deleting all the files in a directory

[laredotornado@zipmail.com]

Hello,

Using PHP 4, what are the shortest amount of lines I can write to
delete all the files in a given directory?

Thanks for your help, - Dave

[NC]

Re: deleting all the files in a directory

laredotorn...@z ipmail.com wrote:[color=blue]
>
> Using PHP 4, what are the shortest amount of lines I can write to
> delete all the files in a given directory?[/color]

One, if you are willing to live with an OS-dependent solution. You can
read your OS manual for the command that removes files (rm on Unix or
del on Windows), figure out what comand-line keys are necessary to
remove all files in a given directory, and pass the respective command
to your operating system via exec(), passthru(), or system().

Cheers,
NC

[Ewoud Dronkert]

Re: deleting all the files in a directory

laredotornado@z ipmail.com wrote:[color=blue]
> Using PHP 4, what are the shortest amount of lines I can write to
> delete all the files in a given directory?[/color]

<?php $ret = `cd $mydir && rm -fr *`; ?>

--
E. Dronkert

[Andy Hassall]

Re: deleting all the files in a directory

On 13 Feb 2006 12:14:40 -0800, laredotornado@z ipmail.com wrote:
[color=blue]
>Using PHP 4, what are the shortest amount of lines I can write to
>delete all the files in a given directory?[/color]

$dir = '/x/y/z';
if ($dir = opendir($dir))
{
while (($file = readdir($dir)) !== false)
{
if (is_file("$dir/$file"))
{
unlink("$dir/$file");
}
}
}

If you really want it shorter you can remove some of the braces.

--
Andy Hassall :: andy@andyh.co.u k :: http://www.andyh.co.uk
http://www.andyhsoftware.co.uk/space :: disk and FTP usage analysis tool

[Ewoud Dronkert]

Re: deleting all the files in a directory

Andy Hassall wrote:[color=blue]
> if (is_file("$dir/$file"))[/color]

You're potentially missing (symbolic) links and files larger than
int-size. Better to check for '.' or '..' filenames. Clumsy, I know.

--
E. Dronkert

[Iván Sánchez Ortega]

Re: deleting all the files in a directory

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Ewoud Dronkert wrote:
[color=blue]
> <?php $ret = `cd $mydir && rm -fr *`; ?>[/color]

I can halve that:

<?`rm -rf $mydir/*`;?>

- --
- ----------------------------------
Iván Sánchez Ortega -i-punto-sanchez--arroba-mirame-punto-net

http://acm.asoc.fi.upm.es/~mr/

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[Andy Hassall]

Re: deleting all the files in a directory

On Mon, 13 Feb 2006 22:47:26 +0100, Ewoud Dronkert
<firstname@last name.net.invali d> wrote:
[color=blue]
>Andy Hassall wrote:[color=green]
>> if (is_file("$dir/$file"))[/color]
>
>You're potentially missing (symbolic) links[/color]

Missing, or including? symlinks to files return true from is_file() if their
target is a file, so yes, that should probably have a && !is_link() condition
as well, depending on what the OP really wants deleted.
[color=blue]
>and files larger than int-size.[/color]

Hm, didn't know about that one. http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=27792

--
Andy Hassall :: andy@andyh.co.u k :: http://www.andyh.co.uk
http://www.andyhsoftware.co.uk/space :: disk and FTP usage analysis tool

[Ewoud Dronkert]

Re: deleting all the files in a directory

Andy Hassall wrote:[color=blue]
> Missing, or including? symlinks to files return true from is_file() if their
> target is a file, so yes, that should probably have a && !is_link() condition
> as well, depending on what the OP really wants deleted.[/color]

My guess is, not that but || is_link().

--
E. Dronkert

[Jim Michaels]

Re: deleting all the files in a directory


"Andy Hassall" <andy@andyh.co. uk> wrote in message
news:6ht1v1hcjo eo7p4n0o26erjpa s270j0k1g@4ax.c om...[color=blue]
> On 13 Feb 2006 12:14:40 -0800, laredotornado@z ipmail.com wrote:
>[color=green]
>>Using PHP 4, what are the shortest amount of lines I can write to
>>delete all the files in a given directory?[/color]
>[/color]
this works for one directory, but not subdirectories under it. for that, it
needs to be recursive.

function zapdir($dir) {
if ($dir = opendir($dir)) {
while (($file = readdir($dir)) !== false) {
if (is_file("$dir/$file")) {
unlink("$dir/$file");
}
//is a directory or a symlink
if (is_dir("$dir/$file") && "." != $file && ".." != $file) {
zapdir("$dir/$file");
rmdir("$dir/$file") or echo "unable to remove directory
$dir/$file\n";
}
if (is_link("$dir/$file")) {
unlink("$dir/$file"); //remove symbolic link. does not
remove original file AFAIK
}
}
}
}
zapdir('/x/y/z');

If you really want it shorter you can remove some of the braces.[color=blue]
>
> --
> Andy Hassall :: andy@andyh.co.u k :: http://www.andyh.co.uk
> http://www.andyhsoftware.co.uk/space :: disk and FTP usage analysis tool[/color]

[d]

Re: deleting all the files in a directory

"Jim Michaels" <jmichae3@nospa m.yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:kZGdnQVGF6 sV42zeRVn-pg@comcast.com. ..[color=blue]
>
> "Andy Hassall" <andy@andyh.co. uk> wrote in message
> news:6ht1v1hcjo eo7p4n0o26erjpa s270j0k1g@4ax.c om...[color=green]
>> On 13 Feb 2006 12:14:40 -0800, laredotornado@z ipmail.com wrote:
>>[color=darkred]
>>>Using PHP 4, what are the shortest amount of lines I can write to
>>>delete all the files in a given directory?[/color]
>>[/color]
> this works for one directory, but not subdirectories under it. for that,
> it needs to be recursive.
>
> function zapdir($dir) {
> if ($dir = opendir($dir)) {
> while (($file = readdir($dir)) !== false) {
> if (is_file("$dir/$file")) {
> unlink("$dir/$file");
> }
> //is a directory or a symlink
> if (is_dir("$dir/$file") && "." != $file && ".." != $file) {
> zapdir("$dir/$file");
> rmdir("$dir/$file") or echo "unable to remove directory
> $dir/$file\n";
> }
> if (is_link("$dir/$file")) {
> unlink("$dir/$file"); //remove symbolic link. does not
> remove original file AFAIK
> }
> }
> }
> }
> zapdir('/x/y/z');[/color]

That will run out of stack space in large directory trees... Best to close
the $dir before calling zapdir...
[color=blue]
> If you really want it shorter you can remove some of the braces.[color=green]
>>
>> --
>> Andy Hassall :: andy@andyh.co.u k :: http://www.andyh.co.uk
>> http://www.andyhsoftware.co.uk/space :: disk and FTP usage analysis tool[/color]
>
>[/color]

[Mladen Gogala]

Re: deleting all the files in a directory

On Mon, 13 Feb 2006 22:47:26 +0100, Ewoud Dronkert wrote:
[color=blue]
> You're potentially missing (symbolic) links and files larger than
> int-size. Better to check for '.' or '..' filenames. Clumsy, I know.[/color]

This will work better:

foreach (glob("/mydir/*") as $f) {
filetype($f)== 'file' ? unlink($f) : null;
}

If my coding style betrays using some other scripting languages
as well, I cannot help it. In some other scripting languages that
might have been coded like this:

foreach (glob "/mydir/*") {
unlink($_) if -f $_;
}

As I don't have "suffix if" in PHP, I came up with the ternary operator.
Note that I could have written '' instead of "null" and still have the
same effect. Of course, I cannot rewrite something like this:

map { unlink($_) if -f $_; } glob("/mydir/*");



--

http://www.mgogala.com

[Mladen Gogala]

Re: deleting all the files in a directory

On Mon, 13 Feb 2006 21:34:28 +0100, Ewoud Dronkert wrote:
[color=blue]
> <?php $ret = `cd $mydir && rm -fr *`; ?>[/color]

That will be a little harder on a Windows system.

--

http://www.mgogala.com

[Mladen Gogala]

Re: deleting all the files in a directory

On Mon, 13 Feb 2006 21:14:36 +0000, Andy Hassall wrote:
[color=blue]
> if ($dir = opendir($dir))
> {
> while (($file = readdir($dir)) !== false)[/color]

PHP supports globs, just as Perl does.

--

http://www.mgogala.com

[Ewoud Dronkert]

Re: deleting all the files in a directory

Mladen Gogala wrote:[color=blue]
> PHP supports globs, just as Perl does.[/color]

Yeah, I'm always forgetting. Thanks.

--
E. Dronkert

[Bart the bear]

Re: deleting all the files in a directory


Mladen Gogala wrote:
[color=blue]
> map { unlink($_) if -f $_; } glob("/mydir/*");[/color]

Speaking of this, is there any chance of references to functions in
PHP?
The "{ unlink($_) if -f $_; }" part of the code here is so called
"anonymous
subroutine" or "subroutine reference" which is sort of convenient if
you don't
want to clutter the namespace with unneeded function names. All you
need
to be able to implement your one-liner in PHP is an anonymous function
reference
to pass to array_walk, which is identical to Perl's "map".
Also, Perl has qr() construct which compiles regular expressions and
makes
things significantly faster. Is there any flag to compile regular
expression in
prreg_match? The only documented flag here is to capture offset. If I
need to
go through multiple lines in a loop, will PHP compile the regular
expression?
The situation I have in mind is something like this:

while ( $line=fread($fi le,128)) {
if preg_match("/$regexp/",$line,$found) ....
}

As you can see, I'm a beginner with PHP. I have 5 years or so
experience
with Perl.