PHP 5 Filesystem Functions

PHP Filesystem Introduction

The filesystem functions allow you to access and manipulate the filesystem.

---

Installation

The filesystem functions are part of the PHP core. There is no installation needed to use these functions.

---

Unix / Windows Compatibility

When specifying a path on Unix platforms, a forward slash (/) is used as directory separator.

On Windows platforms, both forward slash (/) and backslash (\) can be used.

---

Runtime Configuration

The behavior of the filesystem functions is affected by settings in php.ini.

Filesystem configuration options:

Name	Default	Description	Changeable
allow_url_fopen	"1"	Allows fopen()-type functions to work with URLs (available since PHP 4.0.4)	PHP_INI_SYSTEM
user_agent	NULL	Defines the user agent for PHP to send (available since PHP 4.3)	PHP_INI_ALL
default_socket_timeout	"60"	Sets the default timeout, in seconds, for socket based streams (available since PHP 4.3)	PHP_INI_ALL
from	""	Defines the anonymous FTP password (your email address)	PHP_INI_ALL
auto_detect_line_endings	"0"	When set to "1", PHP will examine the data read by fgets() and file() to see if it is using Unix, MS-Dos or Mac line-ending characters (available since PHP 4.3)	PHP_INI_ALL

PHP 5 Filesystem Functions

Function	Description
basename()	Returns the filename component of a path
chgrp()	Changes the file group
chmod()	Changes the file mode
chown()	Changes the file owner
clearstatcache()	Clears the file status cache
copy()	Copies a file
delete()	See unlink() or unset()
dirname()	Returns the directory name component of a path
disk_free_space()	Returns the free space of a directory
disk_total_space()	Returns the total size of a directory
diskfreespace()	Alias of disk_free_space()
fclose()	Closes an open file
feof()	Tests for end-of-file on an open file
fflush()	Flushes buffered output to an open file
fgetc()	Returns a character from an open file
fgetcsv()	Parses a line from an open file, checking for CSV fields
fgets()	Returns a line from an open file
fgetss()	Returns a line, with HTML and PHP tags removed, from an open file
file()	Reads a file into an array
file_exists()	Checks whether or not a file or directory exists
file_get_contents()	Reads a file into a string
file_put_contents()	Writes a string to a file
fileatime()	Returns the last access time of a file
filectime()	Returns the last change time of a file
filegroup()	Returns the group ID of a file
fileinode()	Returns the inode number of a file
filemtime()	Returns the last modification time of a file
fileowner()	Returns the user ID (owner) of a file
fileperms()	Returns the permissions of a file
filesize()	Returns the file size
filetype()	Returns the file type
flock()	Locks or releases a file
fnmatch()	Matches a filename or string against a specified pattern
fopen()	Opens a file or URL
fpassthru()	Reads from an open file, until EOF, and writes the result to the output buffer
fputcsv()	Formats a line as CSV and writes it to an open file
fputs()	Alias of fwrite()
fread()	Reads from an open file
fscanf()	Parses input from an open file according to a specified format
fseek()	Seeks in an open file
fstat()	Returns information about an open file
ftell()	Returns the current position in an open file
ftruncate()	Truncates an open file to a specified length
fwrite()	Writes to an open file
glob()	Returns an array of filenames / directories matching a specified pattern
is_dir()	Checks whether a file is a directory
is_executable()	Checks whether a file is executable
is_file()	Checks whether a file is a regular file
is_link()	Checks whether a file is a link
is_readable()	Checks whether a file is readable
is_uploaded_file()	Checks whether a file was uploaded via HTTP POST
is_writable()	Checks whether a file is writeable
is_writeable()	Alias of is_writable()
lchgrp()	Changes group ownership of symlink
lchown()	Changes user ownership of symlink
link()	Creates a hard link
linkinfo()	Returns information about a hard link
lstat()	Returns information about a file or symbolic link
mkdir()	Creates a directory
move_uploaded_file()	Moves an uploaded file to a new location
parse_ini_file()	Parses a configuration file
parse_ini_string()	Parses a configuration string
pathinfo()	Returns information about a file path
pclose()	Closes a pipe opened by popen()
popen()	Opens a pipe
readfile()	Reads a file and writes it to the output buffer
readlink()	Returns the target of a symbolic link
realpath()	Returns the absolute pathname
realpath_cache_get()	Returns realpath cache entries
realpath_cache_size()	Returns realpath cache size
rename()	Renames a file or directory
rewind()	Rewinds a file pointer
rmdir()	Removes an empty directory
set_file_buffer()	Sets the buffer size of an open file
stat()	Returns information about a file
symlink()	Creates a symbolic link
tempnam()	Creates a unique temporary file
tmpfile()	Creates a unique temporary file
touch()	Sets access and modification time of a file
umask()	Changes file permissions for files
unlink()	Deletes a file

Credit: www.w3schools.com