Moving Files In PHP

11th November 2008 - 3 minutes read time

I have been asked a couple of times recently if PHP has a function that will move a file, so I thought I would put the solution here.

PHP has a function called rename() which can be used to rename a file, but because of the way it works it can be used to move files. Let's say that you wanted to rename a file called test.txt to test_back.txt, this can be accomplished by doing the following.

rename("test.txt", "test_back.txt");

However, if you want to move the file from one directory to another you can do the following.

rename("test.txt", "backups/test_back.txt");

The return value of rename() is boolean that tells you if the rename was successful or not, this can be used to error check like this.

if ( !rename("test.txt", "backups/test_back.txt") ) {
 // rename not successful, try another way
}

Be aware that if you try the following:

rename("test.txt", "test.txt");

The function will return true.

To rename a directory you should do the following:

rename("directory/directoryold","directory/directorynew");

Note the absence of the trailing slash on the directory name, PHP will give an error if this slash is added.

PHP

Add new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
CAPTCHA
7 + 5 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

Related Content

Generating Colour Palettes From Images In PHP

4th August 2024

A common web design pattern is to incorporate an image into the design of the page. This creates a tighter integration with the image and the rest of the page.

The main issue in designing a page around the image is that the colours of the page must match the image. Otherwise this creates a dissonance between the image and the styles of the site.

Read more

Validating XML Files With XML Schema Definitions In PHP

21st July 2024

XML is a useful format for configuration, data storage, and transmitting data from one system to another. As a human readable format that can be easily read by machines it quickly gained favor in lots of different systems as a mechanism for data storage.

Read more

Approximating Pi Using A Circle And A Square

26th May 2024

Pi day was a few weeks ago, but I came across this simple approximation of pi recently and decided to put together an example in PHP since it seemed pretty simple.

This approximation of pi centers around a real world example, but we can simulate this using some code.

Read more

Drawing A Parabolic Curve With Straight Lines In PHP

12th May 2024

A parabolic curve is a type of curve where every point is an equal distance from a focal point. There a number of different way to generate this sort of curve using math, but one of the simplest is to use straight lines to create the illusion of the curve.

Read more

Recreating Spotify Wrapped In PHP

17th March 2024

I quite like the end of the year report from Spotify that they call "Wrapped". This is a little application in which they tell you what your favorite artist was and what sort of genres you listened to the most during the year.

Read more