PHP delete directory doesn't work first time

Question

I created a button that links to finish.php. It is supposed to delete the installer directory. The problem is that it fails on the first try, but will work on subsequent reloads of the page:

function Delete($path){ 
    if (is_dir($path) === true){
        $files = array_diff(scandir($path), array('.', '..'));

        foreach ($files as $file){
            Delete(realpath($path) . '/' . $file);
        }
        return rmdir($path);
    }else if (is_file($path) === true){
        return unlink($path);
    }
    return false;
}
Delete('installer');

$filename = '../admin/installer/';
if (file_exists($filename)) { Delete('installer'); } else {header("Location: index.php");}

Can you just make a shell call? It's a whole lot simpler. `exec("rm -rf {$path}");`. — jszobody, Mar 11 '15 at 18:31
you're looking if `../admin/installer` exists, but then start trying to delete what boils down to `./installer`. those would be two completely different directories, unless your current directory happens to be `admin`. — Marc B, Mar 11 '15 at 18:34
If you do an exec you have to be sure that the $path does not come from user. Because you can execute another command. — Freelancer, Mar 11 '15 at 18:35

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 11:50

I think your delete function is not stable.

You can use this function to delete folder, delete all it's files and folders :

public static function deleteDir($dirPath) {
    if (! is_dir($dirPath)) {
        throw new InvalidArgumentException("$dirPath must be a directory");
    }
    if (substr($dirPath, strlen($dirPath) - 1, 1) != '/') {
        $dirPath .= '/';
    }
    $files = glob($dirPath . '*', GLOB_MARK);
    foreach ($files as $file) {
        if (is_dir($file)) {
            self::deleteDir($file);
        } else {
            unlink($file);
        }
    }
    rmdir($dirPath);
}

Source : https://stackoverflow.com/a/3349792/3444315

PHP delete directory doesn't work first time

1 Answers1