PHP: image script NOT listing images alphabetically

Question

I've modified and cleaned this PHP script that someone else wrote. Locally on my WAMP server it lists the images alphabetically (they're all named 001.jpg ~ 110.jpg) however on the live LAMP server I think they're organized by date modified...whatever it is it's not by file name. They're all JPEG images so I'm not worried about arranging by type.

So, how do I modify this script to list images alphabetically please?

function getPictures()
{
 global $page, $per_page, $has_previous, $has_next;

 if ($handle = opendir('tour/'))
 {
  $lightbox = rand();
  echo '<ul id="pictures">';

  $count = 0;
  $skip = $page * $per_page;

  if ($skip != 0 ) {$has_previous = true;}

  while ($count < $skip && ($file = readdir($handle)) !== false )
  {
   if (!is_dir($file) && ($type = getPictureType($file)) != '' ) {$count++;}
  }

  $count = 0;

  while ( $count < $per_page && ($file = readdir($handle)) !== false )
  {
   if (!is_dir($file) && ($type = getPictureType($file)) != '' )
   {
    if (!is_dir('thumbs/')) {mkdir('thumbs/');}
    if (!file_exists('thumbs/'.$file)) {makeThumb('tour/'.$file,$type );}

    echo '<li><a href="tour/'.$file.'" rel="lightbox['.$lightbox.']">';
    echo '<img src="thumbs/'.$file.'" alt="" />';
    echo '</a></li>';
    $count++;
   }
  }
  echo '</ul>';

  while (($file = readdir($handle)) !== false)
  {
   if (!is_dir($file) && ($type = getPictureType($file)) != '' )
   {
    $has_next = true;
    break;
   }
  }
 }
}

Put the filenames in an array, sort that and output the list then. — Niko, Mar 09 '12 at 20:22
possible duplicate of [Sort and display directory list alphabetically using opendir() in php](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/884974/sort-and-display-directory-list-alphabetically-using-opendir-in-php) — j08691, Mar 09 '12 at 20:24
@cbuckley I removed unnecessary spaces, put brackets at the beginning of the line, put brackets where they were missing altogether (!!!!), there was a missing isset (actually I think outside of this function)...it wasn't as badly formatted as some PHP though it was still a bit of a mess. I've posted a working answer below. — John, Mar 09 '12 at 22:11

Josh · Answer 1 · 2012-03-09T20:28:07.720

Instead of using readdir, you can use scandir, which sorts alphabetically by default.

By default, the sorted order is alphabetical in ascending order. If the optional sorting_order is set to SCANDIR_SORT_DESCENDING, then the sort order is alphabetical in descending order. If it is set to SCANDIR_SORT_NONE then the result is unsorted.

Keep in mind, scandir returns an array of filenames, while readdir returns a single entry name.

Alternatively, you can read in your filenames into an array, and sort it using natsort.

// Orders alphanumeric strings in the way a human being would
natsort($arr);

Array
(
    [3] => img1.png
    [2] => img2.png
    [1] => img10.png
    [0] => img12.png
)

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 09 '12 at 21:39

Looks like a "lightbox" function, if so here is the full modified version of the function I posted above...

function getPictures()
{
 if ($handle = opendir('tour/'))
 {
  global $page, $per_page, $has_previous, $has_next;
  $lightbox = rand();
  echo '<ul id="pictures">';
  $count = 0;
  $skip = $page * $per_page;

  $file = scandir('tour/');
  $images = array();

  foreach ($file as $key => $value)
  {
   if (!is_dir('tour/'.$value) && ($type = getPictureType('tour/'.$value)) != '' )
   {
    array_push($images,$value);
   }
  }

  natsort($images);

  $count = 0;
  $start = $per_page*$page;
  $end = $start+$per_page - 1;

  foreach ($images as $key => $value)
  {
   if ($key>=$start && $key<=$end)
   {
    echo '<li><a href="tour/'.$value.'" rel="lightbox['.$lightbox.']"><img src="thumbs/'.$value.'" alt="" /></a></li>';
    $count++;
   }
  }
  $not_first = $end+1;
  if ($key>$end) {$has_next = true;}
  if ($not_first!=$per_page) {$has_previous = true;}

  echo '</ul>';
 }
}

PHP: image script NOT listing images alphabetically

2 Answers2