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<title>Read entry from directory handle</title>
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<div class="refnamediv">
<h1 class="refname">readdir</h1>
<p class="verinfo">(PHP 4, PHP 5)</p><p class="refpurpose"><span class="refname">readdir</span> — <span class="dc-title">Read entry from directory handle</span></p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 description" id="refsect1-function.readdir-description">
<h3 class="title">Description</h3>
<div class="methodsynopsis dc-description">
<span class="type">string</span> <span class="methodname"><strong>readdir</strong></span>
([ <span class="methodparam"><span class="type">resource</span> <code class="parameter">$dir_handle</code></span>
] )</div>
<p class="para rdfs-comment">
Returns the name of the next entry in the directory. The
entries are returned in the order in which they are stored by
the filesystem.
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 parameters" id="refsect1-function.readdir-parameters">
<h3 class="title">Parameters</h3>
<p class="para">
<dl>
<dt>
<span class="term"><em><code class="parameter">dir_handle</code></em></span>
<dd>
<p class="para">
The directory handle <span class="type"><a href="language.types.resource.html" class="type resource">resource</a></span> previously opened
with <span class="function"><a href="function.opendir.html" class="function">opendir()</a></span>. If the directory handle is
not specified, the last link opened by <span class="function"><a href="function.opendir.html" class="function">opendir()</a></span>
is assumed.
</p>
</dd>
</dt>
</dl>
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 returnvalues" id="refsect1-function.readdir-returnvalues">
<h3 class="title">Return Values</h3>
<p class="para">
Returns the entry name on success or <strong><code>FALSE</code></strong> on failure.
</p>
<div class="warning"><strong class="warning">Warning</strong><p class="simpara">This function may
return Boolean <strong><code>FALSE</code></strong>, but may also return a non-Boolean value which
evaluates to <strong><code>FALSE</code></strong>. Please read the section on <a href="language.types.boolean.html" class="link">Booleans</a> for more
information. Use <a href="language.operators.comparison.html" class="link">the ===
operator</a> for testing the return value of this
function.</p></div>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 examples" id="refsect1-function.readdir-examples">
<h3 class="title">Examples</h3>
<p class="para">
<div class="example" id="example-2339">
<p><strong>Example #1 List all entries in a directory</strong></p>
<div class="example-contents"><p>
Please note the fashion in which <span class="function"><strong>readdir()</strong></span>'s
return value is checked in the examples below. We are explicitly
testing whether the return value is identical to (equal to and of
the same type as--see <a href="language.operators.comparison.html" class="link">Comparison
Operators</a> for more information) <strong><code>FALSE</code></strong> since otherwise,
any directory entry whose name evaluates to <strong><code>FALSE</code></strong> will stop the
loop (e.g. a directory named "0").
</p></div>
<div class="example-contents">
<div class="phpcode"><code><span style="color: #000000">
<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #007700">if (</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$handle </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">opendir</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'/path/to/files'</span><span style="color: #007700">)) {<br /> echo </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"Directory handle: </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$handle</span><span style="color: #DD0000">\n"</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /> echo </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"Entries:\n"</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /><br /> </span><span style="color: #FF8000">/* This is the correct way to loop over the directory. */<br /> </span><span style="color: #007700">while (</span><span style="color: #0000BB">false </span><span style="color: #007700">!== (</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$entry </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">readdir</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$handle</span><span style="color: #007700">))) {<br /> echo </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$entry</span><span style="color: #DD0000">\n"</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /> }<br /><br /> </span><span style="color: #FF8000">/* This is the WRONG way to loop over the directory. */<br /> </span><span style="color: #007700">while (</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$entry </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">readdir</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$handle</span><span style="color: #007700">)) {<br /> echo </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$entry</span><span style="color: #DD0000">\n"</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /> }<br /><br /> </span><span style="color: #0000BB">closedir</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$handle</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br />}<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>
</span>
</code></div>
</div>
</div>
</p>
<p class="para">
<div class="example" id="example-2340">
<p><strong>Example #2
List all entries in the current directory and strip out <em>.</em>
and <em>..</em>
</strong></p>
<div class="example-contents">
<div class="phpcode"><code><span style="color: #000000">
<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php<br /></span><span style="color: #007700">if (</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$handle </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">opendir</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'.'</span><span style="color: #007700">)) {<br /> while (</span><span style="color: #0000BB">false </span><span style="color: #007700">!== (</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$entry </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">readdir</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$handle</span><span style="color: #007700">))) {<br /> if (</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$entry </span><span style="color: #007700">!= </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"." </span><span style="color: #007700">&& </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$entry </span><span style="color: #007700">!= </span><span style="color: #DD0000">".."</span><span style="color: #007700">) {<br /> echo </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$entry</span><span style="color: #DD0000">\n"</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /> }<br /> }<br /> </span><span style="color: #0000BB">closedir</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$handle</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br />}<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>
</span>
</code></div>
</div>
</div>
</p>
</div>
<div class="refsect1 seealso" id="refsect1-function.readdir-seealso">
<h3 class="title">See Also</h3>
<p class="para">
<ul class="simplelist">
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.is-dir.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">is_dir()</a> - Tells whether the filename is a directory</span></li>
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.glob.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">glob()</a> - Find pathnames matching a pattern</span></li>
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.opendir.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">opendir()</a> - Open directory handle</span></li>
<li class="member"> <span class="function"><a href="function.scandir.html" class="function" rel="rdfs-seeAlso">scandir()</a> - List files and directories inside the specified path</span></li>
</ul>
</p>
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