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!

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

 

EXAMPLE CODE DOWNLOAD

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.

 

SORRY FOR THE ADS...

But someone has to pay the bills, and sponsors are paying for it. I insist on not turning Code Boxx into a "paid scripts" business, and I don't "block people with Adblock". Every little bit of support helps.

Buy Me A Coffee Code Boxx eBooks

 

 

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.

 

 

 

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