The correct way to delete all files older than 2 d

Question

Just curious

        $files = glob(cacheme_directory()."*");
        foreach($files as $file)
        {
            $filemtime=filemtime ($file);
            if (time()-$filemtime>= 172800)
            {
                unlink($file);
            }
        }

I just want to make sure if the code is correct or not. Thanks.

Answer 1

You should add an is_file() check, because PHP normally lists . and .., as well as sub-directories that could reside in the the directory you're checking.

Also, as this answer suggests, you should replace the pre-calculated seconds with a more expressive notation.

<?php
  $files = glob(cacheme_directory()."*");
  $now   = time();

  foreach ($files as $file) {
    if (is_file($file)) {
      if ($now - filemtime($file) >= 60 * 60 * 24 * 2) { // 2 days
        unlink($file);
      }
    }
  }
?>

Alternatively you could also use the DirectoryIterator, as shown in this answer. In this simple case it doesn't really offer any advantages, but it would be OOP way.

Answer 2

Looks correct to me. I'd just suggest you replace 172800 with 2*24*60*60 for clarity.

Answer 3

/** It deletes old files.
 *  @param string $dir Directory
 *  @param int $secs Files older than $secs seconds
 *  @param string $pattern Files matching $pattern
 */
function delete_oldfiles($dir,$secs,$pattern = "/*")
{
    $now = time();
    foreach(glob("$dir$pattern") as $f) {
      if (is_file($f) && ($now - filemtime($f) > $secs)) unlink($f);
    }
}

Answer 4

Another simplier and more modern way, using FilesystemIterator.

I'm using 'logs' directory as an example.

$fileSystemIterator = new FilesystemIterator('logs');
$now = time();
foreach ($fileSystemIterator as $file) {
    if ($now - $file->getCTime() >= 60 * 60 * 24 * 2) // 2 days 
        unlink('logs/'.$file->getFilename());
}

Main advantage is: DirectoryIterator returns virtual directories "." and ".." in a loop. But FilesystemIterator ignores them.

Answer 5

The easiest way is by using DirectoryIterator:

<?php
if (file_exists($folderName)) {
    foreach (new DirectoryIterator($folderName) as $fileInfo) {
        if ($fileInfo->isDot()) {
        continue;
        }
        if ($fileInfo->isFile() && time() - $fileInfo->getCTime() >= 2*24*60*60) {
            unlink($fileInfo->getRealPath());
        }
    }
}
?>

Answer 6

/* Delete Cache Files Here */
$dir = "cache/"; /** define the directory **/

/*** cycle through all files in the directory ***/
foreach (glob($dir."*") as $file) {
//foreach (glob($dir.'*.*') as $file){

/*** if file is 24 hours (86400 seconds) old then delete it ***/
if (filemtime($file) < time() - 172800) { // 2 days
    unlink($file);
    }
}

Hope it help you.