How to recursively iterate through files in PHP?

Question

I have set up a basic script that is posting an array of paths to find template files inside them; currently it\'s only searching two levels deep and I\'m having some troubles g

Answer 1

PHP 5 introduces iterators to iterate quickly through many elements.

You can use RecursiveDirectoryIterator to iterate recursively through directories.

You can use RecursiveIteratorIterator on the result to have a flatten view of the result.

You can use RegexIterator on the result to filter based on a regular expression.

 $directory_iterator = new RecursiveDirectoryIterator('.');
 $iterator       = new RecursiveIteratorIterator($directory_iterator);
 $regex_iterator = new RegexIterator($iterator, '/\.php$/');
 $regex_iterator->setFlags(RegexIterator::USE_KEY);
 foreach ($regex_iterator as $file) {
    echo $file->getPathname() . PHP_EOL;
 }

With iterators, there are lot of ways to do the same thing, you can also use a FilterIterator (see the example on the page)

For instance, if you want to select the files modified this week, you can use the following:

  $directory_iterator = new RecursiveDirectoryIterator('.');
  $iterator       = new RecursiveIteratorIterator($directory_iterator);

  class CustomFilterIterator extends FilterIterator {
       function accept() {
            $current=$this->getInnerIterator()->current();
            return ($current->isFile()&&$current->getMTime()>time()-3600*24*7);
       }
  }

  $filter_iterator=new CustomFilterIterator($iterator);
  foreach ($filter_iterator as $file) {
     echo $file->getPathname() . PHP_EOL;
  }