PHP File System Functions

The following section contains a list of PHP file system functions along with a brief description.

PHP File System Functions
Here is a complete list of file system functions belonging to the latest PHP 7. These functions are the part of the PHP core so you can use them in your script without any further installation.

basename()
Returns the filename component of a path.

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chgrp()
Changes the file group.

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chmod()
Changes the file mode.

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chown()
Changes the file owner.

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clearstatcache()
Clears the file status cache.

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copy()
Copies a file.

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delete()
See unlink() or unset()

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dirname()
Returns the path of the parent directory.

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disk_free_space()
Returns available space on filesystem or disk partition.

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disk_total_space()
Returns the total size of a filesystem or disk partition.

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diskfreespace()
Returns available space on filesystem or disk partition. Alias of disk_free_space()

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fclose()
Closes an open file pointer.

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feof()
Tests for end-of-file on a file pointer.

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fflush()
Flushes the buffered output to a file.

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fgetc()
Returns a character from file pointer.

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fgetcsv()
Gets line from file pointer and parse for CSV fields.

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fgets()
Read a specific number of bytes from a file.

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fgetss()
Reads a specific number of bytes from a file and strip HTML tags and PHP code.

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file()
Reads entire file into an array.

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file_exists()
Checks whether a file or directory exists.

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file_get_contents()
Reads entire file into a string.

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file_put_contents()
Write a string to a file.

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fileatime()
Returns the last access time of a file.

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filectime()
Returns the last change time of a file.

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filegroup()
Returns the group ID of a file.

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fileinode()
Returns the inode number of the file.

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filemtime()
Returns the last modification time of a file.

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fileowner()
Returns the user ID of the owner of the file.

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fileperms()
Returns permissions for the file.

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filesize()
Returns the file size.

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filetype()
Returns the file type.

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flock()
Locks or releases a file.

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fnmatch()
Matches a filename or string against a specified pattern.

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fopen()
Opens a file or URL.

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fpassthru()
Output all remaining data on a file pointer.

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fputcsv()
Format line as CSV and write to file pointer.

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fputs()
Alias of fwrite()

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fread()
Reads a specific number of bytes from a file.

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fscanf()
Parses input from a file according to a specified format.

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fseek()
Seeks on a file pointer.

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fstat()
Returns information about a file using an open file pointer.

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ftell()
Returns the current position of the file read/write pointer.

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ftruncate()
Truncates a file to a given length.

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fwrite()
Writes the contents of string to the file pointer.

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glob()
Returns an array of filenames/directories matching a specified pattern.

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is_dir()
Checks whether the file is a directory.

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is_executable()
Checks whether the file is executable.

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is_file()
Checks whether the file is a regular file.

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is_link()
Checks whether the filename is a symbolic link.

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is_readable()
Checks whether a file exists and is readable.

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is_uploaded_file()
Checks whether the file was uploaded via HTTP POST.

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is_writable()
Checks whether the filename is writable.

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is_writeable()
Alias of is_writable()

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lchgrp()
Changes group ownership of symlink.

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lchown()
Changes user ownership of symlink.

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link()
Create a hard link.

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linkinfo()
Returns information about a link.

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lstat()
Returns information about a file or symbolic link.

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mkdir()
Creates a directory.

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move_uploaded_file()
Moves an uploaded file to a new location.

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parse_ini_file()
Parse a configuration file.

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parse_ini_string()
Parse a configuration string.

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pathinfo()
Returns information about a file path.

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pclose()
Closes process file pointer.

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popen()
Opens process file pointer.

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readfile()
Reads a file and writes it to the output buffer.

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readlink()
Returns the target of a symbolic link.

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realpath()
Returns canonicalized absolute pathname.

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realpath_cache_get()
Returns realpath cache entries.

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realpath_cache_size()
Returns realpath cache size.

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rename()
Renames a file or directory.

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rewind()
Rewind the position of a file pointer.

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rmdir()
Removes an empty directory.

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set_file_buffer()
Sets the buffer size of a file.

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stat()
Returns information about a file.

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symlink()
Creates a symbolic link.

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tempnam()
Create temporary file with unique file name.

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tmpfile()
Creates a unique temporary file.

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touch()
Sets access and modification time of file.

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umask()
Changes the current umask.

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unlink()
Deletes a file.