PHP Filesystem Functions

From http://www.w3schools.com (Copyright Refsnes Data)

# PHP 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.

## 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

## Unix / Windows Compatibility

When specifying a path on Unix platforms, the forward slash (/) is used as directory separator. However, on Windows platforms, both forward slash (/) and backslash (\) can be used.

## PHP Filesystem Functions

PHP: indicates the earliest version of PHP that supports the function.

Function | Description | PHP
--- | --- | ---
basename() | Returns the filename component of a path | 3
chgrp() | Changes the file group | 3
chmod() | Changes the file mode | 3
chown() | Changes the file owner | 3
clearstatcache() | Clears the file status cache | 3
copy() | Copies a file | 3
delete() | See unlink() or unset() |
dirname() | Returns the directory name component of a path | 3
disk_free_space() | Returns the free space of a directory | 4
disk_total_space() | Returns the total size of a directory | 4
diskfreespace() | Alias of disk_free_space() | 3
fclose() | Closes an open file | 3
feof() | Tests for end-of-file on an open file | 3
fflush() | Flushes buffered output to an open file | 4
fgetc() | Returns a character from an open file | 3
fgetcsv() | Parses a line from an open file, checking for CSV fields | 3
fgets() | Returns a line from an open file | 3
fgetss() | Returns a line, with HTML and PHP tags removed, from an open file | 3
file() | Reads a file into an array | 3
file_exists() | Checks whether or not a file or directory exists | 3
file_get_contents() | Reads a file into a string | 4
file_put_contents | Writes a string to a file | 5
fileatime() | Returns the last access time of a file | 3
filectime() | Returns the last change time of a file | 3
filegroup() | Returns the group ID of a file | 3
fileinode() | Returns the inode number of a file | 3
filemtime() | Returns the last modification time of a file | 3
fileowner() | Returns the user ID (owner) of a file | 3
fileperms() | Returns the permissions of a file | 3
filesize() | Returns the file size | 3
filetype() | Returns the file type | 3
flock() | Locks or releases a file | 3
fnmatch() | Matches a filename or string against a specified pattern | 4
fopen() | Opens a file or URL | 3
fpassthru() | Reads from an open file, until EOF, and writes the result to the output buffer | 3
fputcsv() | Formats a line as CSV and writes it to an open file | 5
fputs() | Alias of fwrite() | 3
fread() | Reads from an open file | 3
fscanf() | Parses input from an open file according to a specified format | 4
fseek() | Seeks in an open file | 3
fstat() | Returns information about an open file | 4
ftell() | Returns the current position in an open file | 3
ftruncate() | Truncates an open file to a specified length | 4
fwrite() | Writes to an open file | 3
glob() | Returns an array of filenames / directories matching a specified pattern | 4
is_dir() | Checks whether a file is a directory | 3
is_executable() | Checks whether a file is executable | 3
is_file() | Checks whether a file is a regular file | 3
is_link() | Checks whether a file is a link | 3
is_readable() | Checks whether a file is readable | 3
is_uploaded_file() | Checks whether a file was uploaded via HTTP POST | 3
is_writable() | Checks whether a file is writeable | 4
is_writeable() | Alias of is_writable() | 3
link() | Creates a hard link | 3
linkinfo() | Returns information about a hard link | 3
lstat() | Returns information about a file or symbolic link | 3
mkdir() | Creates a directory | 3
move_uploaded_file() | Moves an uploaded file to a new location | 4
parse_ini_file() | Parses a configuration file | 4
pathinfo() | Returns information about a file path | 4
pclose() | Closes a pipe opened by popen() | 3
popen() | Opens a pipe | 3
readfile() | Reads a file and writes it to the output buffer | 3
readlink() | Returns the target of a symbolic link | 3
realpath() | Returns the absolute pathname | 4
rename() | Renames a file or directory | 3
rewind() | Rewinds a file pointer | 3
rmdir() | Removes an empty directory | 3
set_file_buffer() | Sets the buffer size of an open file | 3
stat() | Returns information about a file | 3
symlink() | Creates a symbolic link | 3
tempnam() | Creates a unique temporary file | 3
tmpfile() | Creates a unique temporary file | 3
touch() | Sets access and modification time of a file | 3
umask() | Changes file permissions for files | 3
unlink() | Deletes a file | 3

## PHP Filesystem Constants

PHP: indicates the earliest version of PHP that supports the constant.

Constant | Description | PHP
--- | --- | ---
GLOB_BRACE |  |
GLOB_ONLYDIR |  |
GLOB_MARK |  |
GLOB_NOSORT |  |
GLOB_NOCHECK |  |
GLOB_NOESCAPE |  |
PATHINFO_DIRNAME |  |
PATHINFO_BASENAME |  |
PATHINFO_EXTENSION |  |
FILE_USE_INCLUDE_PATH |  |
FILE_APPEND |  |
FILE_IGNORE_NEW_LINES |  |
FILE_SKIP_EMPTY_LINES |  |

From http://www.w3schools.com (Copyright Refsnes Data)