In PHP, files from a folder can be deleted using various approaches and inbuilt methods such as unlink, DirectoryIterator and DirectoryRecursiveIterator.
Some of these approaches are explained below:
Approach 1:
- Generate a list of files using glob() method
- Iterate over the list of files.
- Check whether the name of files is valid.
- Delete the file using unlink() method.
Example:
<?php // PHP program to delete all // file from a folder    // Folder path to be flushed $folder_path = "myGeeks";    // List of name of files inside // specified folder $files = glob($folder_path.'/*');    // Deleting all the files in the list foreach($files as $file) {        if(is_file($file))             // Delete the given file         unlink($file); } ?> |
Output:
Before Running the code:
After Running the code:
Note: Hidden files can be included in the file removal operation by addition of the below code:
$hidden_files = glob($folder_path.'/{, .}*', GLOB_BRACE); |
Approach 2:
- Generate a list of files using glob() method.
- Filter the list using array_filter() or array_merge() methods.
- Map the list to unlink() method using array_map() method.
Example:
<?php // PHP program to delete all files from a folder   // Deleting all the files inside the given folder array_map('unlink', array_filter(             (array) array_merge(glob("myGeeks/*"))));   ?> |
Approach 3:
- Generate list of files using DirectoryIterator.
- Iterate over the list of files.
- Validate the file while checking if the file directory has a dot or not.
- Using the getPathName method reference, delete the file using unlink() method.
Example:
<?php // PHP program to delete all files // from a folder   // Folder path to be flushed $folder_path = 'myGeeks/';   // Assigning files inside the directory $dir = new DirectoryIterator(dirname($folder_path));   // Deleting all the files in the list foreach ($dir as $fileinfo) {           if (!$fileinfo->isDot()) {           // Delete the given file         unlink($fileinfo->getPathname());     } } ?> |
Approach 4:
- Generate list of all directory hierarchies inside the given folder directory using RecursiveDirectoryIterator
$dir = new RecursiveDirectoryIterator($dir, FilesystemIterator::SKIP_DOTS); $dir = new RecursiveIteratorIterator($dir, RecursiveIteratorIterator::CHILD_FIRST);
- FilesystemIterator::SKIP_DOTS is used to ignore dots while generating list of files.
- RecursiveIteratorIterator::CHILD_FIRST is used for choosing files present at root directory.
- Iterate over the file list and remove folders and files according to the specification.
Example:
<?php // PHP program to delete all FilesystemIterator // from a folder    // Folder path to be flushed $dir = "myGeeks/";    // Assigning files inside the directory $dir = new RecursiveDirectoryIterator(     $dir, FilesystemIterator::SKIP_DOTS);    // Reducing file search to given root // directory only $dir = new RecursiveIteratorIterator(     $dir,RecursiveIteratorIterator::CHILD_FIRST);    // Removing directories and files inside // the specified folder foreach ( $dir as $file ) {     $file->isDir() ? rmdir($file) : unlink($file); } ?> |
