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PHParadise > directories > recursive directory delete

delete directory recursively.
loops through a directory and attempts to delete everything inside the directory before removing the directory itself.

WARNING - once you started this function it's done - no way to recover deleted files.
think twice before trying this out !

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<?php

/*------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|                             PHParadise source code
|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| file:             recursive directory delete
| category:         directories
|
| last modified:    Mon, 20 Jun 2005 16:40:33 GMT
| downloaded:       Sat, 11 Feb 2012 17:10:57 GMT as copy from textarea
|
| code URL:
| http://phparadise.de/php-code/directories/recursive-directory-delete/
|
| description:
| delete directory recursively. loops through a directory and attempts to delete
| everything inside the directory before removing the directory itself. WARNING -
| once you started this function it's done - no way to recover deleted files.
| think twice before trying this out !
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------------*/

recursive_remove_directory( directory to delete, empty )
expects path to directory and optional TRUE / FALSE to empty
of course PHP has to have the rights to delete the directory
you specify and all files and folders inside the directory

function recursive_remove_directory($directory, $empty=FALSE)
{
	// if the path has a slash at the end we remove it here
	if(substr($directory,-1) == '/')
	{
		$directory = substr($directory,0,-1);
	}

// if the path is not valid or is not a directory ...
	if(!file_exists($directory) || !is_dir($directory))
	{
		// ... we return false and exit the function
		return FALSE;

// ... if the path is not readable
	}elseif(!is_readable($directory))
	{
		// ... we return false and exit the function
		return FALSE;

// ... else if the path is readable
	}else{

// we open the directory
		$handle = opendir($directory);

// and scan through the items inside
		while (FALSE !== ($item = readdir($handle)))
		{
			// if the filepointer is not the current directory
			// or the parent directory
			if($item != '.' && $item != '..')
			{
				// we build the new path to delete
				$path = $directory.'/'.$item;

// if the new path is a directory
				if(is_dir($path)) 
				{
					// we call this function with the new path
					recursive_remove_directory($path);

// if the new path is a file
				}else{
					// we remove the file
					unlink($path);
				}
			}
		}
		// close the directory
		closedir($handle);

// if the option to empty is not set to true
		if($empty == FALSE)
		{
			// try to delete the now empty directory
			if(!rmdir($directory))
			{
				// return false if not possible
				return FALSE;
			}
		}
		// return success
		return TRUE;
	}
}

// examples
// to use this function to totally remove a directory, write:
// recursive_remove_directory('path/to/directory/to/delete');

// to use this function to empty a directory, write:
// recursive_remove_directory('path/to/full_directory',TRUE);

PHParadise source code of “recursive directory delete” in category “directories”

PHParadise > directories > recursive directory delete

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