How to Delete ALL .txt files From a Directory using PHP

Question

Im trying to Delete ALL Text files from a directory using a php script.

Here is what I have tried.....

<?php array_map('unlink', glob("/paste/*.txt")); ?>

I dont get an Error when I run this, yet It doesnt do the job.

Is there a snippet for this? Im not sure what else to try.

Is the path `/paste/*.txt` right ? The paste dir is under `/` — xdazz, Oct 13 '12 at 03:19
Baba Helped me, I wasnt using the Full Path, I had to inlude /home/user/ ect... I Got it now, have to wait to accept his answer. — Ron, Oct 13 '12 at 03:21
You should know you are using the full path, the problem is you are using the wrong full path. Any path start with `/` is a full path. — xdazz, Oct 13 '12 at 03:23

score 26 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 13 '12 at 03:15

26

Your Implementation works all you need to do is use Use full PATH

Example

$fullPath = __DIR__ . "/test/" ;
array_map('unlink', glob( "$fullPath*.log"))

answered Oct 13 '12 at 03:15

Baba

94,024
28
166
217

Thanks Man, I Didn't know what the prob was, Thanks for clearing it up for me. – Ron Oct 13 '12 at 03:18

yoppuyoppu · Answer 2 · 2012-10-14T04:10:06.460

I expanded the submitted answers a little bit so that you can flexibly and recursively unlink text files located underneath as it's often the case.

// @param  string  Target directory
// @param  string  Target file extension
// @return boolean True on success, False on failure

function unlink_recursive($dir_name, $ext) {

    // Exit if there's no such directory
    if (!file_exists($dir_name)) {
        return false;
    }

    // Open the target directory
    $dir_handle = dir($dir_name);

    // Take entries in the directory one at a time
    while (false !== ($entry = $dir_handle->read())) {

        if ($entry == '.' || $entry == '..') {
            continue;
        }

        $abs_name = "$dir_name/$entry";

        if (is_file($abs_name) && preg_match("/^.+\.$ext$/", $entry)) {
            if (unlink($abs_name)) {
                continue;
            }
            return false;
        }

        // Recurse on the children if the current entry happens to be a "directory"
        if (is_dir($abs_name) || is_link($abs_name)) {
            unlink_recursive($abs_name, $ext);
        }

    }

    $dir_handle->close();
    return true;

}

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 13 '12 at 03:23

You could modify the method below but be careful. Make sure you have permissions to delete files. If all else fails, send an exec command and let linux do it

static function getFiles($directory) {
    $looper = new RecursiveDirectoryIterator($directory);
    foreach (new RecursiveIteratorIterator($looper) as $filename => $cur) {
        $ext = trim($cur->getExtension());
        if($ext=="txt"){
           // remove file: 
        }
    }
    return $out;
}

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered May 15 '19 at 13:28

i have modified submitted answers and made my own version,

in which i have made function which will iterate recursively in current directory and its all child level directories,

and it will unlink all the files with extension of .txt or whatever .[extension] you want to remove from all the directories, sub-directories and its all child level directories.

i have used : glob() From the php doc:

The glob() function searches for all the pathnames matching pattern according to the rules used by the libc glob() function, which is similar to the rules used by common shells.

i have used GLOB_ONLYDIR flag because it will iterate through only directories, so it will be easier to get only directories and unlink the desired files from that directory.

<?php

//extension of files you want to remove.
$remove_ext = 'txt';
//remove desired extension files in current directory
array_map('unlink', glob("./*.$remove_ext"));

// below function will remove desired extensions files from all the directories recursively.
function removeRecursive($directory, $ext) {

    array_map('unlink', glob("$directory/*.$ext"));

    foreach (glob("$directory/*",GLOB_ONLYDIR) as $dir) {
            removeRecursive($dir, $ext);
    }
    return true;
}

//traverse through all the directories in current directory 
foreach (glob('./*',GLOB_ONLYDIR) as $dir) {
    removeRecursive($dir, $remove_ext);
}

?>

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 29 '20 at 10:26

1

For anyone who wonder how to delete (for example: All PDF files under public directory) you can do this:

array_map('unlink', glob( public_path('*.pdf')));

answered Aug 29 '20 at 10:26

Sajad Haibat

697
5
12

How to Delete ALL .txt files From a Directory using PHP

5 Answers5