PHP Search & Get Files (By Extension, Prefix, Name, Date)

So you have a project that needs to filter out a list of files from a folder – The glob() function is probably your best bet, but it can be pretty intimidating for some beginners. Fear not, here are some of the common “search patterns” that I gathered from the Internet. Read on!

 

 

TLDR – QUICK SLIDES

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

 

1) GET BY FILE EXTENSION

<?php
// (A) TARGET FOLDER TO LIST
$dir = __DIR__ . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . "demo" . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR;
 
// (B) GET ALL JPG FILES
$images = glob($dir . "*.jpg");
print_r($images);
 
// (C) GET ALL IMAGE FILES
$images = glob($dir . "*.{jpg,png,gif,webp,bmp}", GLOB_BRACE);
print_r($images);
 
// (D) GET ALL DOCUMENTS
$docs = glob($dir . "*.{txt,xlsx,docx,odt}", GLOB_BRACE);
print_r($docs);

• To get a specific type of file – glob("PATH/*.EXT").
• If you want to get a list of file extensions, use GLOB_BRACE to help you – glob("PATH/*.{EXT, EXT, ...}", GLOB_BRACE).

 

 

2) GET BY FILE PREFIX & SUFFIX

<?php
// (A) TARGET FOLDER TO LIST
$dir = __DIR__ . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . "demo" . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR;
 
// (B) GET ALL FILES STARTING WITH "I_"
$prefix = glob($dir . "i_*");
print_r($prefix);
 
// (C) GET ALL FILES STARTING WITH "I_" OR "J_"
$prefix = glob($dir . "{i_,j_}*", GLOB_BRACE);
print_r($prefix);
 
// (D) GET ALL FILES ENDING WITH "_J"
$suffix = glob($dir . "*_j.*");
print_r($suffix);
 
// (E) GET ALL FILES STARTING WITH I_ AND ENDING WITH "_J"
$presuf = glob($dir . "i_*_j.*");
print_r($presuf);

• To get files starting with a certain prefix – glob("PATH/PREFIX*").
• If you have multiple prefixes, use GLOB_BRACE once again to help you – glob("PATH/{PREFIX-A, PREFIX-B, ...}", GLOB_BRACE).
• To get files ending with a certain suffix – glob("PATH/*SUFFIX.*").
• To get files starting with a certain prefix and ending with a certain suffix – glob("PATH/PREFIX*SUFFIX.*").

P.S. You can further filter by the file extension if you want. For example, glob("PATH/PREFIX*.{jpg,png,gif}", GLOB_BRACE).

 

3) GET BY FILE NAME

<?php
// (A) TARGET FOLDER TO LIST
$dir = __DIR__ . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . "demo" . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR;
 
// (B) CASE SENSITIVE - MUST CONTAIN "APP"
$search = glob($dir . "*app*");
print_r($search);
 
// (C) CASE INSENSITIVE - MUST CONTAIN "APP"
$search = glob($dir . "*[aA][pP][pP]*");
print_r($search);
 
// (D) CASE INSENSITIVE - MUST CONTAIN "APP" OR "OPP"
$search = glob($dir . "*[aAoO][pP][pP]*");
print_r($search);

• To search by the file name (case sensitive) – glob("FOLDER/*SEARCH*"). I.E. It’s a match as long as the file name contains SEARCH anywhere.
• Case-sensitive search is kind of painful, you will have to manually use square brackets to match each character – glob([aA][bB][cC][...])

 

 

4) GET FILES BY DATE

<?php
// (A) TARGET FOLDER TO LIST
$dir = __DIR__ . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . "demo" . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR;
 
// (B) ALL FILES OLDER THAN 7 DAYS
// 7 DAYS = 604800 SECONDS
$old = strtotime("now") - 604800; 
foreach (glob($dir . "*.*") as $file) {
  if (filemtime($file) <= $old) { echo "$file"; }
}
 
// (C) GET FILES CREATED ON EXACT DATE
$start = strtotime("2012-12-12 00:00:00");
$end = strtotime("2012-12-12 23:59:59");
foreach (glob($dir . "*.*") as $file) {
  $filetime = filemtime($file);
  if ($filetime>=$start && $filetime<=$end) { echo "$file"; }
}

Sadly, glob() cannot filter by the file date “natively”. We will have to manually loop through all the files and check the timestamp individually.

 

 

 

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EXAMPLE CODE DOWNLOAD

Click here for the source code on GitHub gist, just click on “download zip” or do a git clone. I have released it under the MIT license, so feel free to build on top of it or use it in your own project.

 

 

A SMALL NOTE ON PERFORMANCE & READING SUB-FOLDERS

Take note of how glob() works, it returns an array. It’s all nice and cool but runs into memory issues when you deal with massive folders. There is a way around it by using an iterator, check out my other “ways to list files folders” tutorial below – Which also covers “how to read sub-folders”.

 

LINKS & REFERENCES

• Ways To List Files & Folders In PHP – Code Boxx
• Glob – Official PHP Manual

 

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