PHP - How to make a list out of folders stored in a specific folder on your server?

Question

I am creating a CMS application as an addition to a website of mine.

On this website, there is a promotions section.

I want to make a page that lets me easily add and edit promotions (2 images).

Ideally, this page would let me create and edit folders that are stored within a specific folder on my server. I could then upload images to the relavant folders. The folders that house the images would be called something like "sept-oct".

I already have a blank page that can only be seen once I have logged on as the website administrator account. Now to fill that page.

I am slightly aware of the ability of php, when it comes to creating code that creates directories, or creating and editing files.

Can anyone provide me with some suggestions, links to tutorials, peices of code or tips that would cover this area of php?

My main question though, is how would I list the promotion folders stored in the main promotions folder? Something like drawing out rows of mysql data and displaying them in a loop.

With that I could begin to add new folders or edit existing ones.

Not clear. Do you want to read a list from MySQL or from disk? — GolezTrol, Sep 11 '11 at 19:46
[Listing all the folders subfolders and files in a directory using php](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7121479/listing-all-the-folders-subfolders-and-files-in-a-directory-using-php/7121809#7121809) might help. — Shef, Sep 11 '11 at 19:48
@GolezTrol No, I would list to just display these folders as a list, I was implying an example of a loop that draws rows of mysql data and displays it. "while..." — Craig van Tonder, Sep 11 '11 at 20:03
@Jakub Nothing as of yet because I am not sure how to go about it. — Craig van Tonder, Sep 11 '11 at 20:04

Jon · Answer 1 · 2011-09-11T19:51:22.100

2

You can use glob to easily get a list of all subdirectories:

$dir = '.';
$subdirs = glob($dir.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.'*', GLOB_ONLYDIR);

print_r($subdirs);

See it in action.

If you want to end up with absolute paths for the directories, also include

$subdirs = array_map('realpath', $subdirs);

edited Sep 11 '11 at 19:51

answered Sep 11 '11 at 19:45

Jon

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Thank you for your reply, It has brought some extra understanding on the matter! – Craig van Tonder Sep 11 '11 at 20:27

salathe · Accepted Answer · 2011-09-11T19:56:57.347

1

One basic way is to use the glob() function.

$dirs = glob('path/to/promotions/folder/*', GLOB_ONLYDIR);
foreach ($dirs as $dir) {
    $name = basename($dir);
    echo $name . PHP_EOL;
}

There are several other great tools available for looping over filesystem contents, including scandir() and FilesystemIterator. These latter two would usually need some filtering to only work with the directories.

$iterator = new FilesystemIterator('path/to/promotions/folder');
foreach ($iterator as $fileinfo) {
    if ($fileinfo->isDir() {
        echo $fileinfo->getFilename() . PHP_EOL;
    }
}

edited Sep 11 '11 at 19:56

answered Sep 11 '11 at 19:45

salathe

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It will time some time for this solution to soak in, but it seems to be what I was looking for. Thanks! – Craig van Tonder Sep 11 '11 at 20:05
Feel free to ask questions if anything is unclear. (Don't forget to "accept" an answer.) – salathe Sep 11 '11 at 20:08
Thank you for your assistance, I managed to get the `glob()` function working for me. I will let my creative flair take it from here! – Craig van Tonder Sep 11 '11 at 20:26

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 11 '11 at 19:47

1

PHP.net is your best resource for PHP resources. In this case, look at the Directory Functions, and especially at scandir.

answered Sep 11 '11 at 19:47

GolezTrol

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Yes, I have been reading up on the directory functions, I did not see scandir though, I will look into it, thank you! – Craig van Tonder Sep 11 '11 at 20:09

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 11 '11 at 19:48

1

This tutorial will hopefully get you started:

File And Directory Manipulation In PHP (part 1)

answered Sep 11 '11 at 19:48

Timothy Allyn Drake

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score -2 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 11 '11 at 19:50

-2

Personally I would use a framework to accelerate your development as something like http://codeigniter.com already has built in functionality for uploading / directory listing, and all you need to do is check out the user guide, not some random php tutorials.

Use a franework, learn from it and speed up future development!

answered Sep 11 '11 at 19:50

Jakub

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I appreciate this answer, but I am trying to broaden my knowledge on the uses of php. This is a little bit of personal training I guess. So I want to stick to a solution that uses only php. – Craig van Tonder Sep 11 '11 at 20:07
I did not down vote you, and yes I understand that it is php. The problem is that I do not under stand how it works, which is why I would like to learn how this all works. I am not so much looking for a solution as I am the knowledge on how to solve the problem ;) – Craig van Tonder Sep 11 '11 at 20:14
@Jakub: Please consider that it may not be BlackberryFan's downvote (it's not mine either). Also, being patronizing and/or quick to respond aggressively will not help your cause. – Jon Sep 11 '11 at 20:14

PHP - How to make a list out of folders stored in a specific folder on your server?

5 Answers5