Select random file using OPENDIR()

Question

I have tried:

function random_pic($dir = '../myfolder') {
    $files = opendir($dir . '/*.*');
    $file = array_rand($files);
    return $files[$file];
}

This function works using glob() but not opendir.

This returns a failed to open directory error. I guess opendir cannot accept things like *.*? Is it possible to select all files in a folder and randomly choose one?

Answer 1

The opendir() function wont return a list of files/folders. It will only open a handle that can be used by closedir(), readdir() or rewinddir(). The correct usage here would be glob(), but as I see that you don't want that, you could also use scandir() like the following:

<?php
$path = "./";

$files = scandir($path);
shuffle($files);

for($i = 0; ($i < count($files)) && (!is_file($files[$i])); $i++);

echo $files[$i];
?>

I'd happily do the timing to see if this takes longer or if glob() takes longer after you admit that I'm not "wrong."

Answer 2

The following 2 methods make use of opendir to quickly read through a directory and return a random file or directory.

---

• All Benchmarks done use CI3 and are average of 100 pulses.
  Using WAMP on Win10 Intel i54460 w/ 16GB RAM

Get Random File:

function getRandomFile($path, $type=NULL, $contents=TRUE) {
    if (strpos($path, $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT']) === FALSE) $path = $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . '/' . $path;
    if (is_dir($path)) {
        if ($dh = opendir($path)) {
            $arr = [];
            while (false !== ($file = readdir($dh))) {
                //  not a directory
                if (!is_dir("$path/$file") && !preg_match('/^\.{1,2}$/', $file)) {
                    //  fits file type
                    if(is_null($type)) $arr[] = $file;
                    elseif (is_string($type) && preg_match("/\.($type)$/", $file)) $arr[] = $file;
                    elseif (is_array($type)) {
                        $type = implode('|', $type);
                        if (preg_match("/\.($type)$/", $file)) $arr[] = $file;
                    }
                }
            }
            closedir($dh);
            if (!empty($arr)) {
                shuffle($arr);
                $file = $arr[mt_rand(0, count($arr)-1)];
                return empty($contents) ? $file : ($contents == 'path' ? "$path/$file" : file_get_contents($file));
            }
        }
    }
    return NULL;
}

---

Use as simple as:

//  Benchmark 0.0018 seconds *
$this->getRandomFile('directoryName');
//  would pull random contents of file from given directory

//  Benchmark 0.0017 seconds *
$this->getRandomFile('directoryName', 'php');
//  |OR|
$this->getRandomFile('directoryName', ['php', 'htm']);
//  one gets a random php file 
//  OR gets random php OR htm file contents

//  Benchmark 0.0018 seconds *
$this->getRandomFile('directoryName', NULL, FALSE);
//  returns random file name

//  Benchmark 0.0019 seconds *
$this->getRandomFile('directoryName', NULL, 'path');
//  returns random full file path

Get Random Directory:

function getRandomDir($path, $full=TRUE, $indexOf=NULL) {
    if (strpos($path, $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT']) === FALSE) $path = $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . '/' . $path;
    if (is_dir($path)) {
        if ($dh = opendir($path)) {
            $arr = [];
            while (false !== ($dir = readdir($dh))) {
                if (is_dir("$path/$dir") && !preg_match('/^\.{1,2}$/', $dir)) {
                    if(is_null($indexOf)) $arr[] = $file;
                    if (is_string($indexOf) && strpos($dir, $indexOf) !== FALSE) $arr[] = $dir;
                    elseif (is_array($indexOf)) {
                        $indexOf = implode('|', $indexOf);
                        if (preg_match("/$indexOf/", $dir)) $arr[] = $dir;
                    }
                }
            }
            closedir($dh);
            if (!empty($arr)) {
                shuffle($arr);
                $dir = $arr[mt_rand(0, count($arr)-1)];
                return $full ? "$path/$dir" : $dir;
            }
        }
    }
    return NULL;
}

---

Use as simple as:

//  Benchmark 0.0013 seconds *
$this->getRandomDir('parentDirectoryName');
//  returns random full directory path of dirs found in given directory

//  Benchmark 0.0015 seconds *
$this->getRandomDir('parentDirectoryName', FALSE);
//  returns random directory name

//  Benchmark 0.0015 seconds *
$this->getRandomDir('parentDirectoryName', FALSE, 'dirNameContains');
//  returns random directory name

Use in Combo Like:

$dir = $this->getRandomDir('dirName');
$file = $this->getRandomFile($dir, 'mp3', FALSE);
//  returns a random mp3 file name. 
//  Could be used to load random song via ajax.

---

_{single line}

/** getRandomFile(String)
 *  Simple method for retrieving a random file from a directory
 **/
function getRandomFile($path, $type=NULL, $contents=TRUE) { if (strpos($path, $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT']) === FALSE) $path = $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . '/' . $path; if (is_dir($path)) { if ($dh = opendir($path)) { $arr = []; while (false !== ($file = readdir($dh))) { if (!is_dir("$path/$file") && !preg_match('/^\.{1,2}$/', $file)) { if(is_null($type)) $arr[] = $file; elseif (is_string($type) && preg_match("/\.($type)$/", $file)) $arr[] = $file; elseif (is_array($type)) { $type = implode('|', $type); if (preg_match("/\.($type)$/", $file)) $arr[] = $file; } } } closedir($dh); if (!empty($arr)) { shuffle($arr); $file = $arr[mt_rand(0, count($arr)-1)]; return empty($contents) ? $file : ($contents == 'path' ? "$path/$file" : file_get_contents($file)); } } } return NULL; }

/** getRandomDir(String)
 *  Simple method for retrieving a random directory
 **/
function getRandomDir($path, $full=TRUE, $indexOf=NULL) { if (strpos($path, $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT']) === FALSE) $path = $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . '/' . $path; if (is_dir($path)) { if ($dh = opendir($path)) { $arr = []; while (false !== ($dir = readdir($dh))) { if (is_dir("$path/$dir") && !preg_match('/^\.{1,2}$/', $dir)) { if(is_null($indexOf)) $arr[] = $file; if (is_string($indexOf) && strpos($dir, $indexOf) !== FALSE) $arr[] = $dir; elseif (is_array($indexOf)) { $indexOf = implode('|', $indexOf); if (preg_match("/$indexOf/", $dir)) $arr[] = $dir; } } } closedir($dh); if (!empty($arr)) { shuffle($arr); $dir = $arr[mt_rand(0, count($arr)-1)]; return $full ? "$path/$dir" : $dir; } } } return NULL; }

/*  This is only here to make copying easier.   */

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Just a Note about glob && scandir.
I made alternate versions of the getRandomDir using each.
Using scandir had very little if any difference in benchmarks (from -.001 to +.003)
Using glob was quite noticeably slower! Anywhere from +.5 to +1.100 difference on each call.