PHP directory listing

$dir = __DIR__ . '/docs';
foreach (scandir($dir) as $name) {
    if ($name === '.' || $name === '..') {
        continue;
    }
    echo htmlspecialchars($name) . '<br>';
}

$handle=opendir("."); // open the current directory
$handle=opendir("E:\\my_dir\\"); // OR use the path 

while (($file = readdir($handle))!==false) {
echo "$file <br>";
}
closedir($handle);

Reading and displaying images from a directory

Filter by an allowlist of expected extensions and HTML-escape the generated URL. For uploaded files, server-side MIME validation is still required before storage.

$path = 'images/';
$allowed = ['jpg', 'jpeg', 'png', 'gif'];
foreach (scandir($path) as $file) {
    $ext = strtolower(pathinfo($file, PATHINFO_EXTENSION));
    if (in_array($ext, $allowed, true)) {
        $src = $path . rawurlencode($file);
        echo '<img src="' . htmlspecialchars($src, ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8') . '" alt=""><br>';
    }
}

Example: Recursively Listing Files in Subdirectories

function listDirectory($dir) {
    $files = scandir($dir);
    foreach ($files as $file) {
        if ($file != '.' && $file != '..') {
            $path = $dir . '/' . $file;
            if (is_dir($path)) {
                listDirectory($path);
            } else {
                echo $path . "
";
            }
        }
    }
}

listDirectory('E:\\dir-name\\sub-dir');

Example: Sorting Files by Last Modified Date

$dir = 'your-directory';
$files = scandir($dir);
usort($files, function($a, $b) use ($dir) {
    return filemtime("$dir/$b") - filemtime("$dir/$a");
});

foreach ($files as $file) {
    if ($file != '.' && $file != '..') {
        echo "$file - " . date("F d Y H:i:s", filemtime("$dir/$file")) . "<br>";
    }
}

Example: Filtering Specific File Types

$dir = 'your-directory';
$files = scandir($dir);

foreach ($files as $file) {
    if (preg_match('/\.txt$/', $file)) {
        echo $file . "<br>";
    }
}

Subhendu Mohapatra

Author & Instructor at plus2net

I write and maintain practical tutorials on Python, PHP, SQL, JavaScript, HTML, jQuery, and web development at plus2net. The tutorials focus on clear explanations, working examples, and code that readers can test and adapt while learning.

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