scandir

(PHP 5, PHP 7)

List files and directories inside the specified path

array scandir ( string $directory [, int $sorting_order = SCANDIR_SORT_ASCENDING [, resource $context ]] )

Returns an array of files and directories from the directory.

Parameters:

directory

The directory that will be scanned.

sorting_order

By default, the sorted order is alphabetical in ascending order. If the optional sorting_order is set to SCANDIR_SORT_DESCENDING, then the sort order is alphabetical in descending order. If it is set to SCANDIR_SORT_NONE then the result is unsorted.

context

For a description of the context parameter, refer to the streams section of the manual.

Returns:

Returns an array of filenames on success, or FALSE on failure. If directory is not a directory, then boolean FALSE is returned, and an error of level E_WARNING is generated.

Changelog:

5.4.0

sorting_order 0 1 SCANDIR_SORT_NONE

Examples:

A simple scandir() example

<?php
$dir    = '/tmp';
$files1 = scandir($dir);
$files2 = scandir($dir, 1);
 
print_r($files1);
print_r($files2);
?>

The above example will output something similar to:

Array
(
    [0] => .
    [1] => ..
    [2] => bar.php
    [3] => foo.txt
    [4] => somedir
)
Array
(
    [0] => somedir
    [1] => foo.txt
    [2] => bar.php
    [3] => ..
    [4] => .
)

PHP 4 alternatives to scandir()

<?php
$dir = "/tmp";
$dh  = opendir($dir);
while (false !== ($filename = readdir($dh))) {
    $files[] = $filename;
}
 
sort($files);
 
print_r($files);
 
rsort($files);
 
print_r($files);
 
?>

The above example will output something similar to:

Array
(
    [0] => .
    [1] => ..
    [2] => bar.php
    [3] => foo.txt
    [4] => somedir
)
Array
(
    [0] => somedir
    [1] => foo.txt
    [2] => bar.php
    [3] => ..
    [4] => .
)