Delete files which has the same prefix

Question

$prefix = 'something_prefix';
unlink($prefix.'.*');

the code above is not working, but I see some code like this below works just fine

unlink('*.jpg');

why? I am wonder is this going to work?

unlink('*.*');

how to delete the files which they begin with the same string? like this

same123.jpg
sametoo.png
samexxx.gif

they all begins with the string "same" but ends with different extension, how to do this?

I alread have a cheap way to do this, but I wonder if there is any better solution?

score 67 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 18 '13 at 03:18

67

Try this code:

$mask = 'your_prefix_*.*';
array_map('unlink', glob($mask));

p.s. glob() requires PHP 4.3.0+

answered Mar 18 '13 at 03:18

Raptor

Hi Shivan, can you please clarify this for me? Does this mean the problem is that `unlink()` accepts a file _name_, rather than a file _pattern_ (and hence `glob()` is required to find all file _names_ based on a _pattern_)? That all makes sense, but then why did the OP's `unlink('*.jpg');` example work OK if patterns are not acceptable to `unlink()`? – Sepster Mar 20 '13 at 01:08
1

`glob()` will list out all filenames based on the `$mask`. By `array_map()`, the `unlink` function will load once for each filenames listed by `glob()`. – Raptor Mar 20 '13 at 03:13

score 31 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 18 '13 at 03:22

31

You can use glob for this. Something like this(didn't test it):

foreach (glob("something_prefix*.*") as $filename) {
    unlink($filename);
}

answered Mar 18 '13 at 03:22

sectus

+1. I find this more readable than the `array_map` pattern suggested by @ShivanRaptor (and prefer not to use the functional `array_map` for imperative functions). – Sepster Mar 18 '13 at 03:27
1

@catiel, Shivan Raptor's answer is shorter. – sectus Mar 18 '13 at 03:27
@sectus `short != better` :-) – Sepster Mar 18 '13 at 03:29
@Sepster, it's subjective opinion in this case :^ ) I like callbacks. – sectus Mar 18 '13 at 04:41
1

@sectus I totally agree re subjective, and I _love_ callbacks ;-) (Although _PHP_ callbacks kind of bug me as the callable is passed as a literal string and hence wide-open for run-time errors). – Sepster Mar 20 '13 at 01:02
1

I prefer this. Because you can do much in loop. – mubashermubi Sep 27 '16 at 08:47

2 Answers2