Best way to check if a file exists before execute a file_put_contents function

Question

As the title says I'm searching for the best way to check if a file exists before execute a file_put_contents function. It's better to add a number after the filename? or It's better to generate the filename with a date/time after the name? In my case, what would you do?

Here's my working code,

if(isset($_POST['genfile'])){

  $scriptfile = $_POST['genfile'];

  $script = preg_split('/(\r?\n)+/', $_POST['genfile']);
  $copy=$script;



         file_put_contents('generated_scripts/script.sh', $scriptfile);

         foreach ($script as $script_launcher){

          echo $script_launcher;

            if (next($copy)) {
              echo "\r\n";
            }                                 

    }

}

file_exists and is_file there are many simple php library functions — Sunil Pachlangia, Apr 23 '15 at 10:04
possible duplicate of [php check if file exist](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1828500/php-check-if-file-exist) — namezero, Apr 23 '15 at 10:12

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 23 '15 at 10:03

1

PHP has a function for that:

file_exists

answered Apr 23 '15 at 10:03

Matheno

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JTC · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-23T13:48:04.960

1

To check if file exists you can use built up function file_exists in php.

Example :

if (file_exists($file)) {
    //file exists                       
}

Alternatively you can use get_headers function.

Example:

$headers = @get_headers($filename);
$exists = ($headers[0] == 'HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found'); //file does not exist

edited Apr 23 '15 at 13:48

answered Apr 23 '15 at 10:07

JTC

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score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 23 '15 at 10:10

0

Add a check -

if (file_exists($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'].'/path/to/file')) {
    file_put_contents(..);
}

answered Apr 23 '15 at 10:10

Sougata Bose

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Best way to check if a file exists before execute a file_put_contents function

3 Answers3