Topic: displaying file in a directory

[Kevin McLean]

I've got a script which displays files in directory. But I strongly need it to display files only with names like
number.php
so it would display files which contain only digits in its name and .php. I know that it could be achieved using regex, but my knowledge about them is practically zero, could somebody, please help me to modify the script.

Code: [Select]

<?

$path = '/.../archive/';
$file = scandir($path);
unset($file[0], $file[1]); 
function _sortCTime($file1, $file2){
    $time1 = filectime('archive/' . $file1);
    $time2 = filectime('archive/' . $file2);
    if($time1 == $time2)
      return 0;
    return ($time1 < $time2) ? -1 : 1;
  } 


$i=1;
$f = 'семестр';
usort($file, "_sortCTime");
foreach($file as $item){
   
            $i++;
            echo "$i $f. <a href='archive/$item'>Успеваемость</a><br />";

    } 

?>

[nrg_alpha]

Assumes $path points to the correct folder...


$path = '/.../archive/';
foreach(glob($path . "*.php") as $fileName){
   $file = basename($fileName);
   if(preg_match('#^[\d]+\.php$#', $file)){
      $fileList[] = $file;
   }
}
echo '<pre>'.print_r($fileList, true);


From here, simply plug the array of file names into the script as needed.

[.josh]

glob does support character classes, so you can skip doing a *.php and preg_matching all the files:


$list = glob("[0-9]*.php");
echo "<pre>"; print_r($list); echo "</pre>";

[nrg_alpha]

glob does support character classes, so you can skip doing a *.php and preg_matching all the files:

So I see... when I checked up in the manual, the wording gave me the impression it didn't.

[.josh]

I'd say it's more vague or maybe incomplete than misleading...

From the manual:

The glob() function searches for all the pathnames matching pattern  according to the rules used by the libc glob() function, which is similar to the rules used by common shells.

I think it should actually show examples rather than giving a vague reference, especially since it says it matches according to 'similar' rules and not 'exact' rules.

[nrg_alpha]

I think it should actually show examples rather than giving a vague reference, especially since it says it matches according to 'similar' rules and not 'exact' rules.

I agree... once I didn't find the wording very helpful, the next thing I did was start scanning down the list of examples.. but kept seeing *.php or something to that effect.. so this kind of further 're-enforced' my suspicions that I could not get away with classes..

They say hind sight has 20/20 vision however.. perhaps I should have spent a few extra seconds actually trying it out, just in case. But yeah, I agree with you 100%. You would think the PHP manual would show some seriously diverse applications of using glob with all it's flexibility.

[.josh]

On a positive note, it seems like a chance to immortalize yourself in the php manual, by posting an entry explaining what exactly is allowed

Because I'm gracious and generous, I will allow you to have that honor.  My infamy already causes me to beat off the women with a stick

[nrg_alpha]

On a positive note, it seems like a chance to immortalize yourself in the php manual, by posting an entry explaining what exactly is allowed

Because I'm gracious and generous, I will allow you to have that honor.  My infamy already causes me to beat off the women with a stick

lol you're so kind. I rescanned the samples, and they do show a version involving character classes afterall (I must have missed it):


$dir = './mydir/[with]/special/.chars/';
$file = '[a-z]+\.txt';

$files = glob( preg_quote( $dir, DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR ) . $file );

if($files !== false && count($files) != 0)
{
    // Do something with the files
}


D'oh! Now I really feel stupid Pass one of them women you had to fend off... I could use a hug right about now lol

Granted, I do think some of these examples should have been shown near the top, where everyone can see them, as opposed to being included as some user's commented demonstration. But alas... I suppose that's why those user entries are there for.

[.josh]

You know, I saw that manual entry.  glob doesn't recognize the +.  Only * or ? but from a shell context.  Like in a shell context, ? is really like a dot (.) in that it matches any one character (other than a new line) and * is the same: 0 or more.  But + (1 or more) is not supported.  I tried it even from a bash prompt and no dice on the +.  So yeah, that user comment is wrong.

Also * acts on its own accord. So for instance, if I did a*.php the * is independent of the 'a'. glob("a*.php") will return all of the following, but the * itself will only match:

a.php // * matches nothing
aa.php // * matches the 2nd a
ab.php // * matches 'b'
abc.php // * matches 'bc'

As far as the ? goes, like I said, it's really like a "pcre" dot (.) in that it matches any one character (not 0 or 1) so if you did

glob("a?.php"); against
a.php
aa.php
ab.php
abc.php

aa.php and ab.php would be returned.

[nrg_alpha]

Ah, I see.. a little song and dance going on that mimics PCRE to some degree, but perhaps not quite in the sense we would think it would.
Duly noted