How do you loop through $_FILES array?

Question

Here are the inputs I want to loop through

Main photo:   
Side photo 1: 

        

Answer 1

just rename your fields this way

Main photo:   <input type="file" name="image1" />
Side photo 1: <input type="file" name="image2" />
Side photo 2: <input type="file" name="image3" />
Side photo 3: <input type="file" name="image4" />

and then you'll be able to iterate it usual way:

foreach($_FILES as $file){
  echo $file['name']; 
}

Answer 2

I came up with a solution that works for $_FILES arrays of arbitrary depth. As a quick explanation, what you need an algorithm that does this:

For each subtree in the file tree that's more than one item deep:
  For each leaf of the subtree:
    $leaf[a][b][c] ... [y][z] -> $result[z][a][b][c]  ... [y]

Here's some code that actually works.

function sane_file_array($files) {
  $result = array();
  $name = array();
  $type = array();
  $tmp_name = array();
  $error = array();
  $size = array();
  foreach($files as $field => $data) {
    foreach($data as $key => $val) {
      $result[$field] = array();
      if(!is_array($val)) {
        $result[$field] = $data;
      } else {
        $res = array();
        files_flip($res, array(), $data);
        $result[$field] += $res;
      }
    }
  }

  return $result;
}

function array_merge_recursive2($paArray1, $paArray2) {
  if (!is_array($paArray1) or !is_array($paArray2)) { return $paArray2; }
  foreach ($paArray2 AS $sKey2 => $sValue2) {
    $paArray1[$sKey2] = array_merge_recursive2(@$paArray1[$sKey2], $sValue2);
  }
  return $paArray1;
}

function files_flip(&$result, $keys, $value) {
  if(is_array($value)) {
    foreach($value as $k => $v) {
      $newkeys = $keys;
      array_push($newkeys, $k);
      files_flip($result, $newkeys, $v);
    }
  } else {
    $res = $value;
    // Move the innermost key to the outer spot
    $first = array_shift($keys);
    array_push($keys, $first);
    foreach(array_reverse($keys) as $k) {
      // You might think we'd say $res[$k] = $res, but $res starts out not as an array
      $res = array($k => $res);     
    }

    $result = array_merge_recursive2($result, $res);
  }
}

Just call sane_files_array on $_FILES and you should be good to go, regardless of how deep the $_FILES array is. This really should be part of the language itself, because the formatting of the $_FILES array is absolutely ridiculous.

Answer 3

Your example form should work fine. It's just that you are expecting the structure of the $_FILES superglobal to be different than it actually is, when using an array structure for the field names.

The structure of this multidimensional array is as followed then:

$_FILES[fieldname] => array(
    [name] => array( /* these arrays are the size you expect */ )
    [type] => array( /* these arrays are the size you expect */ )
    [tmp_name] => array( /* these arrays are the size you expect */ )
    [error] => array( /* these arrays are the size you expect */ )
    [size] => array( /* these arrays are the size you expect */ )
);

Therefor count( $_FILES[ "fieldname" ] ) will yield 5.
But counting deeper dimensions will also not produce the result you may expect. Counting the fields with count( $_FILES[ "fieldname" ][ "tmp_name" ] ) for instance, will always result in the number of file fields, not in the number of files that have actually been uploaded. You'd still have to loop through the elements to determine whether anything has been uploaded for a particular file field.

EDIT
So, to loop through the fields you would do something like the following:

// !empty( $_FILES ) is an extra safety precaution
// in case the form's enctype="multipart/form-data" attribute is missing
// or in case your form doesn't have any file field elements
if( strtolower( $_SERVER[ 'REQUEST_METHOD' ] ) == 'post' && !empty( $_FILES ) )
{
    foreach( $_FILES[ 'image' ][ 'tmp_name' ] as $index => $tmpName )
    {
        if( !empty( $_FILES[ 'image' ][ 'error' ][ $index ] ) )
        {
            // some error occured with the file in index $index
            // yield an error here
            return false; // return false also immediately perhaps??
        }

        /*
            edit: the following is not necessary actually as it is now 
            defined in the foreach statement ($index => $tmpName)

            // extract the temporary location
            $tmpName = $_FILES[ 'image' ][ 'tmp_name' ][ $index ];
        */

        // check whether it's not empty, and whether it indeed is an uploaded file
        if( !empty( $tmpName ) && is_uploaded_file( $tmpName ) )
        {
            // the path to the actual uploaded file is in $_FILES[ 'image' ][ 'tmp_name' ][ $index ]
            // do something with it:
            move_uploaded_file( $tmpName, $someDestinationPath ); // move to new location perhaps?
        }
    }
}

For more information see the docs.

Answer 4

Short function to rebuild $_FILES['files'] to some more expected structure.

function restructureFilesArray($files)
{
    $output = [];
    foreach ($files as $attrName => $valuesArray) {
        foreach ($valuesArray as $key => $value) {
            $output[$key][$attrName] = $value;
        }
    }
    return $output;
}

Answer 5

I'm way late to the game for this answer but I got tired of solving the problem of dealing with the PHP files array over and over, so I wrote a composer package so I'd never have to again. Maybe someone googling will find my answer and be happy.

Install tvanc/files-array-organizer

composer require tvanc/files-array-organizer

Pass $_FILES to it, and it'll give you back an array that's structured the way you were expecting.

<?php

use tvanc\FilesArrayOrganizer\FilesArrayOrganizer;


require 'vendor/autoload.php';

if ($_FILES) {
    $organizedFiles = FilesArrayOrganizer::organize($_FILES);

    // Now you can foreach over your files
    foreach($organizedFiles['image'] as $file){
        echo $file['name'];
    }
}
?>
Main photo:   <input type="file" name="image[]" />
Side photo 1: <input type="file" name="image[]" />
Side photo 2: <input type="file" name="image[]" />
Side photo 3: <input type="file" name="image[]" />

Answer 6

PHP's choice of how to handle $_FILES wastes a lot of developer time. Based on @Lendrick's answer, here is a similar OO approach.

/**
* @brief get the POSTed files in a more usable format
    Works on the following methods:
        <form method="post" action="/" name="" enctype="multipart/form-data">
        <input type="file" name="photo1" />
        <input type="file" name="photo2[]" />
        <input type="file" name="photo2[]" />
        <input type="file" name="photo3[]" multiple />
* @return   Array
* @todo
* @see  http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5444827/how-do-you-loop-through-files-array
*/
public static function GetPostedFiles()
{
    /* group the information together like this example
    Array
    (
        [attachments] => Array
        (
            [0] => Array
            (
                [name] => car.jpg
                [type] => image/jpeg
                [tmp_name] => /tmp/phpe1fdEB
                [error] => 0
                [size] => 2345276
            )
        )
        [jimmy] => Array
        (
            [0] => Array
            (
                [name] => 1.jpg
                [type] => image/jpeg
                [tmp_name] => /tmp/phpx1HXrr
                [error] => 0
                [size] => 221041
            )
            [1] => Array
            (
                [name] => 2 ' .jpg
                [type] => image/jpeg
                [tmp_name] => /tmp/phpQ1clPh
                [error] => 0
                [size] => 47634
            )
        )
    )
    */

    $Result = array();
    $Name = array();
    $Type = array();
    $TmpName = array();
    $Error = array();
    $Size = array();
    foreach($_FILES as $Field => $Data)
    {
        foreach($Data as $Key => $Val)
        {
            $Result[$Field] = array();
            if(!is_array($Val))
                $Result[$Field] = $Data;
            else
            {
                $Res = array();
                self::GPF_FilesFlip($Res, array(), $Data);
                $Result[$Field] += $Res;
            }
        }
    }

    return $Result;
}

private static function GPF_ArrayMergeRecursive($PaArray1, $PaArray2)
{
    // helper method for GetPostedFiles
    if (!is_array($PaArray1) or !is_array($PaArray2))
        return $PaArray2;
    foreach ($PaArray2 AS $SKey2 => $SValue2)
        $PaArray1[$SKey2] = self::GPF_ArrayMergeRecursive(@$PaArray1[$SKey2], $SValue2);
    return $PaArray1;
}

private static function GPF_FilesFlip(&$Result, $Keys, $Value)
{
    // helper method for GetPostedFiles
    if(is_array($Value))
    {
        foreach($Value as $K => $V)
        {
            $NewKeys = $Keys;
            array_push($NewKeys, $K);
            self::GPF_FilesFlip($Result, $NewKeys, $V);
        }
    }
    else
    {
        $Res = $Value;
        // move the innermost key to the outer spot
        $First = array_shift($Keys);
        array_push($Keys, $First);
        foreach(array_reverse($Keys) as $K)
            $Res = array($K => $Res); // you might think we'd say $Res[$K] = $Res, but $Res starts out not as an array
        $Result = self::GPF_ArrayMergeRecursive($Result, $Res);
    }
}