory_03"]=>
  array(2) {
    [0]=>
    string(11) "file_05.txt"
    [1]=>
    string(11) "file_06.txt"
  }
}
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-1
magicmind at netcabo dot pt
15 years ago
Hello all,

I just added a extension filter to the getDirectoryTree function, so it can filter an extension for files in the folders/subfolders:

<?php
function getDirectoryTree( $outerDir , $x){
   
$dirs = array_diff( scandir( $outerDir ), Array( ".", ".." ) );
   
$dir_array = Array();
    foreach(
$dirs as $d ){
        if(
is_dir($outerDir."/".$d)  ){
           
$dir_array[ $d ] = getDirectoryTree( $outerDir."/".$d , $x);
        }else{
         if ((
$x)?ereg($x.'$',$d):1)
           
$dir_array[ $d ] = $d;
            }
    }
    return
$dir_array;
}

$dirlist = getDirectoryTree('filmes','flv');
?>
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-1
progrium+php at gmail dot com
19 years ago
I made this to represent a directory tree in an array that uses the file or directory names as keys and full paths as the value for files. Directories are nested arrays.

<?php
function generatePathTree($rootPath) {
   
$pathStack = array($rootPath);
   
$contentsRoot = array();
   
$contents = &$contentsRoot;
    while (
$path = array_pop($pathStack)) {
      
$contents[basename($path)] = array();
      
$contents = &$contents[basename($path)];
       foreach (
scandir($path) as $filename) {
           if (
'.' != substr($filename, 0, 1)) {
              
$newPath = $path.'/'.$filename;
               if (
is_dir($newPath)) {
                  
array_push($pathStack, $newPath);
                  
$contents[basename($newPath)] = array();
               } else {
                  
$contents[basename($filename)] = $newPath;
               }
           }
       }
    }
    return
$contentsRoot[basename($rootPath)];
}
?>

The function will return something like this:

Array
(
    [index.php] => /usr/local/www/index.php
    [js] => Array
        (
            [async.js] => /usr/local/www/js/async.js
            [dom.js] => /usr/local/www/js/dom.js
            [effects.js] => /usr/local/www/js/effects.js
            [prototype.js] => /usr/local/www/js/prototype.js
        )

    [logo.png] => /usr/local/www/logo.png
    [server.php] => /usr/local/www/server.php
    [test.js] => /usr/local/www/test.js
)
up
-4
dsiembab at fullchannel dot net
15 years ago
Back in the saddle of scandir I wrote this function for a function that I needed to seperate directories from files. Since I am still learning from my last example way below I would figure I would add it so it can be criticized.
<?php
function dirlist($dir, $bool = "dirs"){
  
$truedir = $dir;
  
$dir = scandir($dir);
   if(
$bool == "files"){ // dynamic function based on second pram
     
$direct = 'is_dir';
   }elseif(
$bool == "dirs"){
     
$direct = 'is_file';
   }
   foreach(
$dir as $k => $v){
      if((
$direct($truedir.$dir[$k])) || $dir[$k] == '.' || $dir[$k] == '..' ){
         unset(
$dir[$k]);
      }
   }
  
$dir = array_values($dir);
   return
$dir;
}
?>
<?php
print_r
(dirlist("../"));  //confirm array of subdirectories

print_r(dirlist("../", "files") // confirm list on files in the directory
?>
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-2
beingmrkenny at gmail dot com
18 years ago
I wrote this function to read a folder and place all the folders and sub folders it contains into an array.

<?php

// Initialise empty array, otherwise an error occurs
$folders = array();

function
recursive_subfolders($folders) {

   
// Set path here
   
$path = '/path/to/folder';
   
   
// Create initial "Folders" array
   
if ($dir = opendir($path)) {
       
$j = 0;
        while ((
$file = readdir($dir)) !== false) {
            if (
$file != '.' && $file != '..' && is_dir($path.$file)) {
               
$j++;
               
$folders[$j] = $path . $file;
            }
        }
    }
   
   
closedir($dir);
   
   
// Then check each folder in that array for subfolders and add the subfolders to the "Folders" array.
   
$j = count($folders);
    foreach (
$folders as $folder) {
        if (
$dir = opendir($folder)) {
            while ((
$file = readdir($dir)) !== false) {
               
$pathto = $folder. '/' . $file;
                if (
$file != '.' && $file != '..' && is_dir($pathto) && !in_array($pathto, $folders)) {
                   
$j++;
                   
$folders[$j] = $pathto;
                   
$folders = recursive_subfolders($folders);
                }
            }
        }
       
closedir($dir);
    }
   
   
sort($folders);
    return
$folders;
}

$folders = recursive_subfolders($folders);

?>

$folders now contains an array with the full paths to each subfolder. E.g.:

Array
(
    [0] => /path/to/folder/dir1
    [1] => /path/to/folder/dir1/subdir
    [2] => /path/to/folder/dir1/subdir/subsubdir
    [3] => /path/to/dolfer/dir2
)

This function has only been tested on Linux.
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-2
boen dot robot at gmail dot com
14 years ago
If you have a folder with many files and/or subfolders, doing a recursive scandir will likely either slow down your application, or cause a high rise in RAM consumption due to the large size of the generated array.

To help with this, as well as to make processing of files in a folder easier, I wrote a function that reads a folder and its subfolders recursively, and calls a function upon each match.

<?php
/**
* Calls a function for every file in a folder.
*
* @author Vasil Rangelov a.k.a. boen_robot
*
* @param string $callback The function to call. It must accept one argument that is a relative filepath of the file.
* @param string $dir The directory to traverse.
* @param array $types The file types to call the function for. Leave as NULL to match all types.
* @param bool $recursive Whether to list subfolders as well.
* @param string $baseDir String to append at the beginning of every filepath that the callback will receive.
*/
function dir_walk($callback, $dir, $types = null, $recursive = false, $baseDir = '') {
    if (
$dh = opendir($dir)) {
        while ((
$file = readdir($dh)) !== false) {
            if (
$file === '.' || $file === '..') {
                continue;
            }
            if (
is_file($dir . $file)) {
                if (
is_array($types)) {
                    if (!
in_array(strtolower(pathinfo($dir . $file, PATHINFO_EXTENSION)), $types, true)) {
                        continue;
                    }
                }
               
$callback($baseDir . $file);
            }elseif(
$recursive && is_dir($dir . $file)) {
               
dir_walk($callback, $dir . $file . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR, $types, $recursive, $baseDir . $file . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR);
            }
        }
       
closedir($dh);
    }
}
?>

Of course, because it is recursive, a folder with many levels of folders could potentially consume lots of memory, but then again, so can every other recursive scandir implementation here.

BTW, there's also the RecursiveDirectoryIterator SPL class:
http://bg.php.net/manual/en/class.recursivedirectoryiterator.php
which, even if using the same approach, will most likely be faster and hold down deeper levels (because it works on the C level), but this one will always work, regardless of settings... even on PHP4.

Point is, avoid recursive scandir implementations.
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-2
webmaster at gmail dot com
5 years ago
easy way to list every item in a directory

<?php
$itemnum
= 1;
$dir = 'C:/Path/To/Directory';
foreach(
scandir($dir) as $item){
    if (!(
$item == '.')) {
        if (!(
$item == '..')) {
              echo(
$itemnum." = ".$item."<br>");
            
$itemnum = ($itemnum + 1);
}}}
?>
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-2
phpnet at novaclic dot com
14 years ago
Was looking for a simple way to search for a file/directory using a mask. Here is such a function.

By default, this function will keep in memory the scandir() result, to avoid scaning multiple time for the same directory.

Requires at least PHP5.

<?php
function sdir( $path='.', $mask='*', $nocache=0 ){
    static
$dir = array(); // cache result in memory
   
if ( !isset($dir[$path]) || $nocache) {
       
$dir[$path] = scandir($path);
    }
    foreach (
$dir[$path] as $i=>$entry) {
        if (
$entry!='.' && $entry!='..' && fnmatch($mask, $entry) ) {
           
$sdir[] = $entry;
        }
    }
    return (
$sdir);
}
?>
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-6
asamir at asamir dot net
16 years ago
This is a modification of scanDirectories function that generates a list of all files in the chosen directory and all subdirectories of specific extentions $allowext

<?php
function scanDirectories($rootDir, $allowext, $allData=array()) {
   
$dirContent = scandir($rootDir);
    foreach(
$dirContent as $key => $content) {
       
$path = $rootDir.'/'.$content;
       
$ext = substr($content, strrpos($content, '.') + 1);
       
        if(
in_array($ext, $allowext)) {
            if(
is_file($path) && is_readable($path)) {
               
$allData[] = $path;
            }elseif(
is_dir($path) && is_readable($path)) {
               
// recursive callback to open new directory
               
$allData = scanDirectories($path, $allData);
            }
        }
    }
    return
$allData;
}

$rootDir = "www";
$allowext = array("zip","rar","html");
$files_array = scanDirectories($rootDir,$allowext);
print_r($files_array);
?>
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-6
cHH
17 years ago
Since scandir() returns and array, here is a more concise method of dealing with the '.' and '..' problem when listing directories:

<?php
$target
= '/';
$weeds = array('.', '..');
$directories = array_diff(scandir($target), $weeds);
   
foreach(
$directories as $value)
{
   if(
is_dir($target.$value))
   {
      echo
$value.'<br />';
   }
}
?>
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-3
admin at kmoz000 dot free
6 years ago
function ScaniDir($path){
  $ptd= opendir($path);
  while (( $ptdf=readdir($ptd))){
      $srca = $path.'/'.$ptdf;
     if (is_file($srca) and pathinfo($srca, PATHINFO_EXTENSION)=='pdf') {$files['src'][]=$srca;$files['name'][]=explode('.',$ptdf)[0];}
    
    }
return $files ;

}
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-3
hex at mail dot nnov dot ru
11 years ago
// Extreme minimal version recursive scan:
function rscandir($dir){
  $dirs = array_fill_keys( array_diff( scandir( $dir ), array( '.', '..' ) ), array());
  foreach( $dirs as $d => $v )
    if( is_dir($dir."/".$d) )
      $dirs[$d] = rscandir($dir."/".$d);
  return $dirs;
}
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-3
csaba at alum dot mit dot edu
19 years ago
A nice way to filter the files/directories you get back from scandir:

<?php
function pathFilter ($path, $aFilter) {
  
// returns true iff $path survives the tests from $aFilter
   // $aFilter is an array of regular expressions: [-]/regExp/modifiers
   // if there is a leading '-' it means exclude $path upon a match (a NOT test)
   // If the first expression has a leading '-', $path is in, unless it gets excluded.
   // Otherwise, $path is out, unless it gets included via the filter tests.
   // The tests are applied in succession.
   // A NOT test is applied only if $path is currently (within the tests) included
   // Other tests are applied only if $path is currently excluded.  Thus,
   // array("/a/", "-/b/", "/c/") => passes if $path has a c or if $path has an a but no b
   // array("/a/", "/c/", "-/b/") => passes if $path has an a or c, but no b
   // array("-/b/", "/a/", "/c/") => passes if $path has no b, or if $path has an a or c
  
if (!$aFilter) return true;           // automatic inclusion (pass) if no filters
  
foreach ($aFilter as $filter) break;  // we don't know how it's indexed
  
$in = $filter[0]=="-";                // initial in/exclusion based on first filter
  
foreach ($aFilter as $filter)         // walk the filters
     
if ($in==$not=($filter[0]=="-"))   //     testing only when necessary
        
$in ^= preg_match(substr($filter,$not),$path);    // flip in/exclusion upon a match
  
return $in;
}
?>

Csaba Gabor from Vienna
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-5
djacobson at usa dot rugby
4 years ago
<?php
/**
  * Get rid of the dots, the occasional `.DS_Store` file and reindex the
  * resulting array all at once.
  *
  * @param string $path_to_directory The relative path to your target directory.
  *
  * @return array The reindexed array of files.
  */
function get_the_files( $path_to_directory ) {
    return
array_slice( array_diff( scandir( $path_to_directory ), array( '..', '.', '.DS_Store' ) ), 0 );
}
?>
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-6
wwwebdesigner at web doott de
19 years ago
using sort of scandir() that returns the content sorted by Filemodificationtime.

<?php
function scandir_by_mtime($folder) {
 
$dircontent = scandir($folder);
 
$arr = array();
  foreach(
$dircontent as $filename) {
    if (
$filename != '.' && $filename != '..') {
      if (
filemtime($folder.$filename) === false) return false;
     
$dat = date("YmdHis", filemtime($folder.$filename));
     
$arr[$dat] = $filename;
    }
  }
  if (!
ksort($arr)) return false;
  return
$arr;
}
?>

returns false if an error occured
otherwise it returns an array like this.
Array
(
    [20040813231320] => DSC00023.JPG
    [20040813231456] => DSC00024.JPG
    [20040814003728] => MOV00055.MPG
    [20040814003804] => DSC00056.JPG
    [20040814003946] => DSC00057.JPG
    [20040814004030] => DSC00058.JPG
    [20040814014516] => DSC00083.JPG
    [20050401161718] => album.txt
)
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