PHP: scandir function - List files and directories inside the specified path

Description

array scandir ( string $directory [, int $sorting_order [, resource $context ]] )

Returns an array of files and directories from the directory .

Parameters

directory: The directory that will be scanned.
sorting_order: By default, the sorted order is alphabetical in ascending order. If the optional sorting_order is used (set to 1), then the sort order is alphabetical in descending order.
context: For a description of the context parameter, refer to the streams section of the manual.

Return Values

Returns an array of filenames on success, or FALSE on failure. If directory is not a directory, then boolean FALSE is returned, and an error of level E_WARNING is generated.

Examples

Example #1 A simple scandir() example


<?php
$dir    = '/tmp';
$files1 = scandir($dir);
$files2 = scandir($dir, 1);

print_r($files1);
print_r($files2);
?>

The above example will output something similar to:

Array
(
    [0] => .
    [1] => ..
    [2] => bar.php
    [3] => foo.txt
    [4] => somedir
)
Array
(
    [0] => somedir
    [1] => foo.txt
    [2] => bar.php
    [3] => ..
    [4] => .
)

Example #2 PHP 4 alternatives to scandir()


<?php
$dir = "/tmp";
$dh  = opendir($dir);
while (false !== ($filename = readdir($dh))) {
    $files[] = $filename;
}

sort($files);

print_r($files);

rsort($files);

print_r($files);

?>

The above example will output something similar to:

Array
(
    [0] => .
    [1] => ..
    [2] => bar.php
    [3] => foo.txt
    [4] => somedir
)
Array
(
    [0] => somedir
    [1] => foo.txt
    [2] => bar.php
    [3] => ..
    [4] => .
)

Notes

Tip

A URL can be used as a filename with this function if the fopen wrappers have been enabled. See fopen() for more details on how to specify the filename and List of Supported Protocols/Wrappers for a list of supported URL protocols.