Anyone Have A Better file_exists() ?

[Google Mike]

{NOTE: I have PHP 4.2.2 for RH9 Linux.}

Anyone have a better file_exists() out there? Even if you use shell
out tricks with Linux using the `command` trick, I'd be interested to
see what you came up with.

I have this remotely mounted SMB shares on Linux, stuck in my /mnt
directory, and the docs tell me that file_exists() doesn't work on
that. When I tested this, I found this to be true. Therefore, I need
an alternative.

[Anders K. Madsen]

Re: Anyone Have A Better file_exists() ?

On 27 Jul 2004 13:25:24 -0700
googlemike@hotp op.com (Google Mike) wrote:
[color=blue]
> {NOTE: I have PHP 4.2.2 for RH9 Linux.}
>
> Anyone have a better file_exists() out there? Even if you use shell
> out tricks with Linux using the `command` trick, I'd be interested to
> see what you came up with.
>
> I have this remotely mounted SMB shares on Linux, stuck in my /mnt
> directory, and the docs tell me that file_exists() doesn't work on
> that. When I tested this, I found this to be true. Therefore, I need
> an alternative.[/color]

It seems that:
test -e <file>; echo $? works fine...

I guess you could do something like:

<?php

// Array of files to check.
$file = array(
$_ENV['HOME'], // Should exist.
$_ENV['HOME'] . "/jaiewrpfjaoiejf " // Should not exist.
);

// Command to run.
$cmd = 'test -e';

// "Just do it(r)"
foreach ($file as $key => $val) {
exec("$cmd $val", $dummy_array, $return);
if ($return == 0) {
echo "$key: $val exist!\n";
} else {
echo "$key: $val doesn't exist!\n";
}
}
?>

NOTE: Remember that shell-programs return 0 on success and not-0 on
failure, thus the if ($return == 0) { // success }

'test -e' checks for anything in the filesystem (dirs, files, pipes,
symlinks --- the whole lot), if you just want to check for files use
'test -f' or see 'man test' for more info.

Best regards
Madsen

--
Anders K. Madsen --- http://lillesvin.linux.dk

"There are 10 types of people in the world.
Those who understand binary - and those who don't."

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[steve]

Re: Anyone Have A Better file_exists() ?

"Google Mike" wrote:[color=blue]
> {NOTE: I have PHP 4.2.2 for RH9 Linux.}
>
> Anyone have a better file_exists() out there? Even if you use shell
> out tricks with Linux using the `command` trick, I’d be
> interested to
> see what you came up with.
>
> I have this remotely mounted SMB shares on Linux, stuck in my /mnt
> directory, and the docs tell me that file_exists() doesn’t work
> on
> that. When I tested this, I found this to be true. Therefore, I[/color]
need[color=blue]
> an alternative.[/color]

Why would it not work, and where in the doc it says it does not work.
I cannot find that in: http://ca2.php.net/file_exists

--
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[Pjotr Wedersteers]

Re: Anyone Have A Better file_exists() ?

Google Mike wrote:[color=blue]
> {NOTE: I have PHP 4.2.2 for RH9 Linux.}
>
> Anyone have a better file_exists() out there? Even if you use shell
> out tricks with Linux using the `command` trick, I'd be interested to
> see what you came up with.
>
> I have this remotely mounted SMB shares on Linux, stuck in my /mnt
> directory, and the docs tell me that file_exists() doesn't work on
> that. When I tested this, I found this to be true. Therefore, I need
> an alternative.[/color]

What if you just try opening the file for reading ? Would that not yield a
failure if the file is not present ?
HTH
Pjotr

[Anders K. Madsen]

Re: Anyone Have A Better file_exists() ?

On Wed, 28 Jul 2004 15:15:15 +0200
"Pjotr Wedersteers" <x33159@westert erp.com> wrote:
[color=blue]
> What if you just try opening the file for reading ? Would that not
> yield a failure if the file is not present ?[/color]

Yeah, it would, but it'd also be slower than necessary.

--
Anders K. Madsen --- http://lillesvin.linux.dk

"There are 10 types of people in the world.
Those who understand binary - and those who don't."

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[Pjotr Wedersteers]

Re: Anyone Have A Better file_exists() ?

Anders K. Madsen wrote:[color=blue][color=green]
>>On Wed, 28 Jul 2004 15:15:15 +0200
>>"Pjotr Wedersteers" <x33159@westert erp.com> wrote:[/color][/color]
[color=blue][color=green]
>> What if you just try opening the file for reading ? Would that not
>> yield a failure if the file is not present ?[/color][/color]
[color=blue]
> Yeah, it would, but it'd also be slower than necessary.[/color]

--

Well, I just put it to the test. You'd be surprised perhaps (I wasn't).

Using your 'test -e' shell command execution testing for a files presence
took just over 1.1 seconds on my P3-500 LAMP box.
Using 'my' @fopen ($file,'r'); also a hundred times took 0.021 seconds. (@to
suppress warnings)

Why did you think executing a shell command would be faster ?
Pjotr

[Anders K. Madsen]

Re: Anyone Have A Better file_exists() ?

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

On Wed, 28 Jul 2004 18:01:19 +0200
"Pjotr Wedersteers" <x33159@westert erp.com> wrote:
[color=blue]
> Anders K. Madsen wrote:[color=green][color=darkred]
> >>On Wed, 28 Jul 2004 15:15:15 +0200
> >>"Pjotr Wedersteers" <x33159@westert erp.com> wrote:[/color][/color]
>[color=green][color=darkred]
> >> What if you just try opening the file for reading ? Would that not
> >> yield a failure if the file is not present ?[/color][/color]
>[color=green]
> > Yeah, it would, but it'd also be slower than necessary.[/color]
>[/color]

Please note that I didn't say "compared to the shell-way".
[color=blue]
>
> Well, I just put it to the test. You'd be surprised perhaps (I
> wasn't).
>
> Using your 'test -e' shell command execution testing for a files
> presence took just over 1.1 seconds on my P3-500 LAMP box.
> Using 'my' @fopen ($file,'r'); also a hundred times took 0.021
> seconds. (@to suppress warnings)
>
> Why did you think executing a shell command would be faster ?[/color]

I didn't actually... What I thought would be faster was file_exists().

I'm not the least bit surprised that doing it through a shell is slower
than opening an closing the file, since you'd have PHP invoking a shell
to do it. (Might actually be faster if you do it through proc_open();)

But my reasoning for thinking that file_exists() is faster than doing it
with fopen() is that file_exists() doesn't have to open and close a
file.

Furthermore, it might also have impact whether or not the file actually
exists. (I'll try testing it myself.)

Best regards,
Madsen

- --
Anders K. Madsen --- http://lillesvin.linux.dk

"There are 10 types of people in the world.
Those who understand binary - and those who don't."

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[Google Mike]

Re: Anyone Have A Better file_exists() ?

"Anders K. Madsen" <madsen@lillesv in.linux.dk> wrote in message[color=blue]
> googlemike@hotp op.com (Google Mike) wrote:
>[color=green]
> > {NOTE: I have PHP 4.2.2 for RH9 Linux.}
> >
> > Anyone have a better file_exists() out there? Even if you use shell
> > out tricks with Linux using the `command` trick, I'd be interested to
> > see what you came up with.
> >
> > I have this remotely mounted SMB shares on Linux, stuck in my /mnt
> > directory, and the docs tell me that file_exists() doesn't work on
> > that. When I tested this, I found this to be true. Therefore, I need
> > an alternative.[/color]
>
> It seems that:
> test -e <file>; echo $? works fine...
>
> I guess you could do something like:
>
> <?php
>
> // Array of files to check.
> $file = array(
> $_ENV['HOME'], // Should exist.
> $_ENV['HOME'] . "/jaiewrpfjaoiejf " // Should not exist.
> );
>
> // Command to run.
> $cmd = 'test -e';
>
> // "Just do it(r)"
> foreach ($file as $key => $val) {
> exec("$cmd $val", $dummy_array, $return);
> if ($return == 0) {
> echo "$key: $val exist!\n";
> } else {
> echo "$key: $val doesn't exist!\n";
> }
> }
> ?>
>
> NOTE: Remember that shell-programs return 0 on success and not-0 on
> failure, thus the if ($return == 0) { // success }
>
> 'test -e' checks for anything in the filesystem (dirs, files, pipes,
> symlinks --- the whole lot), if you just want to check for files use
> 'test -f' or see 'man test' for more info.
>
> Best regards
> Madsen[/color]

I adapted your solution here and it works on Linux. Thank you very
much.

function exists_file($fi le) {
return (`test -e "$file";ech o $?`==0);
}

(For newbies who read this, note that I used the backtick (`)
operator.)

Also, you should experiment and see what happens when you take off the
==0 and the () wrap. You'll be disappointed. You'll find that you have
to use these to get the result you want.

[2metre]

Re: Anyone Have A Better file_exists() ?

Google Mike wrote:
[color=blue]
> {NOTE: I have PHP 4.2.2 for RH9 Linux.}
>
> Anyone have a better file_exists() out there? Even if you use shell
> out tricks with Linux using the `command` trick, I'd be interested to
> see what you came up with.
>
> I have this remotely mounted SMB shares on Linux, stuck in my /mnt
> directory, and the docs tell me that file_exists() doesn't work on
> that. When I tested this, I found this to be true. Therefore, I need
> an alternative.[/color]

I use file_exists() on remote mounted files and it works.

Set-up:
Linux RH6.2, Samba 2.2.7

My remote mounted SMB shares are NOT mounted in /mnt.

The SMB shares are directories on a Windows XP Pro box.

[2metre]

Re: Anyone Have A Better file_exists() ?

2metre wrote:
[color=blue]
> Set-up:
> Linux RH6.2, Samba 2.2.7[/color]

Correction: that was supposd to read RH7.2. PHP=v4.3.4

Test script was running as PHP as CGI.

My entire Web root is mounted from the Windows box because my preferred
version control is Microsoft Visual Source Safe.

[Google Mike]

Re: Anyone Have A Better file_exists() ?

"Pjotr Wedersteers" <x33159@westert erp.com> wrote in message[color=blue]
> Well, I just put it to the test. You'd be surprised perhaps (I wasn't).
>
> Using your 'test -e' shell command execution testing for a files presence
> took just over 1.1 seconds on my P3-500 LAMP box.
> Using 'my' @fopen ($file,'r'); also a hundred times took 0.021 seconds. (@to
> suppress warnings)
>
> Why did you think executing a shell command would be faster ?
> Pjotr[/color]

What if the file is 40MB? Does fopen operate more slowly than 0.021
seconds then?

I'm willing to use the @fopen() technique if your results show me that
it's faster in such a case. For now, I'm using the exists_file()
routine that I adapted from Madsen and posted last night.