The readdir Function
The readdir function reads the contents of a directory opened with opendir. On each call, it returns the name of the next file or false if there are no more files. The function maintains an internal position pointer within the directory.
Syntax
readdir(resource $dir_handle): string|false
Example
Reading all files in a directory:
<?php
$dir = opendir('/path/to/directory');
while (($file = readdir($dir)) !== false) {
echo $file . '<br>';
}
closedir($dir);
?>
Code execution result (example output):
"file1.txt"
"file2.jpg"
"subdirectory"
Example
Filtering special entries '.' and '..':
<?php
$dir = opendir('.');
while (($file = readdir($dir)) !== false) {
if ($file != '.' && $file != '..') {
echo $file . '<br>';
}
}
closedir($dir);
?>
Code execution result (outputs only real files and subdirectories):
'index.php'
'styles.css'
'images'
Example
Collecting all files into an array:
<?php
$files = [];
if ($handle = opendir('/path/to/dir')) {
while (false !== ($entry = readdir($handle))) {
if ($entry != '.' && $entry != '..') {
$files[] = $entry;
}
}
closedir($handle);
}
print_r($files);
?>
Code execution result:
Array
(
[0] => "document.pdf"
[1] => "image.png"
[2] => "data.json"
)
