Sort and display directory list alphabetically using opendir() in php

Question

php noob here - I've cobbled together this script to display a list of images from a folder with opendir, but I can't work out how (or where) to sort the array alphabetically

<?php

// opens images folder
if ($handle = opendir('Images')) {
while (false !== ($file = readdir($handle))) {

// strips files extensions  
$crap   = array(".jpg", ".jpeg", ".JPG", ".JPEG", ".png", ".PNG", ".gif", ".GIF", ".bmp", ".BMP", "_", "-");    

$newstring = str_replace($crap, " ", $file );   

//asort($file, SORT_NUMERIC); - doesnt work :(

// hides folders, writes out ul of images and thumbnails from two folders

    if ($file != "." && $file != ".." && $file != "index.php" && $file != "Thumbnails") {
    echo "<li><a href=\"Images/$file\" class=\"thickbox\" rel=\"gallery\" title=\"$newstring\"><img src=\"Images/Thumbnails/$file\" alt=\"$newstring\" width=\"300\"  </a></li>\n";}
}
closedir($handle);
}

?>

Any advice or pointers would be much appreciated!

score 23 · Accepted Answer · answered May 19 '09 at 21:14

You need to read your files into an array first before you can sort them. How about this?

<?php
$dirFiles = array();
// opens images folder
if ($handle = opendir('Images')) {
    while (false !== ($file = readdir($handle))) {

        // strips files extensions      
        $crap   = array(".jpg", ".jpeg", ".JPG", ".JPEG", ".png", ".PNG", ".gif", ".GIF", ".bmp", ".BMP", "_", "-");    

        $newstring = str_replace($crap, " ", $file );   

        //asort($file, SORT_NUMERIC); - doesnt work :(

        // hides folders, writes out ul of images and thumbnails from two folders

        if ($file != "." && $file != ".." && $file != "index.php" && $file != "Thumbnails") {
            $dirFiles[] = $file;
        }
    }
    closedir($handle);
}

sort($dirFiles);
foreach($dirFiles as $file)
{
    echo "<li><a href=\"Images/$file\" class=\"thickbox\" rel=\"gallery\" title=\"$newstring\"><img src=\"Images/Thumbnails/$file\" alt=\"$newstring\" width=\"300\"  </a></li>\n";
}

?>

Edit: This isn't related to what you're asking, but you could get a more generic handling of file extensions with the pathinfo() function too. You wouldn't need a hard-coded array of extensions then, you could remove any extension.

I came across this post because while I had the same code asort() would not work and I could not figure out why and I still don't know why but I see from the comment in here that zombat had the same problem. Thanks for leaving the comment in there it was a big help... — user1946891, Nov 27 '19 at 21:38

score 12 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 18 '14 at 00:03

Using `opendir()`

opendir() does not allow the list to be sorted. You'll have to perform the sorting manually. For this, add all the filenames to an array first and sort them with sort():

$path = "/path/to/file";

if ($handle = opendir($path)) {
    $files = array();
    while ($files[] = readdir($dir));
    sort($files);
    closedir($handle);
}

And then list them using foreach:

$blacklist = array('.','..','somedir','somefile.php');

foreach ($files as $file) {
    if (!in_array($file, $blacklist)) {
        echo "<li>$file</a>\n <ul class=\"sub\">";
    }
}

Using `scandir()`

This is a lot easier with scandir(). It performs the sorting for you by default. The same functionality can be achieved with the following code:

$path = "/path/to/file";
$blacklist = array('somedir','somefile.php');

// get everything except hidden files
$files = preg_grep('/^([^.])/', scandir($path)); 

foreach ($files as $file) {
    if (!in_array($file, $blacklist)) {
        echo "<li>$file</a>\n <ul class=\"sub\">";
    }
}

Using `DirectoryIterator` (preferred)

$path = "/path/to/file";
$blacklist = array('somedir','somefile.php');

foreach (new DirectoryIterator($path) as $fileInfo) {
    if($fileInfo->isDot()) continue;
    $file =  $path.$fileInfo->getFilename();
    echo "<li>$file</a>\n <ul class=\"sub\">";
}

Keeping out unwanted items. I prefer the `DirectoryIterator` way as it is much smaller than the solving question. — Roland, Oct 09 '17 at 09:19
@Wilf: It's not there. It's just something that came along when I copy-pasted. — Amal Murali, Oct 09 '17 at 12:48

score 3 · Answer 3 · edited Feb 24 '14 at 09:18

3

This is the way I would do it

if(!($dp = opendir($def_dir))) die ("Cannot open Directory.");
while($file = readdir($dp))
{
    if($file != '.')
    {
        $uts=filemtime($file).md5($file);  
        $fole_array[$uts] .= $file;
    }
}
closedir($dp);
krsort($fole_array);

foreach ($fole_array as $key => $dir_name) {
  #echo "Key: $key; Value: $dir_name<br />\n";
}

edited Feb 24 '14 at 09:18

HpTerm

8,151
12
51
67

answered Oct 09 '11 at 22:20

namit

113
3
8

score 1 · Answer 4 · edited Nov 15 '12 at 09:13

1

$directory = scandir('Images');

edited Nov 15 '12 at 09:13

Emil

7,220
17
76
135

answered Jun 26 '09 at 08:57

score 1 · Answer 5 · edited Feb 24 '14 at 09:17

1

Note: Move this into the foreach loop so that the newstring variable gets renamed correctly.

// strips files extensions      
$crap   = array(".jpg", ".jpeg", ".JPG", ".JPEG", ".png", ".PNG", ".gif", ".GIF", ".bmp", ".BMP", "_", "-");    

$newstring = str_replace($crap, " ", $file );

edited Feb 24 '14 at 09:17

HpTerm

8,151
12
51
67

answered Mar 17 '10 at 02:04

Jason

11
1

Sort and display directory list alphabetically using opendir() in php

5 Answers5

Using `opendir()`

Using `scandir()`

Using `DirectoryIterator` (preferred)

Linked

Related

Sort and display directory list alphabetically using opendir() in php

5 Answers5

Using opendir()

Using scandir()

Using DirectoryIterator (preferred)

Linked

Related

Using `opendir()`

Using `scandir()`

Using `DirectoryIterator` (preferred)