Why is mime_content_type() deprecated in PHP?

Question

I'm just curious to know why mime_content_type() is now considered deprecated.

This method for determining the mime type is much easier than the replacement Fileinfo functionality.

I just looked at the page for mime_content_type in the manual and it doesn't say it's deprecated! It even includes PHP 7 as a supported version of PHP — GordonM, Jul 07 '16 at 14:33

score 58 · Answer 1 · edited Aug 29 '17 at 19:05

58

The method is not deprecated!

It once was incorrectly marked as deprecated in the manual, but it has been fixed https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=71367 on the 14th of January 2016. ~~However, at the moment, it is still incorrectly marked deprecated in the German, Spanish and Chinese manual.~~

Feel free to use mime_content_type() whenever you like :).

edited Aug 29 '17 at 19:05

rinogo

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answered Sep 24 '16 at 12:20

Adam

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score 26 · Accepted Answer · edited Jul 25 '17 at 05:05

26

I guess it's because Fileinfo can return more information about files.

EDIT: Here is a replacement hack:

function _mime_content_type($filename) {
    $result = new finfo();

    if (is_resource($result) === true) {
        return $result->file($filename, FILEINFO_MIME_TYPE);
    }

    return false;
}

edited Jul 25 '17 at 05:05

Timo Tijhof

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answered Aug 12 '09 at 02:53

Alix Axel

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Although this is possibly true, the fact remains that it is much harder to configure and takes more effort to use. Could it not remain un-depricated and just utilize the finfo functions? – Josiah Aug 12 '09 at 02:55
I use a similar hack to determine the file-type of files but firstly use the mime_content_type() method because I have found it to be more reliable across servers. However i'm still perplexed as to why this method is now deprecated? – Josiah Aug 12 '09 at 03:01
I agree with both your comments, they could have just rewrited the function to rely on the finfo class. – Alix Axel Aug 12 '09 at 05:57
1

$result = new finfo(); not work, should be new finfo(FILEINFO_MIME_TYPE); – jk jk Jul 05 '13 at 06:21
@jkjk: It should work, that argument is optional. Plus, I'm pretty sure I have tested this. – Alix Axel Jul 05 '13 at 11:01
6

@Josiah the function is not deprecated - see my answer. – Adam Sep 24 '16 at 12:22
`finfo` not found in latest php – ina Jan 24 '21 at 11:37

score 6 · Answer 3 · edited Jan 12 '14 at 05:35

6

Another way is to pass to the constructor constant FILEINFO_MIME.

$finfo = new finfo(FILEINFO_MIME);
$type  = $finfo->file('path/filename');

edited Jan 12 '14 at 05:35

Dave Jarvis

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answered Jun 10 '13 at 20:39

Timo Tijhof · Answer 4 · 2019-07-31T23:51:05.237

Using finfo_file and finfo_open, and FILEINFO_MIME_TYPE:

finfo_file( finfo_open( FILEINFO_MIME_TYPE ), $filename );

Here's a small wrapper to cover different PHP environments, derived from CSSMin.php in MediaWiki 1.20:

function getMimeType( $filename ) {
        $realpath = realpath( $filename );
        if ( $realpath
                && function_exists( 'finfo_file' )
                && function_exists( 'finfo_open' )
                && defined( 'FILEINFO_MIME_TYPE' )
        ) {
                // Use the Fileinfo PECL extension (PHP 5.3+)
                return finfo_file( finfo_open( FILEINFO_MIME_TYPE ), $realpath );
        }
        if ( function_exists( 'mime_content_type' ) ) {
                // Deprecated in PHP 5.3
                return mime_content_type( $realpath );
        }
        return false;
}

EDIT: Thanks @Adam and @ficuscr for clarifying that this function was, in fact, not deprecated.

As of MediaWiki 1.30, the above code was essentially changed (back) to:

function getMimeType( $filename ) {
        return mime_content_type( $filename );
}

Was not actually deprecated in 5.3, just bad documentation/mistake. In fact support is there for 5.3 > and into 7.0. — ficuscr, Jul 21 '17 at 17:21

Why is mime_content_type() deprecated in PHP?

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