Getting filename (or deleting file) using file handle

Question

Is there a possibility to obtain filename from file handle? Or how can I delete file having only a handle?

I don't think it's possible. Would love to have a solution though. — BoltClock, Feb 28 '11 at 16:25
I would love to have at least possibility to cast resource to filename. — ts., Feb 28 '11 at 16:29
It's kinda weird 'cause you need the filename in order to set the handler, right? — Alfabravo, Feb 28 '11 at 16:30
@Alfabravo: Not all PHP functions make handles using filenames. — BoltClock, Feb 28 '11 at 16:30
@BoltClock Never said so. But IN THIS CASE, setting a file handler requires the filename. Right? — Alfabravo, Feb 28 '11 at 16:33
if you use tmpfile() it returns a file handle - but you have no idea what the filename is!!! — HenchHacker, Nov 24 '12 at 14:02
isn't it ridiculous how PHP doesn't provide this obvious basic functionality, and you have to do multiline shennanigans? — ahnbizcad, Nov 25 '20 at 20:21

score 148 · Accepted Answer · edited May 02 '21 at 12:51

148

There is stream_get_meta_data. It works for a stream that you get from tmpfile(). If you call it on a regular file pointer then you might only get the basename.

$meta_data = stream_get_meta_data($stream_or_file_pointer);
$filename = $meta_data["uri"];
echo $filename;

Example for tmpfile():

"/private/var/folders/v3/n54x13jx5v7610fw9dm0wcxm0000gn/T/phpCJvevP"

Example for fopen("somefile", "r"):

"test"

edited May 02 '21 at 12:51

Bhaskar Jat

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answered Oct 07 '11 at 17:27

lion.vollnhals

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This works! I don't know how this didn't came up as the accepted answer, and everyone here say that this is impossible. Works on Windows too. – rsk82 Nov 06 '11 at 21:51
3

Thanks for this, seems like such a simple thing, but turns out to be such a headache ... You can/should also use `realpath` to get the full filepath. – Wayne Weibel Dec 04 '13 at 20:08
Thank you Wayne Weibel. `realpath` is what I was looking for. I came to this page looking for a way to determine the filename in the same case as it exists in the filesystem. – Dale Thompson Aug 09 '23 at 02:37

score 8 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:10

8

~~Nyes. Afaik there is no function in PHP to that directly. But~~ on Linux, you can do

$fp = fopen('somefile', 'r');
$stat = fstat($fp);
$inode = $stat['ino'];
system("find -inum $inode", $result);
echo $result;

This is untested so it might need tweaking.

EDIT Apparently, there is a simpler solution.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:10

Community

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answered Feb 28 '11 at 16:36

Gordon

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This is the only way I can think of doing it, save for performing the `find` within PHP, though that would probably be slower. – Orbling Feb 28 '11 at 16:41

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 28 '11 at 16:29

3

To achieve this, you will need to create a wrapper that stores the file name. A file handle has no context of the filename it was created from.

answered Feb 28 '11 at 16:29

Greg

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For an example of this approach, see [this SO answer](http://stackoverflow.com/a/30985867/2908724). – bishop Jun 22 '15 at 17:24

diyism · Answer 4 · 2011-11-23T03:14:28.887

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A clean method to use temporary file:

<?
$tmp=array_search('uri', @array_flip(stream_get_meta_data($GLOBALS[mt_rand()]=tmpfile())));
file_put_contents($tmp, 'hello');
echo file_get_contents($tmp);
?>

without need to fclose the tmp file, it will be deleted while the php ends.

edited Nov 23 '11 at 03:14

answered Nov 23 '11 at 02:49

diyism

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You seriously call this a "clean method" ? – xZero Sep 08 '17 at 06:13

Getting filename (or deleting file) using file handle

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