PHP opendir() Function

Definition and Usage

The opendir() function opens a directory handle to be used by the closedir(), readdir(), and rewinddir() functions.
This function returns a directory stream on success and FALSE and an error on failure. You can hide the error output by adding an '@' in front of the function name.

Syntax

opendir(directory,context)

Parameter Description
directory Required. Specifies the directory to stream
context Optional. Specifies the context of the directory handle. Context is a set of options that can modify the behavior of a stream


Tips and Notes

Note: From PHP 5 the directory parameter supports the ftp:// URL wrapper.

Example 1

<?php
//Open images directory
$dir = opendir("images");

//List files in images directory
while (($file = readdir($dir)) !== false)
  {
  echo "filename: " . $file . "<br />";
  }
closedir($dir);
?> 
 
OUTPUT :
filename: .
filename: ..
filename: cat.gif
filename: dog.gif
filename: food
filename: horse.gif


Example 2

This example hides the error if opendir() fails:
<?php
//Open images directory
$dir = @ opendir("images");

//List files in images directory
while (($file = readdir($dir)) !== false)
  {
  echo "filename: " . $file . "<br />";
  }
closedir($dir);
?>

OUTPUT :
filename: .
filename: ..
filename: cat.gif
filename: dog.gif
filename: food
filename: horse.gif