Recursive Directory Listing With PHP

15th February 2008 - 2 minutes read time

Use the following function to list the contents of one or more nested directories.

function recursive_directory($dirname,$maxdepth=10, $depth=0){
 if ($depth >= $maxdepth) {
  return false;
 }
 $subdirectories = array();
 $files = array();
 if (is_dir($dirname) && is_readable($dirname)) {
  $d = dir($dirname);
  while (false !== ($f = $d->read())) {
   $file = $d->path.'/'.$f;
   // skip . and ..
   if (('.'==$f) || ('..'==$f)) {
    continue;
   };
   if (is_dir($dirname.'/'.$f)) {
    array_push($subdirectories,$dirname.'/'.$f);
   } else {
    array_push($files,$dirname.'/'.$f);
   };
  };
  $d->close();
  foreach ($subdirectories as $subdirectory) {
    $files = array_merge($files, recursive_directory($subdirectory, $maxdepth, $depth+1));
  };
 }
 return $files;
}

Use this in the following way.

$files = recursive_directory('folder');
print_r($files); // print the result...

The maximum depth that the function will travel down is set to 10 as a default. This can be overwritten at runtime.

$files = recursive_directory('folder', 20); // make maximum level 20
print_r($files); // print the result...
PHP

Add new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.

Related Content

A Look At Flood Fill Algorithms In PHP

8th June 2025

If you have ever used a paint program then you might have used a flood fill algorithm. This is a mechanism by which an area of an image can be filled with a different colour and is normally depicted by a pain can pouring paint.

Read more

A Look At Benford's Law

11th May 2025

Benford's Law is an interesting heuristic in data analysis. It states that in any large collection of numbers that are created naturally, you should expect to see numbers starting with the number 1 about 30% of the time. The frequency distribution of numbers states that 2 should appear about 17% of the time, down to 9 being seen just 5% of the time.

Read more

Protecting A Page From Being Directly Accessed With PHP

27th April 2025

I was thinking recently about the number of ways in which I could restrict access to a page using PHP.

The obvious option is to create a user authentication system, but in some situations that is overkill for what is required. If you just want to prevent users from going directly to a certain page then there are a few options open to you.

Read more

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