PHP Manual: List files and directories inside the specified path

Description

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.

Return Values

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

Version	Description
5.4.0	`sorting_order` constants were added. Any nonzero value caused descending order in previous versions. So for all PHP versions, use 0 for ascending order, and 1 for descending order. An option for `SCANDIR_SORT_NONE` behavior did not exist prior to PHP 5.4.0.

Examples

Example #1 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] => .
)

Example #2 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] => .
)

Notes

Tip

A URL can be used as a filename with this function if the fopen wrappers have been enabled. See fopen for more details on how to specify the filename. See the Supported Protocols and Wrappers for links to information about what abilities the various wrappers have, notes on their usage, and information on any predefined variables they may provide.