Finding Files Matching a Pattern

Problem

You want to find files matching a pattern.

Solution

Use the File::glob() method.

$log_files = File::glob('/test/*.log');
if ($log_files === false)
{
die("An error occurred.");
}

You can also pass flags to the method.

$dir_list = File::glob('/test/*', GLOB_ONLYDIR);
if ($dir_files === false)
{
die("An error occurred.");
}

Valid flags are:

GLOB_MARK – Adds a slash to each directory returned
GLOB_NOSORT – Return files as they appear in the directory (no sorting)
GLOB_NOCHECK – Return the search pattern if no files matching it were found
GLOB_NOESCAPE – Backslashes do not quote meta-characters
GLOB_BRACE – Expands {a,b,c} to match ‘a’, ‘b’, or ‘c’
GLOB_ONLYDIR – Return only directory entries which match the pattern
GLOB_ERR – Stop on read errors (like unreadable directories), by default errors are ignored.
Returns an empty array if no files are matched or a false on error.

Note that on some systems there’s no difference between an empty match and an error.

Discussion

This is a wrapper on the PHP glob() function.

Finding Files Matching a Pattern

Problem

Solution

Discussion

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