6 Ways To Delete Files In PHP

Welcome to a tutorial on how to delete files in PHP. Need to remove some old, backup, or temporary files in PHP?

To delete a file in PHP, use unlink("TARGET FILE");
To remove an empty folder, use rmdir("FOLDER");

That covers the super quick basics, but “advanced deleting” entire folders and only certain file types are a different story. Just how do we do those? Read on for more examples!

ⓘ I have included a zip file with all the example source code at the start of this tutorial, so you don’t have to copy-paste everything… Or if you just want to dive straight in.

QUICK SLIDES

Download & Notes	PHP Delete	Useful Bits & Links
The End

DOWNLOAD & NOTES

Firstly, here is the download link to the example code as promised.

QUICK NOTES

If you spot a bug, feel free to comment below. I try to answer short questions too, but it is one person versus the entire world… If you need answers urgently, please check out my list of websites to get help with programming.

EXAMPLE CODE DOWNLOAD

Click here to download the source code, I have released it under the MIT license, so feel free to build on top of it or use it in your own project.

WAYS TO DELETE FILES IN PHP

All right, let us now get into the examples of how to delete files in PHP.

1) SIMPLE DELETE

1-basic.php

<?php
// (A) DELETE FILE
echo unlink("file.txt") ? "OK" : "ERROR" ;
 
// (B) DELETE FOLDER
echo rmdir("d:/test") ? "OK" : "ERROR" ;

As in the introduction above, we use unlink() to delete files, and rmdir() to remove directories. Take note that both functions will actually return true/false to indicate if the process is successful; Copy-protected files cannot be deleted, and folders that are not empty cannot be removed.

2) DELETE IF FILE EXISTS

2-delete-exist.php

<?php
// (A) CHECK BEFORE DELETE
function checkdel ($file) {
  if (!file_exists($file)) { return false; }
  return unlink($file);
}
 
// (B) GO!
echo checkdel("file.txt") ? "OK" : "ERROR" ;

PHP does throw annoying warnings when deleting files that do not exist. So here is a “quick fix” – Just do a file_exists() check before proceeding with the delete.

3) DELETE ONLY CERTAIN FILE TYPES

3-delete-type.php

<?php
// (A) DELETE ONLY CERTAIN FILE TYPES
function deltype ($ext, $folder) {
  // (A1) GET ALL FILES OF SPECIFIED EXTENSION
  $files = glob("$folder*.{$ext}", GLOB_BRACE);
  
  // (A2) LOOP AND DELETE
  if (count($files)>0) { foreach ($files as $f) {
    echo unlink($f) 
      ? "$f deleted\r\n"
      : "Error deleting $f\r\n" ;
  }}
}

// (B) GO!
deltype("jpg,png,gif", "d:/test/");

Only want to clear out certain file types in a folder? Use the glob() function to help filter out a list of the selected files, then delete them one by one.

4) DELETE FILES ONLY IF OLDER THAN A SET DATE

4-delete-old.php

<?php
// (A) DELETE ONLY IF OLDER THAN SET DATE
function delold ($keepDate, $folder) {
  // (A1) GET ALL FILES INSIDE FOLDER
  $files = glob("$folder*", GLOB_BRACE);

  // (A2) LOOP, CHECK LAST MODIFIED, DELETE
  if (count($files)>0) { 
    $keepDate = strtotime($keepDate);
    foreach ($files as $f) { if (filemtime($f) < $keepDate) {
      echo unlink($f)
        ? "$f deleted\r\n"
        : "Error deleting $f\r\n" ;
    }}
  }
}

// (B) GO!
// DATE FORMAT YYYY-MM-DD... OR ANYTHING THAT STRTOTIME CAN UNDERSTAND
delold("2020-11-10", "d:/test/");

Want to remove some old backup or outdated files? It’s pretty much the same story of using good old glob() to get the list of files in the folder. Then using filemtime() to check against the “file last modified” time – Delete the file if it is older than a set date.

5) DELETE ENTIRE FOLDER

5-delete-folder.php

<?php
function delFolder ($folder) {
  // (A1) GET ALL FILES + FOLDERS
  $all = glob("$folder*", GLOB_BRACE);

  if (count($all)>0) { foreach ($all as $a) {
    // (A2) FOLDER - RECURSIVE DELETE
    if (is_dir($a)) { delFolder("$a/");  }

    // (A3) DELETE FILES
    else {
      echo unlink($a)
          ? "$a deleted\r\n"
          : "Error deleting $a\r\n" ;
    }
  }}

  // (A4) DELETE CURRENT FOLDER ITSELF
  echo rmdir($folder)
    ? "$folder deleted\r\n" 
    : "Error deleting $folder\r\n" ;
}

// (B) GO!
delFolder("d:/test/");

One of the more confusing ones, since we can’t just use rmdir() to delete the entire folder directly. Not going to explain this line-by-line, but in essence, delFolder() is a recursive function that will dig into a given folder and delete everything inside.

6) COMMAND LINE DELETE

6-delete-command.php

<?php
// (A) WINDOWS
echo exec('del "d:\\test\\test.txt"');
 
// (B) LINUX
echo exec('rm /path/file/test.txt');

Finally, this is not quite “delete in PHP”… But we can actually run shell commands in PHP to delete files and folders.

USEFUL BITS & LINKS

That’s all for the main tutorial, and here is a small section on some extras and links that may be useful to you.

THE SUMMARY

Function	Description	Reference Link
`unlink(TARGET)`	Delete target file.	Click Here
`rmdir(FOLDER)`	Remove a folder.	Click Here
`file_exists(FILE)`	Checks if the target file exists.	Click Here
`glob(PATTERN)`	Get all pathnames for the given pattern/target folder.	Click Here
`exec()`	Run a shell command.	Click Here

INFOGRAPHIC CHEAT SHEET

How To Delete Files In PHP (Click to enlarge)

THE END

Thank you for reading, and we have come to the end of this guide. I hope that it has helped you with your project, and if you want to share anything with this guide, please feel free to comment below. Good luck and happy coding!

6 Ways To Delete Files In PHP – Simple Examples