Get most recent files recursively with PHP

Question

I am looking for code which lists the five most recent files in a directory recursively.

This is non-recursive code, and would be perfect for me if it was recursive:

Answer 1

This is pretty quick and dirty, and untested, but might get you started:

function top5mods($dir)
{
  $mods = array();
  foreach (glob($dir . '/*') as $f) {
    $mods[] = filemtime($f);
  }
  sort($mods);
  $mods = array_reverse($mods);
  return array_slice($mods, 0, 5);
}

Answer 2

Edit : Sorry I didn't see the part "recursively".

To get RECENTS files first (html for example), please sort like this with anonymous function :

$myarray = glob("*.*.html");
usort($myarray, function($a,$b){
  return filemtime($b) - filemtime($a);
});

And to get it recursively you can :

function glob_recursive($pattern, $flags = 0) {
    $files = glob($pattern, $flags);
    foreach (glob(dirname($pattern).'/*', GLOB_ONLYDIR|GLOB_NOSORT) as $dir) {
        $files = array_merge($files, glob_recursive($dir.'/'.basename($pattern), $flags));
    }
    return $files;
}

So, replace then the glob function by :

$myarray = glob_recursive("*.*.html");
usort($myarray, function($a,$b){
  return filemtime($b) - filemtime($a);
});

Answer 3

This was my first version (tested, working):

function latest($searchDir, array $files = array()) {
    $search = opendir($searchDir);

    $dirs = array();
    while($item = readdir($search)) {
        if ($item == '.' || $item == '..') { continue; }
        if (is_dir($searchDir.'/'.$item)) {
            $dirs[] = $searchDir.'/'.$item;
        }
        if (is_file($searchDir.'/'.$item)) {
            $ftime = filemtime($searchDir.'/'.$item);
            $files[$ftime] = $searchDir.'/'.$item;
        }
    }
    closedir($search);
    if (count($dirs) > 0) {
        foreach ($dirs as $dir) {
            $files += latest($dir,$files);
        }
    }
    krsort($files);
    $files = array_slice($files, 0, 5, true);
    return $files;
}

But I like byte's usage of glob(), so here is a slightly modified version of his to return the same format:

function top5modsEx($dir) {
    $mods = array();
    foreach (glob($dir . '/*') as $f) {
        $mods[filemtime($f)] = $f;
    }
    krsort($mods);
    return array_slice($mods, 0, 5, true);
}

This returns the time (UNIX Timestamp format) that the file was modified as the key of the element in the array.

Answer 4

Check out this solution in the PHP manual.