DirectoryIterator in PHP

The DirectoryIterator is an Iterator class which comes with PHP5 and it provides another way for viewing contents of any directory. It follows the object-oriented approach. Let's check out one example..

<?php
// Create DirectoryIterator Object with path as parameter
$folder = new DirectoryIterator("joomla2.5.9");

// Browse Folder
foreach( $folder as $f )
 echo ( $f->getFilename() . "<br>");
?>

The above code displays all sub-folders (including '.' and '..') and files under the path provided as argument while calling the DirectoryIterator constructor. We can identify if an entry is a file or folder using various methods of the class. Check the example below.

<?php
// Create DirectoryIterator Object with path as parameter
$folder = new DirectoryIterator("joomla2.5.9");

// Browse Folder
foreach( $folder as $f )
{
   // If special '.' or '..' folder, ignore
   if( !$f->isDot() )
   {
     // Directory
     if( $f->isDir() )
     {
       echo ( $f->getFilename() . " [Directory] <br>");
     }
     else // File
     {
       // Permission returns an integer, convert it to Octal
       $octal_perms = substr(sprintf('%o', $f->getPerms()), -4);
       // Print File Details
       echo "FileName : {$f->getBasename()}, Extension : [{$f->getExtension()}], ";
       echo "FileSize : {$f->getSize()} Bytes, Permissions : [$octal_perms] ";
       echo "Last Modified : ".date('Y-m-d',$f->getMTime())."<br>";
     }
   }
}
?>

The above code is pretty self-explaining. Now, let is recursively use the above method to fetch all the sub-folder contents.

<?php
// Create DirectoryIterator Object with path as parameter
$folder = "joomla2.5.9";

// Call the function
get_folder_contents( $folder );

/// FUnction Definition
function get_folder_contents( $folder )
{
  // Create Iterator Object
  $folder_name = new DirectoryIterator($folder);

  // Browse Folder
  foreach( $folder_name as $f )
  {
       // If special '.' or '..' folder, ignore
       if( !$f->isDot() )
       {
         // Directory
         if( $f->isDir() )
         {
           // Print Directory Name
           echo (" ---- Showing Contents of $folder/{$f->getFilename()} ---- <br>");
          
           // RECURSIVE CALL
           get_folder_contents( $folder . "/" . $f->getFilename() );
         }
         else // File
         {
           // Permission returns an integer, convert it to Octal
           $octal_perms = substr(sprintf('%o', $f->getPerms()), -4);
           // Print File Details
           echo "FileName : {$f->getBasename()}, Extension : [{$f->getExtension()}], <br>";
         }
       }
  }
}
?>

The DirectoryIterator class also provides some methods like current(), next(), rewind() which moves Iterator cursor. Check one example below..

<?php
// Get the Current directory
$folder = new DirectoryIterator( dirname(__FILE__) );

// Check if the pointer position is a valid entry
// We are browsing for FILES first
while($folder->valid())
{
    // GET the Current file/folder
    // iteator pointer is pointing to.
    $file = $folder->current();
   
    // Check if it is a FILE
    if( !$file->isDir() )
    {
       // Echo Key :: FileName
       echo $folder->key() . " :: " . $file->getFilename() . "<br>";
    }
   
    // Move the pointer pointing to next item
    $folder->next();
}

// Let's search for Directories
// Hence move the pointer to the beginning
$folder->rewind();

// Again start the loop
while($folder->valid() )
{
  // GET the Current file/folder
  $dir = $folder->current();
 
  // Check if it is a Directory
  if( $dir->isDir() )
      echo $folder->key() . " :: " . $dir->getFilename() . "<br>";

  // Move the pointer to the next item
  $folder->next();   
}
?>

We have used rewind() function to move the iterator pointer pointing to the beginning of the file/folder listing. The next() function moves the pointer to the next item in the list. The key() function returns a key value (integer) which I think the sorted index for each item.

Check previous articles on file/folder browsing in PHP : File and folder Iterators in PHP, Using Glob in PHP