How to select multiple files with <input type="file">
?

- 6,982
- 16
- 51
- 59

- 33,129
- 48
- 101
- 125
-
It's about javascript and html – Mask Oct 20 '09 at 08:47
-
Do you mean upload multiple files in one go (when you select one at a time and then click upload)? Or do you mean using ctrl+click to select several files in one browser window? – cletus Oct 20 '09 at 09:04
-
4You can do it with HTML5 using the multiple attribute on the input element. Here's a great fiddle that utilizes it: http://jsfiddle.net/0GiS0/Yvgc2/ – Costa Michailidis Jul 05 '13 at 22:34
11 Answers
New answer:
In HTML5 you can add the multiple
attribute to select more than 1 file.
<input type="file" name="filefield" multiple="multiple">
Old answer:
You can only select 1 file per
<input type="file" />
. If you want to send multiple files you will have to use multiple input tags or use Flash or Silverlight.

- 12,540
- 3
- 37
- 52
-
8
-
2@Costa On the 20th of October of 2009 most browsers didn't support that feature and Niavlys already showed the html5 solution 2 years ago. – ZippyV Jul 05 '13 at 23:40
-
7
-
The HTML5 multiple attribute is supported on current versions of all major browsers. See: http://caniuse.com/#search=multiple (N.B. if you're managing support for older browsers, continue to be aware of their support too) – Jeremy Lawson May 01 '16 at 23:29
-
2this multiple="multiple" is not user friendly, the avarage user doesn't understand it, doesn't even know what a "ctrl button" does, and it cannot select files in different folders. – Jean-Paul Jan 30 '17 at 16:04
-
6if this is form is being submitted to a php form name should be `name="filefield[]"` so that it returns an array – But those new buttons though.. Feb 06 '18 at 20:24
-
1@Jean-Paul This solution is *especially* user-friendly, because it can *also* be used to add files one at a time (if a user doesn't know how to select multiple files). Allowing to use the field multiple times, if necessary, is your job while implementing the form. – Thomas Ebert Apr 02 '19 at 12:44
-
As a side not, selected files info can be accessed via `files` property on the input element. – Alireza Aug 14 '20 at 11:27
There is also HTML5 <input type="file" multiple name="files[]" />
(specification).
Browser support is quite good on desktop (just not supported by IE 9 and prior), less good on mobile, I guess because it's harder to implement correctly depending on the platform and version.

- 1,461
- 1
- 11
- 19
The whole thing should look like:
<form enctype='multipart/form-data' method='POST' action='submitFormTo.php'>
<input type='file' name='files[]' multiple>
<button type='submit'>Submit</button>
</form>
Make sure you have the enctype='multipart/form-data'
attribute in your <form>
tag, or you can't read the files on the server side after submission!

- 26,597
- 4
- 30
- 62

- 2,521
- 2
- 18
- 12
This jQuery plugin (jQuery File Upload Demo) does it without flash, in the form it's using:
<input type='file' name='files[]' multiple />

- 32,158
- 14
- 82
- 96

- 432
- 3
- 12
-
also not supported on IE9-, https://github.com/blueimp/jQuery-File-Upload/wiki/Browser-support#multiple-file-selection – JerryDDG Nov 26 '14 at 10:44
You can do it now with HTML5
In essence you use the multiple attribute on the file input.
<input type='file' multiple>

- 7,691
- 15
- 72
- 124
-
What about support for this thing? Canisuse.com doesn't have the info. – Hubert OG Jul 15 '13 at 22:21
-
-
1[FileReader](https://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Web/API/FileReader) doesn't have `.name` property, so title in your example is always `undefined`: http://jsfiddle.net/m5jeyeyt/1/ – vladkras May 13 '17 at 13:44
-
1
Thats easy ...
<input type='file' multiple>
$('#file').on('change',function(){
_readFileDataUrl(this,function(err,files){
if(err){return}
console.log(files)//contains base64 encoded string array holding the
image data
});
});
var _readFileDataUrl=function(input,callback){
var len=input.files.length,_files=[],res=[];
var readFile=function(filePos){
if(!filePos){
callback(false,res);
}else{
var reader=new FileReader();
reader.onload=function(e){
res.push(e.target.result);
readFile(_files.shift());
};
reader.readAsDataURL(filePos);
}
};
for(var x=0;x<len;x++){
_files.push(input.files[x]);
}
readFile(_files.shift());
};

- 49
- 1
-
7This is already answered clearly. What is the need to add a javascript example? – RightHandedMonkey Nov 30 '17 at 14:54
-
2
HTML5 has provided new attribute multiple for input element whose type attribute is file. So you can select multiple files and IE9 and previous versions does not support this.
NOTE: be carefull with the name of the input element. when you want to upload multiple file you should use array and not string as the value of the name attribute.
ex: input type="file" name="myPhotos[]" multiple="multiple"
and if you are using php then you will get the data in $_FILES and use var_dump($_FILES) and see output and do processing Now you can iterate over and do the rest

- 720
- 10
- 21
HTML5 has provided new attribute multiple for input element whose type attribute is file. So you can select multiple files and IE9 and previous versions does not support this.
NOTE: be carefull with the name of the input element. when you want to upload multiple file you should use array and not string as the value of the name attribute.
ex:
input type="file" name="myPhotos[]" multiple="multiple"
and if you are using php then you will get the data in $_FILES and use var_dump($_FILES) and see output and do processing Now you can iterate over and do the rest

- 30,989
- 25
- 91
- 127
<form action="" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
<input type="file" multiple name="img[]"/>
<input type="submit">
</form>
<?php
print_r($_FILES['img']['name']);
?>

- 583
- 4
- 17
Copy and paste this into your html:
<input type="file" id="files" name="files[]" multiple />
<output id="list"></output>
<script>
function handleFileSelect(evt) {
var files = evt.target.files; // FileList object
// files is a FileList of File objects. List some properties.
var output = [];
for (var i = 0, f; f = files[i]; i++) {
output.push('<li><strong>', escape(f.name), '</strong> (', f.type || 'n/a', ') - ',
f.size, ' bytes, last modified: ',
f.lastModifiedDate ? f.lastModifiedDate.toLocaleDateString() : 'n/a',
'</li>');
}
document.getElementById('list').innerHTML = '<ul>' + output.join('') + '</ul>';
}
This comes to you, through me, from this webpage: http://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/file/dndfiles/

- 171
- 1
- 7