How do I check if a directory exists? “is_dir”, “file_exists” or both?

Question

I want to create a directory if it does\'nt exist already.

Is using is_dir enough for that purpose?

if ( !is_dir( $dir ) ) {
    mkdir(          


        

Answer 1

I think realpath() may be the best way to validate if a path exist http://www.php.net/realpath

Here is an example function:

<?php
/**
 * Checks if a folder exist and return canonicalized absolute pathname (long version)
 * @param string $folder the path being checked.
 * @return mixed returns the canonicalized absolute pathname on success otherwise FALSE is returned
 */
function folder_exist($folder)
{
    // Get canonicalized absolute pathname
    $path = realpath($folder);

    // If it exist, check if it's a directory
    if($path !== false AND is_dir($path))
    {
        // Return canonicalized absolute pathname
        return $path;
    }

    // Path/folder does not exist
    return false;
}

Short version of the same function

<?php
/**
 * Checks if a folder exist and return canonicalized absolute pathname (sort version)
 * @param string $folder the path being checked.
 * @return mixed returns the canonicalized absolute pathname on success otherwise FALSE is returned
 */
function folder_exist($folder)
{
    // Get canonicalized absolute pathname
    $path = realpath($folder);

    // If it exist, check if it's a directory
    return ($path !== false AND is_dir($path)) ? $path : false;
}

Output examples

<?php
/** CASE 1 **/
$input = '/some/path/which/does/not/exist';
var_dump($input);               // string(31) "/some/path/which/does/not/exist"
$output = folder_exist($input);
var_dump($output);              // bool(false)

/** CASE 2 **/
$input = '/home';
var_dump($input);
$output = folder_exist($input);         // string(5) "/home"
var_dump($output);              // string(5) "/home"

/** CASE 3 **/
$input = '/home/..';
var_dump($input);               // string(8) "/home/.."
$output = folder_exist($input);
var_dump($output);              // string(1) "/"

Usage

<?php

$folder = '/foo/bar';

if(FALSE !== ($path = folder_exist($folder)))
{
    die('Folder ' . $path . ' already exist');
}

mkdir($folder);
// Continue do stuff

Answer 2

Both would return true on Unix systems - in Unix everything is a file, including directories. But to test if that name is taken, you should check both. There might be a regular file named 'foo', which would prevent you from creating a directory name 'foo'.

Answer 3

Well instead of checking both, you could do if(stream_resolve_include_path($folder)!==false). It is slower but kills two birds in one shot.

Another option is to simply ignore the E_WARNING, not by using @mkdir(...); (because that would simply waive all possible warnings, not just the directory already exists one), but by registering a specific error handler before doing it:

namespace com\stackoverflow;

set_error_handler(function($errno, $errm) { 
    if (strpos($errm,"exists") === false) throw new \Exception($errm); //or better: create your own FolderCreationException class
});
mkdir($folder);
/* possibly more mkdir instructions, which is when this becomes useful */
restore_error_handler();

Answer 4

$dirname = $_POST["search"];
$filename = "/folder/" . $dirname . "/";

if (!file_exists($filename)) {
    mkdir("folder/" . $dirname, 0777);
    echo "The directory $dirname was successfully created.";
    exit;
} else {
    echo "The directory $dirname exists.";
}

Answer 5

I had the same doubt, but see the PHP docu:

https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.file-exists.php

https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.is-dir.php

You will see that is_dir() has both properties.

Return Values is_dir Returns TRUE if the filename exists and is a directory, FALSE otherwise.